Professional experience
Product developer / Test consultant
As product developer and test consultant at Collis I worked on several projects related to software testing within the electronic payments domain. This work entailed a wide range of activities, from analysis of functional specifications and subsequent derivation of test cases, the design and implementation of test cases in automated test scripts, to the execution of tests and the analysis and reporting of test results.
Some of the projects I have worked on are listed below.
M/Chip Advance Functional Test Suite
This is a pre-certification test suite for applications developed for MasterCard's new M/Chip Advance card platform, which combines a contact and a contactless interface and provides both payment and data storage capabilities. I have implemented a large fraction of this test suite and was also responsible for maintenance and customer support.
C-TAP certification testing
The C-TAP protocol is the communication protocol that is used in the Netherlands for data traffic between Point-of-Sale (POS) payment terminals and acquiring host systems. I have performed Functional Acceptance Tests on POS terminals, needed for certification by the C-TAP Authority, and also worked on maintenance, updating and improving of the C-TAP Terminal Test Environment.
Card brand certification testing
Before payment terminals, either POS or ATM, are allowed to handle transactions from the major card schemes (e.g. MasterCard/Maestro or Visa) they have to be certified by the card scheme. I have done both MasterCard and Visa certification tests for POS terminal vendors and assisted them in obtaining certification.
Test and IT expert at ING
At ING bank I was part of the test team responsible for the functional testing of Cash Recycle Automaten that will be placed in the new ING agencies. These machines can be used to both deposit and withdraw money and includes a teller application for special transactions such as withdrawals with a broken or missing card. As part of the test team I designed and executed test cases.
Scientific researcher
Modern-day (observational) astronomy is all about data gathering, data storage, data reduction, data analysis and visualization and of course presentation of results. With astronomical instruments becoming increasingly sensitive and efficient, the data sets that are generated are becoming ever larger and more complex. All the activities mentioned above would be impossible without the use of computers.
As an astronomer, I have gathered a lot of experience in image analysis, handling large data sets and analysing data using statistical tools. For my PhD I developed an automated pipeline for reducing and analysing a large amount of survey data. Also during my postdoc I worked with large data sets of photometry of up to tens of millions of stars. Statistical tools that I have used include chi-squared statistics, maximum-likelihood methods and resampling techniques. In many cases I have written my own software or scripts in languages such as C, SQL, IDL, SuperMongo and IRAF. I also have about 50 nights of observing experience at a variety of large optical telescopes.
Presentation of results is of key importance in science, and I have given numerous colloquia and conference talks and written scientific papers in international astronomical journals, all of this almost exclusively in the English language. Apart from that I have written a large number of succesful observing proposals and grant proposals.