April (Pierson) Drake
|
13003 109th Ave NE Kirkland, WA 98034 |
425-466-8329 RECOMMENDATIONS FOUND
HERE -> http://www.aprilp.com |
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.
Experience
2008– Current: The Technical Committee
Research Software Engineer in Test
· Drove test plans, test passes and reviews for Microsoft’s OEM Vista Win 7 Logo Compliance programs
· Research incl. Windows Live Messenger, Media Center and Player, and 3rd ISV competitors Real Player (and SP), JetAudio, Media Monkey, iTunes, Quicktime and others
· Developed high level executive summaries and quarterly reviews to the Members of The TC
· Wrote test applications in C# using .NET to aid in test efforts
· Developed and ran test plans for Windows Media Applications and ISVs compliance on Vista & Win 7
· Developed proficiency using VMWare (Virtual Machines)
2004– 2008: Spire Lending Solutions
Owner, Mortgage Broker
· Built the company from the ground up, which boasted 6 loan officer and processors and IT, and a 1400 sq ft office with 14 systems (client systems and servers) in Queen Anne, Seattle
· Served as the Designated Broker for the company and also trained all Loan originators and processors
· Designed and developed LOB .NET applications to service loan professionals and clients
· Lead all IT activities including setup and maintenance of all systems in the network on XP & Server 2000
· Created and ran a group called SIREN (Seattle’s Investing in Real Estate Network), a networking group with principles from many real-estate centered backgrounds to share experience and clients
2002 – 2004: Microsoft – Office SES (Sustained Engineering Services) PM
Lead Program Manager, Watson and Core Build Program Manager
· Office “Watson” PM (the technology that sends information from client systems to Microsoft product teams for analysis, troubleshooting and code fixes)
o Extensive use of T-SQL to query large volumes of data to find critical issues to focus on fixing
o Created and ran “Watson Days” and other training initiatives in order that best practices be distributed across product groups at MS
o Drove the Office team to fix all top Watson issues in the Office family of products, in both hotfixes and Service Packs
o Was awarded “Microsoft’s Outstanding Achievement Award – Reliability Pillar” for my work in helping teams at Microsoft develop and integrate Watson technologies into their SDLC
· Core Build PM
o Managed build issue tracking and communications to Office core teams and partners
o Drove process and environmental fixes for all Office servicing deliverables (hotfixes and SPs)
o Developed and maintained internal websites including visual references for the code forking mechanics and deliverables
· Lead PM
o Engineered the requirements for the program to handle interfaces between Office SES and PSS for Non-Critical software hotfixes (QFEs) and product quality (PQRs) initiatives
o Handled the requisition, and participated with critical role in interviewing, hiring processes
o Managed the PQR engineer hired for the aforementioned role, including handle of review.
1998–2002: Microsoft – Site Server, SharePoint Portal Server (PM)
Program Manager, Release Program Manager
· Feature PM for Licensing and Time-Bomb in SharePoint Portal Server V2
· Feature PM for Setup of Site Server Service Pack 3 (the Win 2k SFP release)
· Resource Kit, Service Packs and Software Development Kit PM for V1 (full) and V2 (half)
o Developed all schedule and dependency management mechanisms
o Developed Best Practice that other groups adopted for their own RK management
· Release Manager for SharePoint Portal Server V1 and V2
o Was the Customer Programs and Code-signing/delivery Release Manager on the RM team for V1, promoted to the role of sole Release Manager of V2
o Managed the core development team activities in preparation of the release milestones (Alpha, Beta, RC and RTM)
o Aided in cross platform dependency management for distributed components like Exchange, MDAC and Search
o Scheduled and served as communications liaison for all War Team meetings
o Ran all code signing activities, including release to software distribution channels (physical CD media for packaging, and software release on MSDN, as well as download center)
o Developed Best Practices that Office adopted in their own Beta and JDP programs
· Customer Programs Manager
o Developed the framework for the Beta and Joint Development Programs.
o Developed the training activates for the JDP, including site nominations, visits, campus training event, release and support infrastructures, deployments and milestone signoff activities
o Traveled throughout Europe, the US and Australia meeting with biggest JDP customer and presenting on the Beta product, delivering feedback to the product teams for assimilation into the next milestone (these activities lead to BROAD changes to the V1 product)
o Ran production and release of video training tools for all partners for Beta 2 release (coordinating with core dev team and also MS Studios)
o Was principle in driving all release training collaterals for the pre-release programs
· Dogfood Program Manager
o Managed the deployment of pre-release bits by our internal product team
o Built and maintained the SPS portal for Customer Programs
1996–1998: Microsoft – Netshow, Internet Services Business Unit (TEST)
Software Test Engineer, Quick Fix Engineer
· Automated Test Scripts (VB, VB Script, Visual Test, XML) for web-based client applications for ISBU (Connection Manager)
· Drove all fixes for Personalization and Membership, Customizable Starter Sites and Usage Analyst in Site Server as a QFE engineer
· Managed the client test lab, including setup of all clients/servers, hardware and networking components
· Built and maintained the internal Netshow team client bits procurement and test results website
· Ran all automated BVTs on daily builds, also ran SMOKE tests for relevant releases
Education
1994–1996: University of Washington
B.A., Chemistry & Teaching Chemistry Majors (Natural World Science Minor)
§ Honors program
1992–1994: Bellevue Community College
AA
§ President’s & Dean’s List (3.89 GPA overall)
Awards,
Certifications, Skills
· Certifications include MCP in Networking Essentials (TCP/IP), SQL Administration (6.5), Upgrading to Windows XP and .NET Framework Application Development Foundation, MCTS Web-based client .NET App Development.
· Microsoft’s Outstanding Achievement Award for Trustworthy Computing, Reliability pillar ’03 for work on Watson for OMUST.
· Coding/Languages include, Quick Basic, C, C#, VB and scripting languages (VBScript and Visual Test, also DOS and NT commands for batch file scripting), Visual Studio IDE, ASP.NET, ADO.NET, HTML & XML and proficient in SQL Administration and the use of T-SQL query language to probe databases.
· ACT, Clear Quest, Prod Studio, Raid, other SQL databases, Visual Source Safe
·
Productivity & OS platform experience:
Powerpoint, One Note, Excel, Word, InfoPath, Project, Project Server,
FrontPage, SharePoint Portal Server, Visio, Win XP, Vista, Win 7, NT 3.51, 03
server, IIS 4
Hobbies
· Gardening, Composting, Raising Chickens, a Dog, a Husband and a Toddler
· Reading (Historical Fiction mainly), Creative Writing & Blogging (most recent blog entry on ‘Going Green’ http://www.aprilp.com/gogreen/why%20i%20decided%20to%20go%20green.mht)
· Hiking, Yoga, Snowboarding and Camping
References
· Shaun Bennett – Program Manager, Microsoft - (425) 538-2567
· Jeff Pack – Lead Test Engineer, Beyondsoft – (206) 200-0584
· Ron Schnell – General Manager, The Technical Committee - (425) 818-3939
· Steven Avery – Research Test Engineer, The TC - (425) 233-4472
· Mark Adolph - Lead Program Manager, Microsoft - (425) 753-5517
· Simeon Cathey – General Manager Hosting Services, Neudesics Software - (425) – 269-8637