While most of my posts are technical, this one is a personal update:

I have accepted a fantastic new role as a Software Engineer in Test at PrecisionLender! I will be the company’s technical leader for testing and automation: building a strategy, setting up frameworks, writing tests, running tests in a CI/CD pipeline, and educating others. It’s the perfect role for me, and together, we will do great things. PrecisionLender is a very collaborative company that builds a software platform to help banks make smarter loans. They have about a hundred employees right now, and they’re growing. Their Raleigh office is located very close to my home.

With this announcement also comes the bittersweet news of my departure from LexisNexis. After almost a year and a half, it is time to say goodbye. I want to make it very clear that I am not leaving LexisNexis because I am unhappy, but rather to pursue a great new opportunity that providentially found me. My role as a Senior Software Test Engineer at LexisNexis has truly been the greatest opportunity of my career so far. I became a technical leader on one of the strongest test automation teams in Raleigh. I led the development of test frameworks that were shared across the whole company, in addition to writing countless test cases. I did internal consulting with groups across the globe to teach them how to be better testers and automationeers. I even earned the nickname “Reverend BDD” for the many impassioned training sessions I delivered. I grew tremendously in my own professional software skills. I learned from my mistakes along the way with the grace of others. And I found many great, new friends, with whom I will surely miss working. I specifically want to thank my manager, Kalen Howell, Sr., and my team lead, Jeff Wolf, for trusting me to tackle big problems and valuing my expertise. Working for LexisNexis has been a privilege.

My last day at LexisNexis will be Tuesday, April 3. My wife and I will then take a short vacation to Charleston, SC, and I will start my new position at PrecisionLender on Tuesday, April 10. Other than that, I will continue to write this Automation Panda blog and help my wife with her businesses as needed. I will also deliver a talk at PyCon 2018 in Cleveland, Ohio this May entitled, “Behavior-Driven Python.” Be sure to check it out! Connect with me on LinkedIn and Twitter, too.

I am resolute in my career path to continue pursuing testing and automation. Vocationally, we as creatures made in God’s image ought to seek to glorify Him through our creative work. As software engineers, our form of work emulates the creativeness of our Creator. Much in the way that God spoke creation into being, we likewise speak software into being, albeit in a microcosm. The whole discipline of computer science is itself rooted in language, in instruction. The instructions we issue, and the very systems we construct, reflect the logical, rational, orderly nature of God’s creation. Furthermore, as testers, we likewise recognize man’s fallen nature and our need for correction. The systems we implement will never be perfect because we are not equal to God. In testing, we simultaneously assert the wonders of creativity as well as our need for redemption in Christ – both to the glory of the Good Lord. This is what motivates me to pursue test automation. I thank God for this opportunity. Soli Deo Gloria.