Samuel Safyan, Developer in San Francisco, CA, United States
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Samuel Safyan

Verified Expert  in Engineering

Software Developer

Location
San Francisco, CA, United States
Toptal Member Since
August 16, 2019

Samuel has over 15 years of experience as a QA engineer. His range of expertise varies from helping industry leaders like Zillow and TD Ameritrade optimize their automation processes to assisting startups in building their automation processes and frameworks from scratch. He is a clear and thoughtful communicator and has experience as both a team lead and a mentor.

Quality Assurance (QA)SeleniumAppiumCucumberJenkinsSoapUIMacOSiOSAndroidJavaPythonGitGitHubEspressoTestNG

Portfolio

Pinata, Inc.
GitHub, GraphQL, React, Cypress
Zillow Group
REST Assured, Appium, Espresso, Selenium, Cypress
Progress Financial Corp
MongoDB, REST Assured, Travis CI, Jenkins, Selenium, TestNG, Java

Experience

Java - 10 yearsSelenium - 7 yearsJenkins - 7 yearsPython - 5 yearsAppium - 4 yearsTravis CI - 4 yearsREST Assured - 3 yearsCypress - 2 years

Availability

Part-time

Preferred Environment

GitHub, ZenHub, Git, JavaScript, MacOS

The most amazing...

...project I've helped QA and build was the "social connections" at Zillow. It socially matched teammates based on their personal interests.

Work Experience

Senior Lead Automation Engineer

2019 - 2020
Pinata, Inc.
  • Implemented a full automation framework from scratch using Cypress to test the React website.
  • Expanded the Cypress framework to create thorough API tests.
  • Ensured reliability of CI/CD builds by launching automated tests via Github Action.
  • Increased mobile coverage for iOS and Android devices via BrowserStack.
  • Implemented QA processes that reduced the number of bugs being deployed to production.
Technologies: GitHub, GraphQL, React, Cypress

Senior Quality Assurance Engineer

2014 - 2018
Zillow Group
  • Spearheaded the QA efforts of migrating tests from​ Selenium to​ Cypress​ which enhanced test stability by over 50%.
  • Led the mobile QA automation efforts for Trulia's Real Estate Android app using ​Espresso.
  • Worked with the automation lead to implement an Appium Framework from scratch; test coverage included iPhone and Android devices.
  • Helped increase code coverage by writing ​React​ ​unit tests​ with ​Jest.
  • Helped integrate a continuous integration pipeline with Jenkins and Docker.
Technologies: REST Assured, Appium, Espresso, Selenium, Cypress

Senior Quality Assurance Engineer | Automation Lead

2013 - 2014
Progress Financial Corp
  • Designed a robust automation suite using ​Java, ​TestNG, and Selenium.
  • Created custom libraries to work around Selenium’s limitations.
  • Automated back-end verifications via ​REST API ​calls and ​MongoDB ​queries.
  • Ensured build stability by setting up a ​Jenkins and Travis CI​ environment.
Technologies: MongoDB, REST Assured, Travis CI, Jenkins, Selenium, TestNG, Java

Senior Quality Assurance Engineer | Automation Lead

2011 - 2013
Intrax, Inc.
  • Led Intrax, Inc.’s automation efforts and created robust test suites using​ Selenium and ​Python ​for testing Windows, Mac, ​iOS​, and ​Android​.
  • Conducted ​localization, migration​, and functional testing​ ​of Intrax’s websites.
  • Created high-level test plans and hundreds of test cases for releases.
  • Provided management with accurate QA estimates.
  • Collaborated with developer and product teams in prioritization of issues, scope locking, and new feature implementations.
Technologies: Selenium, Python

Senior Quality Assurance Engineer | Team Lead

2001 - 2010
TD Ameritrade
  • Built the Investools, Inc. QA department from the ground up.
  • Evaluated and trained new QA hires.
  • Implemented an agile process.
  • Created automated test suites using both commercial and open-source tools.
  • Tested and helped design multiple products awarded ​“Best of the Web” ​by Forbes ​and Barrons–​including ​ProphetCharts​ and ​Prophet.net​ (Best Technical Analysis Site).
  • Led team of four testers and utilized each member’s strengths to deliver timely, high-quality software.
  • Administered​ performance, load, and stress tests​ using JMeter and LoadRunner.
  • Helped pinpoint bottlenecks using ​RBI​.
Technologies: Silk Test, LoadRunner, Apache JMeter

Trulia Real Estate App

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.trulia.android&hl=en
Trulia is part of Zillow Group—the biggest real estate search provider in the United States. One of my roles was writing the automation for our main Android app.

We initially used Appium for automation, but then switched to Espresso for the stability and speed increases. The app had millions of users and repeatedly won the "Editor's Choice" award in the Google Play Store.

Trulia Website

https://www.trulia.com/
One of my other responsibilities at Trulia (Zillow Group) was to migrate our Selenium Java tests over to Cypress JavaScript tests. This greatly increased both the speed and stability of the tests. I also spent a few months wearing the hat of a junior developer, contributing small updates and bug fixes for our main website.

Technologies: JavaScript, PHP

TD Ameritrade Charts

https://www.tdameritrade.com/tools-and-platforms/thinkorswim/features.page
My nine-year career at TD Ameritrade started with my role as the first QA engineer at a startup called Prophet Finance. Our flagship product was a charting application that allowed users to analyze the financial markets. It won us multiple awards, leading to multiple acquisitions. Our QA team for the charting platform eventually grew to six people, where I led a team of four offshore testers.

Frameworks

Selenium, Cypress, Appium, Espresso, TestNG, Jest

Tools

REST Assured, Cucumber, SoapUI, Travis CI, Jenkins, Git, ZenHub, GitHub, Apache JMeter, LoadRunner, Silk Test

Paradigms

Automated Testing, Continuous Integration (CI), Agile, Load Testing

Platforms

MacOS, iOS, Android, Windows

Other

Quality Assurance (QA), Mobile App Testing, Performance Testing

Languages

JavaScript, Java, Python, SQL, GraphQL

Libraries/APIs

React

Storage

MySQL, MongoDB, Amazon DynamoDB

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