Xennial Innovations Inc.

In my current accountability, I have been deeply immersed in the role of Community Manager for Xennial Innovations, a position that requires a unique blend of communication prowess and community-building finesse. 

My days are filled with dynamic tasks, from crafting engaging newsletters using ClickUp to keeping our growing community of developers well-informed and visually captivated, to managing the vibrant conversations within our Discord server.

One of my key responsibilities involves wielding the power of social media, particularly on platforms like Twitter and LinkedIn. 

I've honed the art of developing and executing strategic social media plans to enhance our brand visibility and foster meaningful connections with our audience.

In addition to my digital endeavors, I take pride in orchestrating community events that transcend the virtual realm. Whether it's a virtual gathering or an in-person meetup, I've been the driving force behind planning, coordinating, and executing events that bring our community together.

My role extends beyond the digital space—I've become a regular face at industry meetups, conferences, and events. Attending these gatherings has not only allowed me to represent our brand but has also provided invaluable opportunities to network with like-minded individuals, industry professionals, and potential partners.

This opportunity has been a journey of growth, creativity, and proactive engagement. 

I've fostered a sense of belonging within our community, ensuring that every interaction is not just informative but also enriching. It's been a thrilling experience contributing to the evolution and success of our community, and I look forward to many more months of building connections, organizing events, and shaping a thriving digital ecosystem.

Community Manager

TechTarget

I love writing about technical topics, and writing for TechTarget and TheServerSide has given me an opportunity to learn about a wide array of technical topics, while getting the opportunity to interview and work with experts and leaders in the field.

However, writing is only part of my passion. 

The other big thing that motivates me is working hard to get my message out to as wide an audience as possible. Which is why I take Search Engine Optimization so seriously.

I have over a dozen #1 ranked articles on Google on highly competitive keywords pertaining to Java, Agile, Scrum and Cloud Computing. 

In fact, my articles often rank multiple times on the landing page of Google for competitive keywords. I will often have 3 or 4 videos on the landing page of Google's video tab. That's SEO done right!

Technical Writer and SEO Expert

IngramSpark

When I went to pursue my Scrum Master and Product Owner certifications, I realized there was a real void in the market with respect to resources that guided the learner's path. This motivated me to write and publish the Scrum Master Certification Guide, a 325 hardcover book available on Amazon and bookstores everywhere.

I would love to be able to take full credit for the book, but I simply can't. It was a true team effort in which a community of experts came together to produce a product that I'm infinitely proud of.

Pulling together a network of experts from my social media accounts, meetup groups, industry connections and even friends and family, I built a team of people who were experts on a variety of topics including:

- Content writing
- Book publishing
- Marketing
- Email campaigns
- Image editing
- Scrum and Agile knowledge

The team helped with every aspect of the book, including technical oversight of the content. Editors and contributors corrected for nuance, edited for clarity and quite often fully rewrote chapters to show me a better way to express an idea or concept.

As I said, my name is on the cover of the book, which is most humbling, because it's the team who pulled the project together that deserves the credit, and I'm forever greatful for the team's effort.

To be honest, this book is perhaps the big reason I want to work in the field of team building and community management, because I've seen the power of a highly-motivated, self-managed team, and I've seen first hand how a group of talented developers create outcomes that are exponentially greater than the sum of their individual parts.

Author of the Best Selling Scrum Master Certification Guide

Linode

The people at Linode are the greatest people you could possibly work with!

As a Developer Advocate for Linode, I have assisted the social media team in content creation, product promotion and video publishing on YouTube.

I don't want to take undue credit for Linode's success, but after publishing my first video about Docker, which spoke about Python, nginx and Java, Linode's YouTube channel quickly gained 340,000 subscribers and surpassed the million follower milestone.

(Honestly, my content really had nothing to do with that, but given the timing, I'm happy to take credit for it *smile*)

Developer Advocate

Working to promote IBM's #TodaysArchitect initiative, I helped bring awareness to the community about how the the IBM Z System mainframes can be used to help accellerate work in the areas of intensive computing, including:

- Artificial Intelligence
- Machine Learning
- Data Science

The engagement included the creation of video content used to promote IBM mainframes, promotion across all of my social media channels, participation in media events, outreach and content planning.

Trend Micro

If you think Trend Micro is just about anti-virus software you'd be completely wrong.

Trend Micro has expanded far beyond its humble beginnings as an OS security platform into the industry's leading internet security platform. Sometimes people need to be reminded of this fact, which is why I was recruited as a Developer Advocate to help spread the message.

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

To be clear, this is not a paid position like the others listed in the 'Experience' section of LinkedIn. However, being a community builder has taught me a great deal about how online communities are built and fostered, and that's a big part of my journey, so I feel it's fair to list it here. 

The AWS Community Builder program is a community-driven initiative by Amazon Web Services (AWS) to recognize and support individuals who are passionate about AWS and actively contribute to the AWS community. 

The typical roles and activities associated with an AWS Community Builder include:

- Community Advocacy
- Content Creation
- Knowledge Sharing
- Mentorship
- Feedback Loops
- Collaboration
- Evangelism
- Continuous Learning
- Community Events
- Visibility and Recognition

The AWS Community Builders program does not constitute employment with Amazon. It is instead a community of highly motivated individuals who want to spread positivity and enthusiasm about modern technologies and new approaches to DevOps based deployments.

Community Builder

Scrumtuous Inc

Founder

Lean? Agile? Goal-oriented?

That's me, and that's why I'm here spreading my love for effective product development with Scrum and other proven techniques that work within the Scrum framework.

And how am I spreading this love?

