Software / Hardware QA Engineer

Paul Parrino, Jr.

** ******** **** *******, ** **056

Mobile: 508-***-**** Email: ******@*******.*** LinkedIn

Quality Engineer Driving Reliability and Compliance in Data Storage Platforms and Systems Seeking New Challenge Applying Expertise in Data Storage Architecture and System Testing

Best Fit: Senior Quality Engineer • Principal Quality Engineer • Quality Architect • Test Architect • Quality Engineering Manager • Quality Assurance Manager • Embedded Systems Quality Engineer • Hardware Validation/Reliability Engineer • Software Development Engineer in Test (SDET) • Systems Quality Engineer

Industry Relevance: Consumer Electronics • Medical Devices • HealthTech • Automotive & EV • Aerospace & Defense • Semiconductors • Robotics & Autonomous Systems • Industrial Automation • Smart Manufacturing

Professional Profile

Quality engineering professional with deep expertise in data storage platforms and distributed systems, specializing in block, file and object storage architectures across cloud and hybrid environments. Proven strengths in data integrity, reliability and resiliency testing, including failure injection, recovery validation and endurance scenarios. Proficient in test automation & CI/CD integration, building scalable frameworks to validate complex storage systems. Extensive value-added expertise in performance & scalability testing, ensuring latency, throughput and capacity targets are met at scale. High competence in observability and debugging skills, leveraging metrics, logs and tracing in root-cause analysis. Well-versed in security and compliance testing, validating encryption, access controls and data protection. Hands-on experience with cloud-native, virtualized and Kubernetes-based storage infrastructures. Adept at risk-based testing, shift-left/shift-right strategies and cross-functional collaboration to deliver production-ready systems.

Areas of Expertise

Storage Systems (e.g., block, file and object storage) and Architecture Knowledge

Data replication, sharing and erasure coding.

Storage protocols (e.g., NFS, SMB, iSCSI and NVMe-oF).

Metadata management and consistency models (strong vs. eventual consistency).

Data Integrity, Durability, Reliability and Validation Testing

Failure injection (e.g., disk failures, node crashes and network partitions).

Consistency and correctness verification.

Bit rot detection and checksum validation.

Testing rebuilds, resyncs and recovery paths.

Test Automation, Tooling and Generation at Scale

Basic programming skills (e.g., Python, Java and C++).

API testing (e.g., REST/gRPC).

CI/CD integration for storage platforms.

Log analysis and automated failure detection.

Performance Regression and Scalability Testing

Latency, throughput and IOPS measurement.

Workload modeling (i.e., random vs. sequential IO and read/write mixes).

Capacity and scale testing (e.g., nodes, disks and objects).

Bottleneck analysis (e.g., network, disk, CPU and memory).

Observability and Debugging in Distributed Systems

Metrics, logging and tracing (i.e., Open Telemetry-style concepts).

Storage-specific metrics (e.g., IO latency, queue depth and rebalance rates).

Security and Compliance Testing

Encryption at rest and in transit.

Key management and rotation testing.

Secure deletion and data sanitization.

Cloud, Virtualization, Architectures and Infrastructure

Kubernetes-based storage (e.g., CSI drivers and operators).

Networking fundamentals (e.g., TCP/IP and RDMA basics).

Best Practices in Quality Engineering

Risk-based test planning and test strategies for complex distributed systems.

Root cause analysis, defect isolation and clear bug reporting.

Shift-left and shift-right testing approaches.

Paul Parrino, Jr. Page 2

Mobile: 508-***-**** Email: ******@*******.*** LinkedIn

Technology

Software: Microsoft® Project Windows 11 AutoCAD® 13 SmartBuilder Command Line Interface (CLI) Operating Systems: IBM® zOS Red Hat® HP 9000 HP-UX 11i Linux® Unix MVS

Languages: C++ Python™ (in process now) • Methodologies: Agile Waterfall Scrum

Select Critical Contributions

Non-Disruptive Upgrade (NDU). Served as QA technical lead for the NDU and NDD software feature enhancements on Symmetrix and PowerMax storage platforms. Led multiple QA teams and managed all phases of testing, including development, beta, pre-qualification, regression, conversion and software fix validation. Built strong, trust-based partnerships with software developers through consistent communication and reliable execution. Delivered the project ahead of schedule, reducing costs and enabling deeper quality testing—success that established me as the developers’ preferred QA partner.

Test team leadership. Built & led a new drive qualification testing team for storage products. Established twice-weekly team meetings, guided the team in defining a comprehensive test suite, and implemented a structured process for tracking, reviewing and triaging failures on a complex project. Consolidated results into clear, actionable reports, presented findings to developers and collaborated on fixes. Proposed and drove adoption of a dedicated test build for required fixes only, reducing code churn and improving stability—giving the team tighter control over test environments and earning strong support from dev-ops.

Integration testing oversight. Selected to lead system integration testing for a new SDL feature based on deep configuration expertise. Spent several months onsite at the manufacturing facility qualifying the feature and partnering closely with development to resolve issues. Led efforts to address a major drive synchronization timing delay, reducing sync time by 50% through collaborative debugging—an improvement later integrated into the core test code used across all software packages.

Crisis management. During COVID-19, transitioned quickly to fully remote work without disruption. When a whitewash and hardware upgrade were required, volunteered to travel on-site to headquarters to complete the work. Replaced hardware on twenty PowerMax systems, re-imaged and restored each system to full operation—earning management recognition & a reward for stepping up during a challenging time.

Configuration leadership. As a mainframe configuration SME, served as the primary resource for configuring and installing new Limestone hardware SLICs. Supported multiple QA teams by owning their configurations and walking them through the process, including software setup and specialized cabling. Completed all configurations on plan with full test readiness—earning recognition for efficient, confident execution.

Professional History

Dell EMC Technologies (1998-2024)

Senior Hardware/Software Quality Engineer (2000-2024)

Promoted to position as project lead responsible for identifying, prioritizing and resolving critical issues, and collaborating closely with development teams to design, develop and validate hotfixes for software. Partnered in the design, development and implementation of advanced testing & troubleshooting methodologies for redesigned and new products, systems and equipment supporting Symmetrix solutions.

Noteworthy achievement: Chosen to mentor students at Northeastern University & Brandeis University.

Senior Technician (1998-2000)

Conducted module- and system-level diagnostics and troubleshooting on HASS chambers, analyzing error messages to isolate faults at the component level, incl. microprocessors & digital circuitry. Maintained failure documentation & inventory records using Mac-Pac, supporting bar-code tracking & inventory control.

Early Career History

PRI Automation, Electrical/Electronic Technician (1997-1998)

Performed complex mechanical, electromechanical and electronic tasks related to the fabrication, testing, debugging, and documentation of assemblies and modules. Collaborated with engineering, drafting and production teams to troubleshoot and resolve system hardware and software issues. Applied knowledge of microprocessors, power supplies and servo systems to support circuit board analysis and design.

Pre-1997: Cyn Environmental, Environmental Engineer • Clean Harbors, Chemist

Education & Affiliations

BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY, Master of Science, Information Technology Management • Magna Cum Laude

NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY, Bachelor of Science, Electrical Engineering Technology

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), member

Contact this candidate