Lydia Ash

Current

• Engineering Manager at Google

Past

• Lead Software Development Engineer in Test at Microsoft
• Author of The Web Testing Companion at http://www.amazon.com/Web-Testing-Companion-Efficient-Effective/dp/0471430218
• Project Specialist and QA Engineer at Endura

• Web Programmer at State University of New York

see less...

1 more...

Recommended

1 person has recommended Lydia

Connections

100 connections

Industry

Computer Software

Websites

• Google Interview
• The Web Testing Companion
• Resume

Lydia Ash’s Summary

Lydia Ash’s Specialties:

Engineering management, software testing, web testing, shipping software, getting things done

Lydia Ash’s Experience

• Engineering Manager

  Google

  (Public Company; 5001-10,000 employees; Computer Software industry)

  2005 — Present (3 years)

  Directed all test efforts for Google's Kirkland and Seattle Engineering Offices. Promoted to Senior Manager and accepted management of several projects tested in other engineering offices including Google Apps, Gmail, and Calendar. Asked to take on the test engineering strategy and build the teams for the east coast offices including New York City, Atlanta, and Boston. Built the Webmaster Trends Analyst team. Contributed to design, developed testing strategies appropriate to each product, established release criteria, and built testing teams.
  
  Products during Google tenure included:
  Google Sitemaps
  Google Webmaster Central
  Google Video and Video Player
  Google Talk
  Google Maps (GeoData and pathing)
  Google Apps
  Google Apps for Your Domain
  Gmail
  Google Calendar
  Google Pack
  Google SMS Mobile Gateway
  Google Click to Call
  Google Website Optimizer
  Google Music Trends
  Various Google Ads optimization projects

• Lead Software Development Engineer in Test

  Microsoft

  (Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; Computer Software industry)

  1999 — 2005 (6 years)

  2002 - 2005 Built the testing teams that owned the most visible areas of the Exchange 2003 release as well as many core features. Managed two teams of development engineers focused on testing Outlook Web Access 12. Active participant in architecture reviews for product and testing.
  
  2001 - 2002 Managed the test team for the Outlook.NET initiative to create an ASP.NET based web solution for Hailstorm. Managed teams through product definition, design, and testing stages.
  
  2001 Managed the test team for the NetDocs initiative to create internet services.
  
  1999 - 2001 Technical lead for testing directly owning many of the OWA features. Key member in risk analysis, feature costing, test planning, and feature set decisions.
  
  Products during Microsoft tenure included:
  Outlook Web Access
  Outlook.NET
  NetDocs Web Access
  Exchange 2000 and point releases
  Outlook Web Access 5.5 SP4
  Outlook Web Access 2000

• Author of The Web Testing Companion

  http://www.amazon.com/Web-Testing-Companion-Efficient-Effective/dp/0471430218

  (Computer Software industry)

  2003 — 2003 (less than a year)

  Authored a highly respected book on testing web applications. This book is one of the foundation books given to new Google engineers.

• Project Specialist and QA Engineer

  Endura

  (Privately Held; 201-500 employees; Computer Software industry)

  1998 — 1999 (1 year)

  1998 - 1999 QA Engineer for Endura's Advanced Order Management Enterprise suite of applications. One of two leads on automated regression test suite project.
  
  1998 Project management specialist for Endura's support team. Improved communications and coordination with other departments enabling accurate project planning and reducing elapsed issue resolution time by half.
  
  Products:
  Advanced Order Management Enterprise suite

• Web Programmer

  State University of New York

  (Educational Institution; 1001-5000 employees; E-Learning industry)

  1995 — 1998 (3 years)

  1996 - 1998 Academic specialist for the State University of New York. Complete management of computing resources and personnel for the School of Art + Design. Delivered multimedia courseware through partnerships with university professors, worked on distance learning initiatives, network planning, facility planning, and management.
  
  1995 - 1996 Web programmer for the State University of New York. Team member working with university committee to define, execute, and deliver the university's first coordinated website.

Additional Information

Lydia Ash’s Websites:

• Google Interview
• The Web Testing Companion
• Resume

Lydia Ash’s Interests:

Software, management, falconry

Lydia Ash’s Groups:

Forum for Women Entrepreneurs and Executives

Lydia Ash’s Honors:

Publications:
Author of "The Web Testing Companion"
This highly acclaimed book is one of the foundation books given to new Google engineers.

Consulting expert for the book "Software Requirement Patterns"

Published paper for the Conference of the Association for Software Testing (CAST) – Data Set Analysis

Presentations:
Women in Leadership Symposium panelist
New York Test Engineering Forum panelist
Conference of the Association for Software Testing (CAST) - Data Set Analysis
QA SIG and CAST - Panelist for the Software Testing Exhibition
Society of Women Engineers - Working in the Innovation Factory
University of Washington - Essential Skills for Web Testers
Pacific Northwest Software Quality Conference (PNSQC) - A Peek Inside Google's Innovation Factory
Google presentation - Network Analysis
Association for Women in Computing - AJAX in Action
Amazon.com's Engineering series - 5 Ways to Make Your Web Testing More Effective

Lydia Ash’s Contact Settings

Interested In:

• expertise requests
• reference requests
• getting back in touch