Software Testing Blog

Today, we’re thrilled to announce the results of our third annual uTester of the Year Awards. Every year, we recognize uTesters who have consistently gone above and beyond their call of duty in their participation with uTest projects. This year’s winners were selected by our community and project management teams, who have had the privilege of working closely with such an extremely talented community of professional testers. From test automation to test team lead, these winners are truly experts in a variety of testing domains. The level of talent continues to impress, with each year’s accolades becoming more and more difficult to attain (and judge). So without further ado, let’s meet our 2011 winners!

Top honor for the 2011 award goes to David Honeyball from the United Kingdom!

David joined uTest in June of 2009. Since joining us, David has become a Gold rated tester in Functional, Load and Localization testing, as well as having achieved the silver rating in both Usability and Security testing. David also became our Top Test Team Lead in 2011, successfully leading nearly 200 projects alongside of uTest project managers. David had this to say about his experience with uTest during the past year:

I joined uTest back in the summer of 2009 and have to say I have never looked back. What started out as something extra in my spare time has taken up more and more of my time in a good way and has increased my confidence as a tester to levels I never thought possible. I have been a tester for nearly 15 years but can safely say that every day with uTest is a new experience and a new challenge.

I have met so many wonderful people including other testers, CMs, PMs and customers who are all committed to achieving their goals and creating a wonderful service. They have guided me and helped me in the last year and increased my communication skills as well.

TTL (Test Team Lead) Experience:

2011 has been a big success for me personally, as it has for uTest in regards to growth and development, in many ways due to my journey from tester to TTL. I started out as a TTL early in the year and felt at the time that it was a great way forward and would be of huge assistance and help to customers. Since then I have been involved in something nearing 100 cycles as TTL, but that could be more now!  I enjoy the TTL role immensely as I get to speak to the PMs and testers and help out others who are stuck. I hope if you have worked with me that you know that I take that side of things very seriously. One of the great rewards is helping someone who is stuck to complete a test case or test for example. Above all, I believe that with my experience I am a very fair TTL and have the best interests of customer and testers close at heart.

As time goes on I hope to grow more and more into this role and improve further as there is still so much to learn.

Special Projects 

Apart from testing and TTL work which does take up some time as you can imagine, I also help with test case writing for certain PMs which I enjoy and get value from. I was also heavily involved in the startup of the test case conversion to uTest which is the new system we see today. This side of things linked in with my testing and other roles forms a vital component of what I do as well and hope it adds value to the company as a whole.

So, just want to say a huge thanks to everyone involved with uTest for the opportunity and long may we continue to grow together and become invaluable to customers across the globe…

The complete list of winners is shown below:

• Most Valuable Tester: David H., United Kingdom
• Top Test Team Lead: David H., United Kingdom
• Top Android Tester: Elena H. , United States
• Top iOS Tester: Bo V., United States
• Top Forums Moderator: Amit K., India
• uTester of the Year: Anand A., Australia
• uTester of the Year: Andy M., United States
• uTester of the Year: Arsiadi S., Indonesia
• uTester of the Year: Atul A., India
• uTester of the Year: Bo V., United States
• uTester of the Year: Brian R., United States
• uTester of the Year: Carl S., United States
• uTester of the Year: Jason Y., Canada
• uTester of the Year: John K., United States
• uTester of the Year: Moritz S., Germany
• uTester of the Year: Nicola S., United Kingdom
• uTester of the Year: Paul T., United Kingdom
• uTester of the Year: Peggy F., United States
• uTester of the Year: Shruthi P., United States
• uTester of the Year: Travis H., United States

We’d like to congratulate and thank all of our 2011 winners. As mentioned in the opening paragraph, each year has seen so much growth and improvement. Therefore, the bar for 2012 will undoubtedly be set even higher! With several weeks into the new year, the competition has already begun for our 2012 accolades. Remember, it is your consistent performance throughout the year that matters, engaging in as many opportunities as you can without sacrificing quality work. With that said, best of luck to our 2012 candidates and please take some time to congratulate our 2011 winners by dropping a comment below!