Founder & CEO of Blue Violin
Greater Atlanta Area
- Past
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- Founder & CEO at Blue Violin
- Software Developer at PossibleNow
- Manager of Quality Assurance at PossibleNow
- Recruiter at SCI of Atlanta
- Contractor at Comprehensive Computer Solutions
- Senior Developer at PretoryNet
- Director of Technical Development at Amplified.com
- Senior Developer at AXC Interactive Solutions
- Contractor at Software Staffing Solutions
- Programmer at First Step Research
- Education
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- University of Idaho
- Sandpoint High School
- Connections
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54
connections
- Industry
- Computer Software
- Websites
Josh Watts’s Summary
Software programmer for a wide variety of applications on a wide variety of platforms.
Josh Watts’s Experience
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Founder & CEO
Blue Violin
(Computer Software industry)
September 2007 — January 2009 (1 year 5 months)
Blue Violin is an on-demand automated testing tool for web applications.
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Software Developer
PossibleNow
(Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Computer Software industry)
January 2007 — September 2007 (9 months)
Used C#, ASP.NET, ASP.NET AJAX extensions, Javascript, JSON, and XML to architect a new version of a privacy compliance web application.
Managed a complete architecture redesign for a client's web application. Reduced the time to fix an error by 90%. Created a companion site for mobile devices.
Used C# and C++ to implement projects such as high-speed file parsers, a PGP COM wrapper, and automated testing tools. -
Manager of Quality Assurance
PossibleNow
(Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Computer Software industry)
May 2004 — December 2006 (2 years 8 months)
Managed testing efforts for internal and external projects. Created and implemented test plans. Reviewed bug reports for accuracy and determined root cause of failure. Implemented exploratory testing to compensate for lack of written specifications.
Ensured released products met fiduciary and performance requirements
Handled configuration management. Created build packages for release and was responsible for pushing code to production. Wrote documentation to create servers from scratch.
Hired, evaluated, and trained test engineers. -
Recruiter
SCI of Atlanta
(Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Staffing and Recruiting industry)
September 2003 — April 2004 (8 months)
Created my own recruiting practice; established a client base from scratch.
Billed $70,000 in fees in 8 months.
Worked with VP and C-level executives at my client companies to negotiate placement fees and define position requirements.
Guided candidates through the interview process and negotiated a candidate's compensation package. -
Contractor
Comprehensive Computer Solutions
(Privately Held; 201-500 employees; Computer Software industry)
March 2002 — July 2003 (1 year 5 months)
Handled change management for a client's vendor extranet site. Made necessary changes from functional requirements. Applied updates to staging and production servers. Used SQL Server and Visual Basic.
Worked with Rail Car Management, Inc., to reverse engineer a rail yard management system. Created software in C++ to handle network communications between client software running in East St. Louis, MO, and the server located in Atlanta, GA.
Created an AJAX interface for a client's sales forecasting system. -
Senior Developer
PretoryNet
(Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Computer Software industry)
March 2001 — October 2001 (8 months)
Created a document management system for ChoicePoint and managed the full life-cycle of the project.
Gathered business and technical requirements. Worked with the product manager to develop a business plan for the service. Created a project plan with respect to resource allocation, technical effort, and budget. Monitored development efforts and updated project plan. Identified disruptions to the project and created solutions to keep the project on schedule and on budget.
Aligned technical requirements with business plan. Wrote system specifications and detailed design document; kept documents update with current state of development at all times. Coordinated the efforts of system administration, database administration, development, and quality assurance departments. Managed software development efforts; implemented server and client software. Wrote weekly reports for management.
Used open standards and open source libraries to speed development. -
Director of Technical Development
Amplified.com
(Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Internet industry)
September 1999 — February 2001 (1 year 6 months)
Managed all software development efforts and assisted with management of all technical resources. Built the software development group from 3 developers to 12 developers.
Worked with the President and VP of Marketing to develop a jukebox music service. Developed a media player and debugged client application.
Created a system for selling music downloads through Internet retailers. Wrote system specifications and detailed design documents. Handled project management. Point of contact for technical matters.
Worked with Microsoft Corp. to showcase Windows Media technologies. Directly worked with a product manager in the Windows Media group to produce and implement a variety of promotions. Researched the capability of the Windows Media system and gave a presentation to the Windows Media group. Managed technical relations with Microsoft.
Handled configuration management of all software systems. Identified enhancements, upgrades, and problems of software and hardware systems. -
Senior Developer
AXC Interactive Solutions
(Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Computer Software industry)
April 1998 — August 1999 (1 year 5 months)
Worked with RealNetworks and Enron Communications to develop a high-bandwidth video-on-demand service. Ported software from a Linux/Sybase platform to a Solaris/Oracle platform. Ensured software development was on schedule and met requirements of the project. Worked with Enron network engineers to implement software on production machines and performed usability testing.
Project manager for an ecommerce site, Amplified.com. Coordinated all aspects of development and implemented over half of the code. Worked with the client's system architect on business and technical requirements. Handled production support. -
Contractor
Software Staffing Solutions
(Privately Held; 201-500 employees; Computer Software industry)
October 1997 — March 1998 (6 months)
Worked at Microsoft Corp. in the Windows98 group. Tracked the release status for builds of Windows98. Created metric reports and indentified critical bugs based on beta tester feedback.
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Programmer
First Step Research
(Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Computer Software industry)
May 1996 — October 1997 (1 year 6 months)
Worked for Fujitsu Open Systems Solutions as a usability tester for their TeamWARE workflow management system. Created prototypes of end-user scenarios and assisted in branch testing, black box testing, and white box testing.
Wrote database interfaces for SQL Server, Oracle, and ODBC for use by web applications.
Additional Information
Josh Watts’s Websites:
Josh Watts’s Groups:
YnR, Atlanta Web Entrepreneurs
Josh Watts’s Contact Settings
Interested In:
- career opportunities
- consulting offers
- new ventures
- job inquiries
- expertise requests
- business deals
- reference requests
- getting back in touch
