Test Engineer Automation

Nitin Kalra

Contact Information:

Phone: +1-918-***-****

Email: *****.*******@*****.***

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nitin-kalra-7637a944/

Location: Bartlesville, Oklahoma, US

Professional Summary:

Experienced Principal Test Engineer with over 17 years of expertise in L2/L3 protocol testing, including Ethernet, MPLS, IPv4/IPv6, OSPF, BGP, SR-MPLS, SR-TE, and QoS. Adept in manual and automated testing of network protocols with a strong focus on traffic analysis, test automation, and performance validation. Skilled in utilizing tools like Wireshark, Ixia, Spirent, and Python to execute and automate complex tests, and proficient in integrating these tests into CI/CD pipelines using tools such as Jenkins. Proven leadership abilities with a track record of mentoring teams, streamlining testing processes, and ensuring quality in high-stakes network environments. Seeking to leverage my deep knowledge in network protocol testing and automation to contribute to your organization’s success.

Core Skills:

L2/L3 Protocols and Networking: Ethernet, MPLS, IPv4/IPv6, OSPF, BGP, QoS, VLANs, VPNs, SR-MPLS, SR-TE, TCP/IP, UDP, DNS, DHCP, ARP, MPLS L3 VPN, L2-VPN.

Test Automation: Python, PyTest, PyTest-bdd, Playwright, Cucumber, Selenium

Network Traffic Analysis: Wireshark, tcpdump, Ixia, Spirent

CI/CD Integration: Jenkins

Performance Testing: Uni-D / Multi-D Scale numbers characterization

Test Management: Jira, TestRail

Agile/Scrum Methodology

Network Testing Tools: GNS3, Cisco Packet Tracer.

API Testing: Postman, REST Assured, SoapUI

Version Control: Git, GitHub, Bitbucket

Root Cause Analysis & Debugging

Team Leadership & Mentorship

Professional Experience:

Test Specialist L&T Technology Services

May,2024 – Present Bartlesville, Oklahoma, US

Lead testing efforts for testing at customer site for a Tier-1 customer ensuring high-quality standards for deliverables.

Design and implement test automation frameworks using Cucumber with Selenium reducing test cycle time by 25%.

Further changed the course of test automation frameworks to Python, PyTest with Playwright which provided further flexibility and reduced the overall execution time by 37%.

Collaborate with cross-functional teams (developers, product owners) to define test strategies and ensure comprehensive coverage of product requirements.

Provide mentorship and leadership to a team of 5 engineers, guiding them on best practices for protocol testing and test automation.

Manage test execution in a CI/CD pipeline environment, integrating automated test suites into Jenkins for continuous testing and feedback.

Provide mentorship to junior test engineers, improving team knowledge and testing effectiveness, leading to a 18% increase in test case coverage.

Perform root cause analysis on defects and work closely with developers to resolve issues promptly.

Actively participate in sprint planning, retrospectives, and daily stand-ups as part of an Agile team, ensuring alignment with project goals and timelines.

Principal Test Engineer Ciena

Feb,2022 – May,2024 Gurgaon, Haryana, India

Lead testing efforts for L2/L3 protocol validation, focusing on Ethernet, MPLS, IPv4/IPv6, OSPF, SR-MPLS, BGP-LU, L2-VPN, and BGP, ensuring high-quality standards for networking solutions.

Design and implement test automation frameworks using Selenium, Python, and Shell scripting, reducing test cycle time by 40%.

Spearhead performance and load testing of network protocols using tools such as Ixia, and Spirent to simulate real-world network traffic and ensure reliability.

Collaborate with cross-functional teams (network engineers, developers, product owners) to define test strategies and ensure comprehensive coverage of L2/L3 protocol requirements.

Perform root cause analysis on defects related to L2/L3 protocols and work closely with developers to resolve issues promptly.

Manage test execution in a CI/CD pipeline environment, integrating automated test suites into Jenkins for continuous testing and feedback.

Provide mentorship to junior test engineers, improving team knowledge and testing effectiveness, leading to a 18% increase in test case coverage.

Actively participate in sprint planning, retrospectives, and daily stand-ups as part of an Agile team, ensuring alignment with project goals and timelines.

