Contact Information
Primary Email: spiermar@gmail.com
IM: spiermar@gmail.com (GTalk/Live)
Skype: spiermar
Career Profile
I’m an IT professional with solid experience in Software Testing and a genuine interest in Project Management. Currently I’m leading a global performance engineering team responsible for ensuring the performance of large enterprise applications and developing my Project Management skills through mentoring and courses.
For the past 4 years I successfully combined my studies with work and other commitments. In achieving this I have shown myself to be organized and capable of handling diverse assignments and working under pressure. I have a clear, logical mind with a creative approach to problem solving and a drive to get things done.
Communicating in a clear and assertive manner, along with strong leadership skills have been pointed as my main strengths. I’m motivated by new experiences and always looking for new challenges to increase my experience and achieve great goals.
Key Achievements
- At Dell, led a team of 4 performance engineers in charge of one of the most critical business streams, working mostly on large and global projects, with 50+ critical applications in scope and over 8.000 users. No performance related issues in production for over a year.
- At Dell, led the performance test efforts on a critical external application, providing technical input for the decision making process, consequently saving a large but undisclosed amount in a contract that was being negotiated.
- At Dell, received two awards for excellence on leadership/teamwork and agility/productivity.
- Developed a new website based on Drupal for Radio Imperial, which increased the number of visitors by 40.4% in the first 6 months after the launch.
- Had my BSc. degree paper published on a magazine.
Skills & Competencies
Technical Skills
- HP LoadRunner (2-3 yrs)
- HP SiteScope (1.5-2 yrs)
- HP Quality Center (1-1.5 yrs)
- HP QuickTest Professional (QTP) (1-1.5 yrs)
- Oracle E-Business Suite (EBS) (1.5-2 yrs)
- C/C# (2-3 yrs)
- Java (1-1.5 yrs)
- PL/SQL and T-SQL (6-12 mths)
- VBS/Python (6-12 mths)
- Content Management Systems (Joomla, Drupal) (2 yrs)
- Citrix XenApp (Application Server) (1-1.5 yrs)
- Quality Assurance (QA)
Soft Skills
- Project Management (PMI)
- Team Leadership
- Analytical Problem Solving
- Assertive Communication
- Geographically Dispersed Teams (GDT)
Languages
- English (Written – Fluent, Spoken – Fluent)
- Portuguese (Written – Native, Spoken – Native)
Career History
Performance Engineer - Dell Inc. (Nov 07 – Present)
Porto Alegre, Brazil – Permanent – Information Technology – http://www.dell.com/
- Led a team of 4 performance engineers in charge of one of the most critical business streams, working mostly on large and global projects, with 50+ critical applications in scope and over 8.000 users. No performance related issues in production for over a year.
- Led the test efforts on a critical external application, providing technical input for the decision making process, consequently saving a large but undisclosed amount in a contract that was being negotiated.
- Worked with global and cross functional teams in US, India, UK, France, Russia, Malaysia, Singapore and Japan.
- Coordinated the alignment between cross functional teams, including development, functional test, architecture and infrastructure.
- Contributed significantly to the team’s process standardization by creating templates for Test Plans and Test Reports, defining a standard project life cycle and MS Project templates to be used during the project’s planning.
- Specialized on several technologies, such as Oracle EBS, Citrix, WebServices, IBM MQ, Web, MS .NET Framework, Oracle 10g/11g, MS SQL 2005/2008, etc.
- Engaged the performance test discipline end to end on projects.
Software Test Analyst – Dell Inc. (Jan 07 – Nov 07)
Porto Alegre, Brazil – Permanent – Information Technology – http://www.dell.com/
- Received two awards for excellence on leadership, teamwork, agility, productivity and technical skills.
- Led test efforts on 3 applications, owning all test related tasks, such as test plans, estimates, tracking, test reports, etc.
- Acted as Quality Center Administrator for the whole portfolio, managing all user groups, rights and test processes.
- Provided training to other testers and developers on the use of Quality Center and the defect tracking procedure.
- Developed a tool to generate test data automatically based on templates and input files, reducing the test effort by 84%.
- Developed a solution to automate the scenarios creation on Quality Center.
- Designed an Application Wiki, a centralized space to store information about tested applications and facilitate the knowledge transfer between team members.
- Worked directly with the internal customers, defining test scope, schedule and general test plans.
Software Test Analyst – CPM Braxis (Sep 06 – Jan 07)
Porto Alegre, Brazil – Permanent – Information Technology – http://www.cpmbraxis.com/
- Working for Dell as a Contractor at one of the largest IT Service providers in Brazil, with over 5.4 thousand employees and a large outsourcing unit.
- Participated on the first major project in the Brazil development center, with benefits surpassing U$3.842.294 (estimated for one fiscal year).
