As Head of Quality Assurance at Global Kinetic, I hold the responsibility for software testing strategy, design, and tooling in support of a wide range of software delivery projects, principally in highly secure digital financial services. My experience leading and scaling cross-functional QA teams and my abiding interest in mentorship and skills development have been integral to advancing the discipline at Global Kinetic. I am passionate about assessing and promoting new test automation techniques and technologies; promoting industry best practices; and building skilled-up, motivated testing teams in the process. I have been active in software quality assurance for well over a decade. I have worked at leading companies in the software delivery, fintech, and SaaS spaces, and came to Global Kinetic from South African’s largest e-commerce company, Takealot.com.
The roles of the QA engineer and software tester are not always well understood. This is perhaps my biggest professional challenge, broadly speaking. I tackle any misconceptions head-on wherever I encounter them, but it is also important to underscore for the teams themselves just how important their expertise and unique skill sets are to a delivering a quality product and optimal user experience. Words won’t do it alone, of course. Helping teams to stay abreast of the latest tools and practices goes a long way to building confidence in their discipline, aside from any more obvious benefits to the organization. I enjoy learning new things, so I am always researching emerging approaches to quality assurance and DevOps. I also believe that knowledge should be shared – a conviction that underlies my long-term interest in mentorship and training