Andy Merrill

Working as an IT professional for a small software vendor during the past 10 years has kept Andy Merrill immersed in the software world, which in turn helps him be an in depth tester.

“I understand somewhat the types of bugs that are valuable to uTest customers,” Andy said. “I try to keep the customer’s perspective in mind when testing for bugs, and in my bug reports I try to list detailed information that would be beneficial to customers.”

Andy began his professional career manning the support lines for a security software company, but a need for testers quickly introduced him to the world of bug hunting. Though he’s now in a more general IT management role, in his spare time Andy puts his testing skills to work for uTest and finds that his background often pays off.

“I really enjoy testing web sites as well as the security cycles that have come along,” he said. “Both of them allow me to use skills I’ve developed in the past but in new ways. So, they expand my areas of experience while still being able to apply my knowledge to find bugs for the customer.”

Continuing to test on the side has also benefited Andy’s career by teaching him new techniques and tricks that ultimately make him a better manager.

“I have been able to apply some of the testing techniques I’ve learned at uTest in my career,” he said. “Specifically some of the test case setups have allowed me to adjust our testing format and cut some unnecessary time off each build of our products.”