Daniel Wilson
Tester · Studio · Ultras
I've been testing software since 2009. I build websites for small businesses as Little Oceans, and at weekends I run ultra-marathons, ideally over mountains. I notice details, and I believe in Oxford commas.
CP1 · Testing, 2009 to now
Seventeen years of breaking things
I started on games at SEGA and have spent most of the years since in finance and insurance, where a bug costs real people real money.
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2009 · BA (Hons) Digital Music & Computer Games Design, 2:1
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2009
SEGA Europe
Functionality Tester · Chiswick
Testing AAA games through pre-alpha, alpha and beta, straight out of university.
More
- Daily test and feedback reports for several external development studios.
- Software and hardware environment management.
- Writing and maintaining test scripts.
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2011
Software Quality Systems
Consultant · Moorgate
Three weeks in South Africa learning to test properly, an ISTQB Foundation, then out to clients.
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- Home Retail Group: the Argos digital browser that replaced the in-store catalogues, worth over £16m a year in savings.
- Gala Coral: a revenue protection system that flagged cash discrepancies to head office.
- Rated "Excellent", with 100% positive client feedback.
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2011 · ISTQB Foundation (CTFL)
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2012
Think Finance
Test Analyst · Covent Garden
Underwriting and verification on quid.co.uk and sunny.co.uk. They liked the consultancy work enough to hire me.
More
- Test scripts for system integration, UAT and offshore regression.
- Agile testing with TDD, BDD and Scrumban.
- Out of hours support, evenings, weekends and bank holidays.
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2014
Oakam
Contract Lead Test Analyst · Tottenham Court Road
Keeping a lender FCA compliant through the rate cap, affordability checks and redress.
More
- Validated loan calculation outputs for FCA compliance.
- Wrote the white papers that introduced defect, regression and reporting processes.
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2015
Elevate
Contract Senior QA · Covent Garden
sunny.co.uk across three teams: payments, customer experience and risk. Team of the Year 2015.
More
- Managed six to eight offshore testers across two teams.
- Regression automation with Selenium IDE.
- Interviewed junior and senior QA analysts.
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2015 · ISTQB Intermediate (ICST) · 2016 · BCS Business Analysis (FCBA)
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2017
Cabot Credit Management
Contract QA Lead · Brackley
A re-platforming that brought several businesses onto one system. I trained 15 business users to run UAT.
More
- Coordinated system, integration and user acceptance testing.
- Tested Direct Debit, AUDDIS and BACS files so repayments migrated correctly.
- Kept the migration PCI-DSS and FCA compliant.
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2017
Connells Group
Senior Test Analyst · Dunstable
Led four test analysts and helped the move from Waterfall to Agile.
More
- connells.co.uk, sequence.co.uk, hatched.co.uk and a company-wide Windows 10 upgrade.
- Made the case for, and introduced, cross-browser and cross-device testing tools.
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2018
NewDay
Credit Risk Testing Specialist · King's Cross
Decision systems for Aqua, Fluid, Amazon, Argos and more. Shipped defects went from three per release to one a year.
More
- Embedded in the credit risk team, implementing new decision strategies.
- Key out of hours contact for Experian and Provenir.
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2019 to now
Simply Business
Senior Software Test Engineer · Moorgate
Self-serve policy management for UK and US customers. Team of the Year 2019.
More
- Tested One Time Code login, Renewal Fee and the US Customer Account.
- Introduced cross-browser and cross-device testing for engineering.
- Ruby on Rails, React, Cypress, BrowserStack, AWS and New Relic.
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2025
The Book On Software Testing: A Guide for Non‑Testers
A jargon-free guide for the Product Owners, Project Managers, Business Analysts and developers who work with testers.
CP2 · Little Oceans
I build websites for small businesses
Little Oceans is my web studio in Bedfordshire. Every site is hand-coded, fast, and looked after once it's live.
Screenshot of the Rushton Electrical home page.
CP3 · Running
Ultras, ideally over mountains
Maverick Chilterns Trail
11 July 2026
52.2 kilometres
Maverick Chilterns Trail, 11 July 2026: 52.2 km, 1,058 m of climb, 7 hours 16 minutes moving time, 5,944 calories.
CP4 · Aid station
Things I like, and things I don't
Like
- Testing things
- Too much pizza and coffee
- Taking photos, occasionally
- Working in a good team
- Long days in the hills
Don't like
- Spiders
- The dark
- Spiders in the dark
- Being late
- Finger pointing
Finish
Say hello
7 / 7. You'd make a good tester.
You found all seven bugs. Your reward is my name, without the vowels: dnl wlsn.
