Pradeep Soundararajan

Current

• Consulting Tester at Satisfice Inc

Past

• Test Consultant at Edista Testing
• Columnist on Expert Problem Solving at CNBC TV18
• Manager - Testing at TriVium Systems

• Senior Software Engineer at Emuzed ( now Aricent)
• Test Consultant at Motorola
• Innovator and Designer at Research and Development group of Disaster Alert System
• Test Consultant at McAfee
• Test Engineer at Celstream Technologies
• Test Consultant at Impulsesoft Private Limited

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6 more...

Education

• Mookambigai College of Engineering
• James Bach School of Mental Martial Arts ( Software Testing )
• Kumarans

• St Pauls

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1 more...

Recommended

4 people have recommended Pradeep

Connections

488 connections

Industry

Information Technology and Services

Pradeep Soundararajan’s Summary

I have failed so many times and that has helped me to be able to smile at new failures. Each time I failed, I came back as a monster. That's my experience.

I have been testing, arguing, coaching, consulting, speaking, writing, managing and thinking on software testing and problem solving.

I can find problems ( or bugs, if you like ) that matter to you, your customer and to their customers. I can also help other testers do that. Its proven and fallible.

In case you are curious to know more about me:
http://testertested.blogspot.com or my e-mail : pradeep dot srajan [/at/] gmail

Pradeep Soundararajan’s Specialties:

"Thinking and acting appropriately" [ That's what any industry would need people for ]

Pradeep Soundararajan’s Experience

• Consulting Tester

  Satisfice Inc

  (Computer Software industry)

  January 2007 — Present (3 years )

  I test, coach, manage, consult, speak, write, practice, think, mentor and learn software testing and problem solving.
  
  I am an invited speaker at international conferences on Software Testing and Development across Asia, Europe and North America.
  
  As a Satisfice Tester, I get feedback about my progress as a tester from James Bach and Michael Bolton. These days, a lot more people have volunteered to help me.
  
  My students and mentees are award winners and recognized global thought leaders. Thanks to them for choosing me as their mentor.

• Test Consultant

  Edista Testing

  (Information Technology and Services industry)

  April 2008 — September 2009 (1 year 6 months)

  I provided my advice to Edista whenever they needed it. I did a bunch of interesting things like...
  
  * Helping them rejig their training program for university graduates
  * Created new training programs for entry level to management level
  * Advocate on assessment framework for testers
  * Delivered high end niche training programs
  * Got them a few clients
  * Helped them evangelize Test Republic
  * Co-organized events, workshops and conferences.
  * Just in time testing services for their clients
  * Hired and helped in hiring new resources
  * Organized competitions for 4000+ tester community
  * Represented them at conferences and corporate events
  * Worked on branding for the organization
  * Helped in proposals of Exploratory Testing and Testing Services

• Columnist on Expert Problem Solving

  CNBC TV18

  (Public Company; Broadcast Media industry)

  October 2007 — August 2008 (11 months)

  I wrote a column for CNBC TV18 group on Expert Problem Solving. It involved doing appropriate research, gathering ideas, brainstorming, writing and getting it edited before it is approved for publishing.

• Manager - Testing

  TriVium Systems

  (Privately Held; Computer Software industry)

  June 2007 — April 2008 (11 months)

  Hiring me was the most unconventional move TriVium ever did in its history of 10 years or I would like to think so. I competed with several senior and experienced test managers for this role and I was gifted it.
  
  I was hired to manage products such as : Call recording, Call accounting, call management, BPO solutions, new age CRM - ORM, Banking ( for a really short while ), E-learning software.
  
  Here is a summary of what I actually did there:
  
  * Managed testing for products and services divisions
  * Won the credibility of the team by demonstrating my skills
  * Helped a test team of 3 testers find 600 major bugs in 3 months
  * Mentored testers to help grow professionally.
  * Setup a small independent test group.
  * Got a business worth several thousand US dollars.
  * Learnt a great deal of management.
  * Learnt how to deal and respect women testers when they report to me.
  * Handled war room situations.
  * Probed customers, interests, and product usage.
  * Collaborated with Developers, Support and Marketing folks.
  * Actively tried avoiding long duration meetings.
  * Showed energy and mingled with people well.
  * Cleared traps for the team so that they do well.
  * Bought food for my team and delivered it to their desk when they were too busy for a break. Of course I assigned that work :)
  * Worked with HR for Leave processing, compensation, appraisals, team dynamics, goals, issue resolving, status reporting, productivity improvement, career aspiration handling, collecting 360 degree feedback, training.
  * Participated in internal and external audits and spoke truth.
  * Awarded testers for their contribution.
  * Most important of all, my team liked me and they trusted my decisions.
  
  One thing I did not do is to provide false estimates!

• Senior Software Engineer

  Emuzed ( now Aricent)

  (Privately Held; Computer Software industry)

  May 2006 — December 2006 (8 months)

  I was responsible for testing multimedia streaming solutions for a customer who is a leading Pocket PC hardware and software developer from the East.
  
  Here are things I did or happened here:
  
  * I practiced Rapid Software Testing and Exploratory Testing.
  * Worked with a manager who gave freedom to testers accompanied by responsibility.
  * Worked closely with developers, they were just a floor away.
  * Played a consultant role for other test teams in the business unit.
  
