Denise Jordan
I am lucky that I do a job that I enjoy. I am married with two young children so getting the broad balance of work and life is important to me.
Did you have a particular role in mind when you made your degree choices and why?
No, not at all. With my A-level subject areas I considered Teaching (everybody does), Computer Science and Business Studies. I settled on an Honors Degree in Business with Computing at the University of Ulster in Coleraine and it was during my time there, I knew my career path was going to be IT. I really enjoyed the practical aspects of the degree. I loved creating and breaking code. I also loved my time at university so I continued to study post degree and completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Web Information Systems at the University of Ulster in Jordanstown. When considering employment, a graduate position came up in a software testing role – I had no knowledge about the role but I took the chance!
What is the best educational / career advice you have ever received?
Keep your options open. Everyone has interests – focus on those areas you love and your day job will be rewarding. I have been fortunate to be working in the software development industry since I graduated. I am currently a Software Test Manager for Almac and our work is really making a difference in the advancement of human health.
Did you always know you wanted to be a Software Test Manager?
No ☺ I enjoyed computer science at school but it was only during my degree that I knew I wanted to be involved within IT. IT encapsulates many different areas and can open doors to a range of roles from development, testing, infrastructure to release management. Not many students leaving university would be aware of the software testing career path – software development was probably considered to be the preferred route. I can see that trend changing though which is great. I took a chance with a graduate role and that has been extremely rewarding for me.
What type of exciting projects have you worked on?
Working as part of busy department, both within the Craigavon site and our North Carolina facility, I have been involved with testing a number of applications over the years. TempEZ was a notable project – the TempEZ application guarantees complete visibility of any commercial or clinical drug product’s temperature compliance throughout its entire journey from manufacture to patient administration. Our work has ensured that TempEZ can provide the most flexible, convenient and secure platform available on the market.