Lead Engineer Ciena

Aug,2015 – Jan, 2022 Gurgaon, Haryana, India

Lead testing efforts for L2/L3 protocol validation, focusing on Ethernet, MPLS, BGP-LU, MPLS L2-VPN, and BGP, ensuring high-quality standards for networking solutions.

Design and implement test automation frameworks using Python, reducing test cycle time by 27%.

Involved in performance testing for network devices, utilizing tools like Ixia and Spirent to simulate real-world network traffic and validate system behavior.

Led performance testing characterization for Uni-dimensional and multi-dimensional scale numbers involving various L2/L3 protocols.

Collaborate with cross-functional teams (network engineers, developers, product owners) to define test strategies and ensure comprehensive coverage of L2/L3 protocol requirements.

Perform root cause analysis on defects related to L2/L3 protocols and work closely with developers to resolve issues promptly.

Provide mentorship to junior test engineers to increase team effectiveness.

Actively participate in retrospectives, and daily stand-ups as part of an Agile team, ensuring alignment with project goals and timelines.

Technical Lead - Testing Aricent Technologies

Aug, 2012 – Aug, 2015 Gurgaon, Haryana, India

Identify test requirements for different L2/L3 VPN scenarios, including testing of Ethernet over MPLS, IP routing, traffic engineering, and QoS (Quality of Service).

Design, implement, and execute test cases for L2/L3 VPN solutions to validate the configuration, performance, and scalability of MPLS-based VPNs, and other related protocols.

Conduct interoperability testing of L2-VPN and L3-VPN solutions with various devices, routers, and platforms from multiple vendors to ensure compatibility and proper functioning across different environments.

Work closely with network engineers and software developers to identify, debug, and resolve defects in VPN solutions and related protocols.

Ensure automated testing is achieved for reducing the manual testing cycle times.

Created detailed test documentation, including test plans, test cases, and defect reports, using CDETS.

Collaborate with cross-functional teams (network engineers, software developers, and product managers) to define test plans, ensuring that all features related to L2-VPN, L3-VPN, MPLS, BGP, and OSPF are thoroughly tested.

Senior Member Technical Staff Agnity India Private Limited

Nov, 2011 – Aug, 2011 Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India

Develop comprehensive test strategies for WLAN modem products, ensuring that all key features and functionalities (e.g., Wi-Fi standards like 802.11a/b/g/n, security protocols, and network performance) are thoroughly validated.

Define detailed test plans, including objectives, scope, test cases, and acceptance criteria.

Use network analyzers (e.g., Wireshark) to analyze wireless signals, packet traces, and identify issues related to latency, packet loss, or data throughput.

Client Services Ion Trading India Private Limited

July, 2011 – Nov, 2011 Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India

Conducted comprehensive manual tests of UI for financial system domain to ensure reliable functionality.

Involved in reporting of the test statuses and reports to all stakeholders.

Involved in functional testing, negative testing, boundary testing, stress testing and scale testing.

Test Engineer Aricent Technologies

March, 2008 – July, 2011 Gurgaon, Haryana, India

Conducted comprehensive manual tests of OSPF, BGP / MP-BGP, and VLAN protocols in different network topologies to ensure reliable protocol functionality.

Used Wireshark and tcpdump for packet-level analysis, identifying issues in network communication and working with developers to resolve them.

Assisted in the development of test automation scripts using TCL for regression testing and protocol validation, significantly reducing the testing cycle.

Education:

Bachelor of Technology

Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, Delhi, India

Graduation Year: 2007

GPA: 8.632

Post Graduate Diploma in Business Management (Marketing)

Institute of Management Technology, Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, India

Graduation Year: 2013

Certifications:

Certified Scrum Master (CSM) – 2021 (Valid through July,2025)

Professional Development:

Ongoing self-study and hands-on practice with EVPN, VxLAN, SRv6, SDN (Software-Defined Networking), and NFV (Network Function Virtualization) to stay current with evolving technologies in network testing.

Additional Information:

Marital Status: Married

Visa Status: H1B

Work permits to work in US: Yes

Date of Birth: 01/07/1986 (MM/DD/YYYY)

Veteran Status: No

Disability: No

Ethnicity: Asian (not Hispanic or Latino)

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