  Gold ribbon: Something good happened. The customer was delighted that no bugs were found by their test team for releases we made over a period of 8 months to them. This helped in gaining great credibility with the customer and create a history for the company.
  
  * This experience helped me learn and practice high skilled exploratory software testing on live projects.

• Test Consultant

  Motorola

  (Public Company; MOT; Telecommunications industry)

  May 2005 — February 2006 (10 months)

  I worked for Multimedia Engine Team helping MME team to help them set up a lab for 3G Multimedia Testing. This experience was phenomenal and gave me opportunities to test multimedia features for some of the top end phones that Motorola launched.
  
  I was fired by a manager there. Yipee!
  
  The mission he wanted me to accomplish is "95% of the test cases *should* pass ASAP" which I could not accomplish because I found a lot of bugs.
  
  Thanks to that manager. My life has turned downside up since then.

• Innovator and Designer

  Research and Development group of Disaster Alert System

  (Information Technology and Services industry)

  February 2005 — June 2005 (5 months)

  My friends and I, were passionate to innovate and work on new ideas. After Tsunami struck India, we designed, developed and tested one of the solution to Disaster Alerting.
  
  This innovation that we carried out fetched appreciation from the Director of Indian Space Research Organization and by the Department of Science and Technology. This innovation was featured as a news in TV Channels and Leading news papers in several languages.
  
  It also fetched a word of appreciation from Infosys Chief Mentor Mr N R Narayana Murthy.
  
  Don't ask me what the Indian government did with it!

• Test Consultant

  McAfee

  (Public Company; 1001-5000 employees; MFE; Computer & Network Security industry)

  December 2004 — February 2005 (3 months)

  I helped a team to build a Live Virus Test tool using Perl. I utilized this experience to learn more than what I think I knew about security, virus, firewalls, and networking.

• Test Engineer

  Celstream Technologies

  (Privately Held; 201-500 employees; Computer Software industry)

  September 2004 — November 2004 (3 months)

  Although I thought I was hired to test products that they were to develop, I ended up testing nothing ( because the project didn't appear to start ) but I learned some of the key lessons of management, which is helping me today to manage testing fairly well and maintain a healthy relationship with my subordinates.

• Test Consultant

  Impulsesoft Private Limited

  (Wireless industry)

  August 2003 — August 2004 (1 year 1 month)

  I tested Bluetooth PC Software, world's first Bluetooth Stereo Headphones, Bluetooth gaming headset, Bluetooth Car Audio Solutions, Bluetooth Multimedia for Mobile Phones and Pocket PC's.
  
  I must thank people at Impulsesoft who provided me opportunity to work on some of their flagship products, individually and independently (without the usual bias of developers or scripts) that boosted my confidence to handle testing activity for any product in the future.
  
  I tested a version of a headphone that became the second highest selling ( then ) BT headphones apart from a futuristic version of headphone that I guess was too ahead of its time.
  
  Its hard to remember not working on a weekend or returning home as early as 10 PM when I was in Impulsesoft.

Pradeep Soundararajan’s Education

• Mookambigai College of Engineering

  B.E. , Electronics and Instrumentation , 1999 — 2003

  My favorite subject has been Transducers, Bio medical instrumentation, Aircraft instrumentation and Telecommunication. I developed a love towards Transducers through this course. I opposed the traditional thoughts and yet was respected.

  Activities and Societies:

  Winner of Big Ideas contest
  Winner of Technical Presentations at National Level Symposiums
  Winner of Quiz competitions at State Level
  Participant at State Level Table Tennis Tournament.
  Third place : University level Table Tennis tournament

• James Bach School of Mental Martial Arts ( Software Testing )

  Self Certification , Exploratory Testing

  James Bach school of Mental Martial Arts (Skilled Software Testing) is not a physical school but one that exists for those who are his student. James Bach is a Buccaneer Scholar and a man who.
  
  Those who pass through James Bach's school of Mental Martial Arts learn how to learn. Once they learn that they go beyond the concept of education in school and college.

• Kumarans

• St Pauls

Additional Information

Pradeep Soundararajan’s Groups:

Association for Software Testing
Context Driven Testing
Test Republic

•    Association for Software Testing
•    Linked:HR (#1 Human Resources Group)
•    Software Testing - ISTQB/ISEB
•    Software Testing Club - the online software testing community
•    uTest - Software Testing Community
•    Software Testing and Quality Assurance
•    Software Testing & Quality Assurance
•    Quality Assurance Discussion Group
•    SHAPE Alumni
•    QA & Testing Group
•    Software Test & Performance Group
•    Toronto Workshop on Software Testing (TWST)
•    Zappers
•    Innovate Testing
•    Exploratory Testing
•    Weekend Testing

Pradeep Soundararajan’s Honors:

* Thought Leadership Award for contribution to software testing in India 2008.

* Being a student of James Bach, Michael Bolton and Jerry Weinberg.

* National Level Winner for theory design of life saving wireless medical system.

* Voted as one of the best speaker in an international software testing conference.

Pradeep Soundararajan’s Contact Settings

Interested In:

• career opportunities
• consulting offers
• new ventures
• job inquiries
• expertise requests
• business deals
• reference requests
• getting back in touch