Sara Seese

Current position: Jr Systems Administrator / Automated Test Engineer

Education (degrees and school): BA (English Literature), Ursinus College

Hobbies: writing (fiction mostly), reading, theater arts, binge-watching TV, used to crochet a lot but gave it up when 3 cats decided they liked playing with yarn, too!

Where were you born and where did you grow up? Where did you go to high school?

Born in Atlantic City NJ and grew up in southern NJ. Went to high school in Voorhees, NJ., college in eastern Pennsylvania, and moved to California shortly after graduating college. Lived in Germany for almost two years. Now in Texas for close to 15 years.

What did you want to be when you were growing up?

An archaeologist, until I found out that there were spiders and scorpions on the digsites. Then my dad died and I thought I wanted to be a doctor. Then I wasn’t sure and thought maybe I’d become a teacher … I’ve done a lot of different things but none of them have been directly related to my childhood answers!

How did you get into computer science?

I took one semester of BASIC in 1983 so I didn’t have much (lol, not any) background but I had several different jobs and learned how to be proficient at learning to use various software programs. When the company I work for decided in 2014 to develop and launch a new software loan-management system, they asked employees if we were willing to add “bug testing” and “user story development” to ourregular duties. By the time we launched in 2017, I’d submitted over 400 bugs and had become good friends with the guy who wrote most of the code to fix the bugs I uncovered. He encouraged me to talk to the IT director if I was interested in doing QA on a permanent basis. It was at least 1 ½ years after I had that conversation that I was invited to interview for a new position in the department, part Systems Ops support and part QA/Automated Testing. I jumped at the chance.

What other jobs have you had?

Actress/Missionary for a travelling theater ministry

Public Relations

Finance Office data entry

Receptionist/office clerk

Executive Assistant to Sales Manager, Corporate Training Director, VP of International Logistics Ops

Mary Kay independent sales rep

Admin assistant, purchasing department, for a major airline

Inbound Customer Service phone rep

Freelance writer and editor

Loan Account Maintenance/Customer Service Support

What is an average day at work like for you?

First thing in the morning, check reports/health queries/troubleshoot and respond to any redflags

Department meeting Scrum at 9AM

Load any new system/loan files and verify success, send notifications to appropriate department heads/lending partners before noon

Then begin working on QA projects: this can be spot-checking a major bugfix before it goes to the SMEs, or running the test suite against new code prior to release/deployment, or developing new tests to add to the features and functionalities that the test suites already cover.

Periodically check that daily sys ops are running like a well oiled machine! Additional Health checks at 1PM, 3PM and before I leave for the day.

That’s assuming that there aren’t any red flags that require all-hands-on-deck to resolve!

What is your favorite part of your job?

When the QA test I’ve designed identifies an issue before it becomes a problem! I’ve got primary responsibility for the customer-facing apps and my supervisor is primarily responsible for the software system used by our internal clients (fellow employees). Internal clients will sqawk if something doesn't work (which is their right, and we expect that). They pick up the phone, they send an email, they complain to their director who calls our director. But clients don’t have those avenues -- if they have problems with our website, it reflects very badly on our customer service and reputation. My tests and my knowledge of how the apps are supposed to work makes all the difference between a pleasant customer with a seamless user experience and a frustrated, deeply unhappy customer!

What is the best opportunity you have had because of computer science?

This.

IT is a meritocracy. There is NOTHING in my resume that announces “This person is obviously qualified for this well-paid salaried position” but I was offered the job anyway, based on what they’d seen me do already. The people I work with could care less about my resume -- all they care about is what I bring to the table -- any prior knowledge, willingness to keep learning more, persistence, and creativity/outside the box thinking that’s focused on problem solving.

Any great stories about working in computer science?

Not “great” just “encouraging.” When I first got the job I knew nothing about SQL queries, databases, PowerShell scripts, or C#. I had a crazy nightmare after about 2 weeks into it where my writing a SQL query to match our customer data (borrowers of loans) with their favorite recipes (no idea where that came from!) was vital to saving the world -- I woke up thrashing and in a cold sweat because I didn’t know how to write a SQL query, much less save the world! But today, 16 months later, SQL is one of several tools I use every day without anxiety or hesitation. It really is a matter of being willing to learn something new every day, to stretch yourself to gain a new skill.