In a variety of ways, but the one I'm most proud of is my recently published Scrum Master Certification Guide. It's a real book, over 200 pages long and available in both hardcover and softcover on Amazon.

The feedback and reviews have been great so far, and it really warms my heart when I get messages from people telling me it helped them learn Scrum, get Agile and of course, gain a coveted PSM, PSPO or CSM designation.

I'm also very active on Twitter and YouTube.

I'm up above 250,000 followers on Twitter, and I think I've posted close to 100 videos about DevOps, cloud computing, Java programming, Python development and of course Agile and Scrum on my YouTube channel.

I've also been honored to work as a developer advocate with incredible and amazing companies including:

- Linode
- Xennial Innovations
- IBM and;
- Trend Micro

It's honestly quite humbling to be associated at all with such amazing leaders in the industry.

I'd love it if you both followed me on LinkedIn and connected.

I'm just at the start of my journey, and I'm excited to see where it all leads. 

Let's build something great together, and let's do it publicly!

I absolutely love talking about the challenges I face and the successes I've enjoyed with other like-minded and highly-motivated individuals. So let's share!

Darcy DeClute

Knights Absorb - Learning

I started out providing expertise as a tester, after auditing software development processes and suggesting improvement. This transitioned to me rewriting a mobile app with Ionic Vue & Cypress, to both remove the large burden of tech debt and apply an updated UI design. Subsequently, I developed Ruby on Rails mobile app APIs. Throughout, I engaged in peer review of a Vue web app and any corresponding API updates.

At the end of 2023, resignations and contract terminations left me as the sole surviving team member. In 2024, a fractional CTO joined to rebuild the team. Initially, I worked on rebuilding a naive design in Figma.
Subsequently, I transitioned into building API documentation with Swagger/OpenAPI, supported by Postman. I also proposed a new quality strategy and turned my attention towards automated testing within a CI/CD context.

Software Development & Test Consultant

MyKusama

Began a reset on my previous work, developing a productivity app for freelancers. So far, this has involved:

* User story mapping
* UI design in Figma, including design system development
* Frontend development with Vue and Typescript
* Deployment of a web app to AWS, using: S3, IAM, Route 53, CloudFront, Certificate Manager
* Jira administration
* Test case development

Co-Founder

Aconite Technology

Responsibilities of previous Test Engineer role, plus:

* Technical lead for Aconite's transaction authentication product, which includes responsibilities for backend and frontend development, including end-to-end testing
* Scrum Master
* Application development using Enterprise Java
* Participant in company-wide effort to migrate from legacy Java UI technologies to Angular
* Training and mentoring of team members in HTML 5, CSS/SCSS, Typescript and Angular (complemented with training/mentoring in React, early on)
* Mentoring and guidance for Java developers
* Development of UI designs in Figma, based on assets produced by external design agency

Technical Lead

Responsibilities of previous Test Engineer role, plus:

* Scrum Master (certified in 2018)
* Responsible for testing of Aconite's transaction authentication product

Senior Tester

Responsibilities of previous Test Engineer role, plus:

* QA recruitment
* Scrum Master since 2016
* Peer review of test code produced by team, oversight of others doing the same
* Line management, training and mentoring of a team of 4 automated testers
* 2015-16, I worked on a new Python product with a team based in Norwich
* From 2016 I focused on Aconite's Java transaction authentication product

Lead Tester

* Manual & automated testing across three EMV products implemented in Java
* Products deployed to Websphere, Weblogic and Glassfish, utilising Oracle DB and SQL Server
*  Development of cucumber feature files with product owner
* Test planning
* Implementation of tests, test tools and test framework using Java & Groovy
* Automated tests implemented with JUnit & Maven, later with Spock and Geb via Gradle
* Responsible for setup and maintenance of test environments
* Peer review of requirements & documentation
* Business knowledge: TLV-BER (ASN.1), EMV, PCI PA-DSS, cryptography

Test Engineer

* Business established to build a productivity tool for freelancers
* Invited to participate in High Potential Startups, Durham Ambitious Business Startups and Durham City Incubator (all business incubators in Durham)
* Recorded requirements across Jira, Confluence and Notion and formally documented use cases
* Researched web security via OWASP, building on my fintech experience
* Investigated various implementation options, including Flutter, React and Vue
* Acquired and extended UI design skills, using Balsamiq and Figma
* Implemented UI designs using Vue

LamasaTech

* Provided network layer to multitouch application, in C++; server-side implemented in Java; additional thin client, with reduced functionality, implemented in PHP
* Architect of a Flash application on the iPad
* Network and system administrator, which included administration of Mercurial and Trac
* Researcher and evangelist for agile processes
* Team management: mentoring, training and process improvement

Lead Developer

Sony Computer Entertainment

* Functional testing of titles for PS2 and PSP, plus auditing of technical standard compliance for PS2, PSP and PS3 titles
* Provided cover for lead tester, which included liaison with producers and game studios

alldayPA

Development of an application for a callcentre using Java, Swing, JavaMail, XML, Oracle, Linux. Also supported a legacy C++ application and provided general IT support to callcentre staff.

Software Developer

Lateral Ltd

Development of the core of a data warehousing product, using Java and Swing, DB2 and Oracle, AIX and Linux.

John Hollings Software

Development of software, using Zim; based in the Bahamas

Broner Systems

Development of backend applications for products targeted at the steel industry, using C++ on AIX. Rational Rose used for class design in UML.

I have experience in frontend, backend, quality and UI design. 

I am on a mission to remove normalised systemic dysfunction from software development. 

If this sounds interesting, get in touch.

taplio

The Battle

Darcy DeClute

Greg Munt

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