Computer Science Department Alumni
Regi John
Test Manager
Communications Incubation Center
Microsoft Research
Redmond, WA
Web site:
http://www.microsoft.com/ResponsePoint
Professional Profile: Regi is a 1996 graduate of the
University of Idaho receiving a MS degree in Computer Science. Regi’s
hometown is Trivandrum, the capital of Kerala, India. Trivandrum is a city built
on hills, located on the southwest tip of India and close to the seashore.
Here's the way Regi described how he decided to study Computer Science. "I’d
been pretty good in math and science during my early school years. Towards the
end of high school, I knew I wanted to pursue my education in engineering. This
was in the early 80’s when PCs were just catching on. I found these machines
to be extremely fascinating and as a result decided to join the BS in Computer
Science and Engineering program at Bangalore University, India. During my third
year in the BS program, it struck me that ensuring the quality of software was
going to be a challenge, and that it was the area I wanted learn more about."
Kerala, India is a long way from Moscow, ID, but Regi was unexpectedly drawn
here by something that resonated with his interest in software quality. "My
aim for an MS degree in Computer Science was to specialize in software engineering,
especially in the area of software quality. I wanted to do my degree in
the United States, as the US, at that time, was the leader in computer technology.
To my chagrin I found that there weren’t many schools that had specialized courses
for, or even an emphasis on, software engineering. The University of Idaho was
one of the few schools that did. When I found out about the Computer Science
Department's Software Engineering Test Lab (SETL), I knew this was the school
for me."
Because of the research work that Dr. Paul Oman was doing for Hewlett Packard
and other companies, and also the work that Prof. William Junk and other faculty
members were doing, there was ample opportunity to work in, and learn about,
software engineering and software quality. Regi's thesis work, conducted under
Dr. Oman supervision, focused on the use of software metrics to predict the
reusability of software components. "The Research Assistantship I was granted
not only helped pay for my education, but it also allowed me to do research
work on real-world related projects."
"I found the faculty to be very, very good in their
areas of expertise, and also very approachable, so I didn’t feel intimidated
to engage with them."
There were several intangibles that Regi found enhanced his educational experience.
"The class sizes were small which allowed almost a one-on-one interaction with
the professors. Their open door policy meant that I could walk into their offices
pretty much any time to discuss something. I found the faculty to be very, very
good in their areas of expertise, and also very approachable, so I didn’t feel
intimidated to engage with them."
In addition to his thoughts about the academic program, Regi has fond memories
of local area. "I will never forget the many wonderful hiking and fishing trips
I took during my time in Moscow. Or the beautiful rolling hills of the Palouse.
In other words, the University of Idaho was not only a great school from an
academic perspective, but also located in a place that allowed for terrific
opportunities to enjoy the great outdoors."
From his experience in the Computer Science graduate program, Regi offers
a few recommendations to future graduate students. "I’d encourage every MS student
to take the thesis option if possible. The experience that you'll get from doing
a thesis is invaluable and you'll be able to take the skills with you to the
workplace. Those skills will continue to serve you throughout your career. I’d
also encourage a good balance between theoretical Computer Science and courses
that teach practical concepts."
"My experiences at the University of Idaho provided
a practical grounding that served me very well once I joined Microsoft."
After graduating, Regi was intent on working in the software quality area.
"I applied for testing jobs with various companies and finally decided to accept
Microsoft’s offer for a job as a Software Design Engineer in Test (SDET) for
the SQL Server Group. My experiences at the University of Idaho provided a practical
grounding that served me very well once I joined Microsoft." Regi has been with
Microsoft ever since. He spent five years in the SQL Server Group, then
moved to the Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) team where he spent another
five years. Over time he has moved from the role of an individual contributor
to that of a manager.
With his preparation Regi found the transition from academia to Microsoft
to be easy. "At Microsoft I was applying many of the things that I’d learned
in classes, as well as from my research. In fact, one of the first projects
that my manager put me on was to figure out the appropriate metrics to use to
evaluate the effectiveness of our test strategy."
"My exposure to academic papers and publications
has helped me immensely in learning about, and keeping updated on the state-of-the-art."
"One of the most important lessons I learned in graduate school, that continue
to serve me today, was an unexpected outcome of my thesis research. I started
with a vague notion of the area I was going to investigate. I found a few papers
in the general area of what I wanted to do and then started expanding my search.
This skill is something I’ve found myself using over and over again in my professional
work. In software testing we’re typically given a new product feature or area
to test. We have to educate ourselves about the area, and most times the information
is not easily available. I found myself using many of the same techniques, in
gleaning the necessary information, that I’d used during my thesis work. Also,
my exposure to academic papers and publications has helped me immensely in learning
about, and keeping updated on, the state-of-the-art in software engineering
and software testing.
"It’s my responsibility to make sure that we’re
doing the right set of things to ensure that we can ship a high quality
product within our planned schedule."
Regi has been in his current position with Microsoft Research for about two
years where he's the Test Manager of the Communications Incubation Center (CIC)
group. CIC is a group in Microsoft Research that is responsible for incubating
and bring to market technologies in the communications area. "Our first product
is called Response Point. It was developed in the relatively short time of two
years with a small team of engineers. I run a team of nine Software Design Engineer
in Test (SDET) responsible for ensuring that the product we’re working
on ships with high quality and with minimal bugs. We test the software using
many techniques. We also write a lot of code. Most times we write more code
than the developers. I split my time between project management, people management,
and technical activities. It's my responsibility to make sure that we’re doing
the right set of things to ensure that we can ship a high quality product within
our planned schedule. I represent the test team at various managerial and executive
level meetings. In December 2006 I was part of the team that presented our product,
and the work we were doing, to Bill Gates during the yearly review he does with
the different teams in Microsoft."
Regi describes his typical day in the following way, "The first thing I do
every day is to fire up our bug tracking system to see what was reported the
previous day. I go through each report to get a better understanding of the
problem, whether or not it was caught as a result of testing, and if not, why
not. I try to discern whether there’s a pattern to the problems being reported,
whether we have the right tests and testing strategy in place, and I also look
at trends such as how many bugs are being opened per day. I attend a number
of meetings during the day. I meet with my peers in the Development and Program
Management teams where we discuss the status of the project. I also meet with
members of my team to go over the various testing activities we're doing."
Helping create a customer-centered focus is another facet of his work that
Regi enjoys. "One of the cool things about the team I’m currently in is that
we get to wear multiple hats. We have a few companies around Seattle and in
other parts of the country who are our Beta customers. They run pre-release
versions of our product in a real-world environment. I'm the support person
for one of these customers. So if they come across any problems while using
our product, I help them figure out what’s going on. If it requires a fix to
our product, then I’ll help deploy a newer version to their site. This experience
gives me a much better understanding of how our product is used by real customers
in a live setting. The things I learn are very useful in both the design of
future versions of our product, as well as ensuring that we’re testing the right
set of scenarios in our test lab."
April 2008
The views expressed on this page are those of the individual being
profiled and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the University
of Idaho or the employer. References to specific organizations and companies
does not constitute endorsement of their products or services by the University
of Idaho.
Copyright © 2008 University of Idaho Board of Regents
