Mainframe Developer/Tester

JAMES G. ARNOLD

C:770-***-**** *****.*****.******@*****.***

Linkedin.com/in/james-arnold

Greater Atlanta Area, 30040

Mainframe Developer/Tester

Harnesses a big picture view to align the testing framework with complex business requirements

Innovative leader offering 20+ years of experience delivering value to the business via root cause testing solutions for large-scale application integrations, Information Technology (IT) upgrades, and process reengineering.

Technical Certifications: ISTQB Certification, Certified Tester – Foundation Level, ISTQB Certification, Certified Tester – Advance Level.

History of driving continuous improvements that advance the quality and efficiency of Agile teams and optimize test quality.

Strong interpersonal skills with a natural ability to navigate stakeholder relationships while managing multiple concurrent project deliverables.

Testing Strategy & Execution

Scripting, Validation & Analysis

Quality Control Standards

Waterfall & Agile Methods, Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC)

Matrix Project Planning

Design, Programming, Analysis,

Testing & Maintenance

Brings a distinct technical advantage of multiple languages and database experience which spans COBOL, COBOL II, C, DB2, Oracle, and Sybase.

Executed the test strategy for the share/more everything price plan, new rating software, and data limit alerting software launch in partnership with on-site and geographically dispersed stakeholders.

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

The Place of Forsyth County Atlanta, GA

Volunteer 2016 to Present

As a lead volunteer in the food pantry and thrift store, my responsibilities included mentoring, training and delegating work among volunteers and community service workers.

Verizon IT Communications Atlanta, GA

IT Quality Assurance – Master Tech. Spec. III - QA Spec. 1994 to 2015

Drove the QA strategy via creation and execution of Test Plans, Cases, and Business Test Scenarios including functional and regression testing for the VISION billing system.

Built repeatable SQL queries for validating data integrity, quality, and consistency during end-to-end performance tests and user acceptance testing (UAT).

Project-managed and met 100% of testing milestones by go-live date for billing changes to the ALP, Share Everything and mHealth initiatives. Facilitated rate change testing for VoLTE, Usage Broker, and 4th instance projects.

Quality Assurance (QA) testing expertise includes but not limited to Boundary Value Testing, Equivalence, Exploratory, and State Transition Testing.

Led "Test Case Walk-Throughs" with the development team, business analysts, and functional owners to gain consensus on test plan lifecycle deliverables; leveraged ALM Quality Center to track and report test progress.

Authored Requirements Traceability Matrices and functioned as the key resource and master problem solver for complex billing and rating inquiries, C/S, middleware and Mainframe application issues.

Co-led the Alltel to Verizon rating and billing applications test strategy. Scoped quality assurance time estimates, statuses and risks for upcoming sprints by partnering with developers and project managers.

Designed the VII cellular billing system; coded and maintained a high quality, intuitive, and user-centered layout.

Hand-picked to lead the VII billing system technical support team; strengthened the group’s focus on quality and the user experience during Collections, Billing, Rating, C/S online, UNIX and Mainframe batch processing.

Held high visibility Testing, Development, and Support roles while surviving 3 acquisitions. My position was eliminated in December 2015 due to corporate restructuring/downsizing.

JAMES G. ARNOLD

C:770-***-**** *****.*****.******@*****.***

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GTE Mobile Communications Atlanta, GA

Lead Programmer/Analyst 1993 to 1994

Modernized the Cellular Billing System through scalable enhancements that eliminated redundant processes, increased efficiency, and streamlined reporting capabilities.

Liaised between IT and business units to bring awareness to overlooked requirements and to resolve potential risks and issues uncovered during the analysis, coding, and testing phases.

Meticulously set priorities and functioned as a catalyst for infusing strategic process innovations that strengthened the IS application architecture and helped the team to manage costs and avoid scope creep.

Trecom Business Systems Dallas, TX and Atlanta, GA

Consultant (Lead Programmer/Analyst) to GTE Mobile Communications 1989 to 1993

Functioned as a lead across high visibility projects requiring test execution, analysis, and coding to support complex enhancements to the Cellular Billing System.

Translated root cause solutions for production incidents; routinely offered insight and recommendations that ultimately improved end-user productivity and quality.

Led the Microfiche conversion project scope, milestones, and stakeholder reporting with all deliverables completed by roll-out date.

Trecom Business Systems Dallas, TX and Atlanta, GA

Consultant (Lead Programmer/Analyst) to U.S. Sprint

Upgraded the billing functionality calculation methods by using IE STRADIS to implement enhancements that brought greater accuracy and data integrity.

Held Team Lead role overseeing the strategic direction of all analysis, design, coding changes and approvals to ensure optimal performance of major Corporate Releases of a national accounts billing system.

Instrumental in authoring Draft Requirement Statement and Design Statement Installing the Systems Documentation Package: Post Implementation Audit and Audit Reports for the design, analysis, coding testing and implementation of the 90.2 Message Processing System (MPS).

Early Career Notes:

Programmer/Analyst - Safelite Auto Glass, Programmer/Analyst - Bank IV, Applications Programmer - Kansas Gas & Electric

EDUCATION

Eastern Illinois University B.S. Business

ISTQB Certification, Certified Tester – Foundation Level

ISTQB Certification, Certified Tester – Advance Level

TECHNICAL PROFILE

HARDWARE:

IBM 3081, 3090, 9021

Solaris, HP, AS/400

SOFTWARE:

VSAM, OS/MVS, Endevor, JES3, JCL, MVS/XA, Librarian, TSO/ISPF. Panvalet DOS, CA7, CA11, Syncsort, ESP Cybermation, Maestro, Dimensions

LANGUAGES:

COBOL, COBOL II, C, DYL280, REXX

DATABASES:

DB2, Oracle, Sybase

METHODOGIES:

Waterfall, Agile

OTHERS:

FTP, CFI, NDM, FileAid, Telnet, Rumba, MQ,

ALM Quality Center, Net Meeting, Snag It, Same Time, TOAD, SQL

TESTING TECHNIQUES:

Boundary Value Testing, Equivalence, Exploratory, and State Transition Testing

ACTIVE TRAINING:

Selenium, JIRA and Python

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