Hi, I’m Heather #
I’m a senior engineering manager with a background in software development and testing. I write and speak about building strong teams, software quality, accessibility, and community.
Here, I write about software testing, teamwork, community, and accessibility. You can also explore my talks and workshops.
About me #
I started my career as a mathematician, turning mathematical formulae into software for diagnostic devices. That work led me into software development, where I became increasingly interested in how we build useful, high-quality products.
I moved into software testing and became the first tester on my team. I cared about the people using our software and wanted to help the team deliver it well. As the only tester, I got involved in the testing community to learn from others. That involvement led me to co-organise two software testing conferences and later to become a community manager at Ministry of Testing, organising several conferences per year around the world.
After five years in community management, I returned to hands-on software testing. Since then, my work has grown to include engineering leadership. I’m now a senior engineering manager, drawing on my background in mathematics, development, and testing to help teams build better software and work well together.
I’m still involved in the software testing community and help moderate an online tech community in Ireland.
Achievements #
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International speaker: more details.
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Contributed to the book “Starting Your Software Testing Career”.
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My e-book “30 Things Every New Software Tester Should Learn” is on the “100 Best-Selling Software Testing eBooks of All Time” list.
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Co-organised TinyTestBash Belfast 2017 and TestBash Dublin 2018 conferences around a full time software testing job.
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I made the “125 Awesome Testers You Should Keep Your Eye on Always” list in 2017
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Previously a co-organiser of the NI Testers meetup and the Belfast Software Testing Clinic meetup.