- Led all test efforts on 3 out of 10 applications in scope and had 0% defects leakage to production on all of them.
- Automated all functional test cases using HP QTP.
Systems Analyst – Terra Networks (Apr 06 – Sep 06)
Porto Alegre, Brazil – Permanent – Information Technology – http://www.terra.com.br/
- Supported the media delivery solution based on Windows Media servers on the largest ISP of Latin America.
- Created an automated deploy solution for the IP TV servers used on the 2006 World Cup broadcast.
- Servers were located in several locations around Latin America for a smarter content delivery.
- Set up a software solution based on web agents to update content on all streaming servers.
- Set up the Windows Update Services (WUS) infrastructure to assure the media servers were being updated correctly and safely.
- Supported the Content Management System (Vignette), finding and fixing issues.
Tech Support Analyst – MCC Informática (Mar 98 – Jul 01)
Nova Petrópolis, Brazil – Permanent – Information Technology – http://www.mccinfo.com.br/
Part time position providing IT support services to customers, mostly small and medium businesses. Services included hardware maintenance, advice on hardware and software purchases, IT infrastructure, setting up server and network systems, cabling, etc.
Consulting and Volunteering
PMI – Rio Grande do Sul Chapter (2010 – Ongoing)
Porto Alegre, Brazil – Volunteer – Non-Governmental Organization – http://www.pmirs.org.br
- Developed and managed the “VII Project Management Seminar” website based on Joomla.
- Managed online marketing campaigns to choose the seminar theme, guest speakers and also article submission.
- Managed all content published on the website, including content review, English and Spanish translations.
UseFashion.com (2009)
Porto Alegre, Brazil – Contract/Temp – Media & Internet – http://www.usefashion.com/
- Led the performance test efforts on a large development project to build a new .NET Content Management System.
- Worked closely with the development team to define the best solution architecture and also fine tune DB and Application servers.
- Identified and addressed two major issues prior to production release, avoiding downtimes to the 120.000 registered users.
Rádio Imperial FM (2003 – 2009)
Nova Petrópolis, Brazil – Contract/Temp – Media & Entertainment – http://www.imperial.fm.br/
- Developed a new website based on Drupal for this highly regarded radio station, which increased the number of visitors by 40.4% in the first 6 months after the launch.
- Reduced the hosting costs by 75% by changing from a local ISP to a US based ISP.
- Made the website profitable by using Google’s AdSense solution to include relevant advertisement.
- Deployed a new broadcasting and programming system with no impact on the 24/7 program.
- Developed an online radio solution to provide 24/7 audio streams to the users on the website.
- Developed a tool using Java to monitor report the listener’s behavior and online radio system stability.
- Developed a solution to improve event broadcasts quality using a cheap computer based broadcasting tool and a GPRS connection.
- Trained all employees on all solutions provided and supported users during the early deploy phases.
Bar Attendant – Coverstaff Recruitment (2005)
London, United Kingdom – Contract/Temp – Leisure & Hospitality
- Bar attendant on events and at pubs during a gap year in London.
Areias Brancas Turis Hotel (2004)
Arroio Do Sal, Brazil – Contract/Temp – Leisure & Hospitality – http://www.areiasbrancas.com.br/
- Contract to develop an internet booking system with rate calculator for a busy beach hotel.
Education
Specialization in Project Management (Alumni Representative)
Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS), Porto Alegre, Brazil, 2009 – 2010
According to the Ministry of Education and Culture, PUCRS is the best private university in Southern Brazil and third among the 1,785 Institutions of Private Higher Education in Brazil.
Bsc. in Computer Science
Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS), Porto Alegre, Brazil, 2002 – 2008
High School
Keebra Park State High School, Southport – Qld, Australia, 2001
Training & Certifications
PMDome Workshop (Sep 09)
Winner of the PMI Professional Development Product of the Year Award – http://www.ricardo-vargas.com/pmdome/
Publications
Degree Paper – “Development of a parametric model to estimate effort on software development” EDIPUCRS, Porto Alegre, Brazil (Jun 08)
http://revistaseletronicas.pucrs.br/ojs/index.php/graduacao/article/view/3990
Bi-annual publication containing the university’s best degree papers.
Groups & Affiliations
Project Management Institute (PMI) – Rio Grande do Sul Chapter
Personal Information
Date of Birth: 25-Aug-1984
Gender: Male
Marital Status: Unmarried
Driving License: Yes
Primary Nationality: Brazilian
Secondary Nationality: German
Personal Interests
Network Security, Web 2.0, Media Content Distribution, Social Networks, Project Management, Requirement Engineering, Open Source Software, Getting Things Done, Mind Mapping, Productivity Tools, Data Mining, Artificial Intelligence, Natural Language, Mash ups, Semantic Web, Web Privacy
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