April (Pierson) Drake

Program Manager, Release Manager

425-466-8329

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Summary of Merits:

Here’s a link to my official resume including references – or for PDF version click here

I have 15 years overall experience in QA, Feature Program Management and Release Program Management roles. I worked at Microsoft for 8 years (2.5 years contract, 5.5 years fulltime) in highly technical program management and testing roles for both startup (Sharepoint Portal Server, Netshow) and well established teams (Office). I’m highly organized, tenacious, thorough, and I come up to speed quickly on new technologies. My overall goal is to secure a full time PM position in a highly technical, fast-paced and stimulating engineering environment.

MCP Certifications:

To validate click here – CERTIFICATE VALIDATION - and use the transcript code: “868120” and access code “aprilpiedrake”

Networking Essentials
SQL 6.5 Administration
.NET Application Development Foundations
.NET Web-based Client Development
PMI Certification (test scheduled end of March 2010)

The Technical Committee - Research Software Test Engineer - from 2008 to Current

My contract with The Technical Committee as a Research Test Engineer for the 3.H component of the Final Judgment (outcome of the 2000 Microsoft Antitrust lawsuit between the DOJ, 9 states and the software giant) is ending on March 4th, 2010.

Devised test strategy and test plans, wrote and executed test cases for Vista and Windows 7 platforms
Researched Microsoft's OEM logo requirements for Vista and Windows 7
High Level executive quarterly reviews for the Members of The TC

Mortgage Broker & Owner of Spire Lending Solutions – from 2004-2008

Mortgage Broker 510-MB-45267. I left Microsoft in 03 and began working in real-estate. I owned a home and was buying another...and fell in love with the financials. I bought 2 more houses, began a mortgage company, and took my broker license exam the day I was due to give birth. I thought I'd ace the test then have my baby hours later. Well, I did pass the test but it took me another week to give birth. I loved financing and I loved developing LOB services with fellow developers I partnered with, that served the lending community. When the market crashed I was forced to liquidate and go 'back to tech', where I've been for the past year and a half. These are the best resources I’ve found for staying current with the Market.

The Mortgage News Daily - a little dry for the masses, so learning the basics about Mortgage Backed Securities helps.
The Mortgage Blog - an awesome tool and when I was in the business I checked it several times a day.

v Here are some of the Kudo's I've received working on Mortgages.

v Here are the recommendations I’ve received as a Broker:

Microsoft - from Tester to Program Manager from 1995-2004

SharePoint Portal Server – I was the Release PM and owner of the customer development programs for the V 1 and 2. I drove the Joint Development Program from nominations, selections, site visits, training events to release rollouts and signoff. I coordinated war meetings, managed the software release channels, and handled all feedback channels for our customer beta programs. I worked with all components of the software development and release channels, including cross team collaboration and dependency management.
Office – As a Lead PM I received the Trustworthy Computing Outstanding Achievement Award, Reliability Pillar for work in Office Watson. I coordinated company-wide events, determined through the Watson data top issues to address in SP and follow-up releases, and drove the release channels. I was also the Build PM for the Office Sustained Engineering Services team.
I also worked as an STE on Site Server, Connection Manager and Netshow, which is now (over 12 years later) Windows Media Player

Freelance Writer/Tester:

I write and test quiz applications for a company that develops quizzes for Facebook. One quiz has over 5 million viewers so far: http://apps.facebook.com/qwhat-barbie-d-cgeff and is one of Facebook’s most popular quizzes.
Blog entry I wrote when I decided to Green Up my office (and all the other business offices of my neighborhood): http://www.aprilp.com/gogreen/why%20i%20decided%20to%20go%20green.mht
Independent editor for fiction novels, and I've been writing my own novel (whenever I can find some spare time) as well.

Queen Anne Chamber of Commerce 'Go Green' Committee Chair - I established the Go Green website, and started working towards helping businesses Green Up their practices by using digital signatures, digital faxing and soft copy filing methods to eliminate paper-waste. This ended when I moved to Kirkland last year, but I was able to get some momentum behind the idea. I'll likely try and do something like this in Kirkland once i'm more established.

Women's Business Owners of Seattle - I was a member for 2 years when I owned my Mortgage company, and highly recommend it to any other women entrepreneurs out there, even just for the ability to have a really nice lunch with the ladies once a month and learn about all the amazing things we accomplish.

Favorite Things to Do:

Gardening, Composting, Raising Chickens, a Dog, a Husband and a Toddler
Working on my houses – I have 3 (2 rentals in Seattle and my residence in Kirkland)
Reading (Historical Fiction mainly), Creative Writing & Blogging
Hiking, Yoga, Snowboarding and Camping
Social Networking (Facebook, Skype, Twitter, Blogger, LinkedIn, Foursquare)