I'm a software developer in the midwest. I studied Biomedical Engineering in college with a focus on embedded systems development. While I was in school, I was a software tester working with accute care patient monitors and their supporting systems. After graduating, I became a software developer-in-test focusing on automated testing utilities and tools. I got a great education in understanding requirements, writing tests, and documenting systems. I enjoyed working closely with clinians. They taught me about patient care and I taught them about technology. I learned out to effectively test software and how to find good automation opportunities. Overall, having a strong foundation in testing has made be a better software developer.
Through some great mentorship and working with very talented engineers, I grew into working on a real-time embedded linux platform responsible for acquiring patient vital sign data through invasive and non-invasvie means. I learned about being a professional developer and how to build and test systems for reliability. I gained experience with software development lifecycles and what it takes demonstrate a controlled development process. I felt what it was like to have a great mentor and that shaped how I would mentor people in the future.
After a few years, I was given and opportunity to work on a project in a different group as a senior engineer. At first, I was not excited about the opportunity. It was working on a project that had been stalled for several years. It was supposed to be a temporary gig. When I started, I viewed it as such. I figured I would bide my time and then move on to better things. I find it hard to bide my time though and soon enough I was heavily invested in the project. Ultimately, I didn't want to leave the project and was re-orged into the group full time. I quickly became a leader on the team. I learned about Agile Scrum and how to approach work differently. I realized that a great team is one of the most rewarding aspects of software development. The hardest part of leaving this role was leaving my team.
After the successful completion of the project, I decided it was time to move on to a role where I could continue to grow myself and my career path. I decided to venture into a different technology stack while remaining close to the healthcare industry. Currently, I'm working on team that is trying to build a platform for supporting eCommerce across several business units that provide products and services to the senior care and living industry. I'm getting very interested in devops and trying create continous delivery for our software solutions.