Employee spotlight – Paul Cherry, Test Management Consultant at Acutest
Meet the people who have made Acutest what it is today in our commemorative interview series as we celebrate two decades of assurance and testing.
Since its launch in 2002, Acutest has grown as a market-leading testing consultancy business specialising in testing software, business processes and IT. This month marks twenty years of Acutest and we are celebrating by shining a light on the talented consultants who make Acutest what it is. Acutest is a close-knit community of consultants built on mutual respect, creating a shared learning environment for everyone. It is these people and their dedication that makes Acutest what it is today.
To mark this year’s milestone, we caught up with someone else who is celebrating a milestone. One of Acutest’s first team members back in 2002, Paul Cherry, Principal Test Management Consultant at Acutest talks to us about the early days of the business, his most memorable projects of the last two decades, and his previous career in the Royal Airforce.
Over to Paul!
So Paul, how long have you been at Acutest?
“Twenty years this year, I have been here since Acutest’s inception. Funnily enough, I was number three on the payroll, and beat one of the three directors onto it which tickled us all at the time.”
What does your job entail?
“In basic terms, my job involves test management and quality assurance throughout the software development life-cycle, development, system/integration and UAT.”
“I enjoy the challenges as each day there are new ones to be dealt with along with wanting to always deliver to a high standard.”
Paul Cherry, Principal Test Management Consultant
What do you enjoy most about being part of Acutest?
“The culture of the company feels like a family rather than just being a number and the excellent skill sets of the people along with the passion to deliver with the highest standards we are known for. Fortunately, people are always happy to help each other at Acutest. I always know, should the need arise, there are people around me who I can reach out to share skills and information.”
What’s the most interesting project you’ve worked on?
“There have been many however I would have to say Post Office Card Account which basically set up a brand-new bank. I was then asked to return a number of years later to implement an upgrade to allow users to access ATMs.”
How would you describe your day job to a child?
“Interesting question! In short, I’d say that my job is to check that computer systems work as they should so people do not get upset when they do not.”
What gets you out of bed in the morning?
“Actually, I enjoy the challenge. Each day there are new ones to be dealt with, and I am driven to wanting to always deliver results to a high standard.”
Tell us a little bit about your home life/interests
“I am happily married to Angela (Angi), and we will be celebrating our 11th anniversary this year. We have nine children between us from previous marriages who are all grown up. Some are now married and we are grand and great grandparents (yes!), there are lots of presents to be bought each year at Christmas and birthdays.”
“We have a great circle of friends and enjoy socialising and of course going on relaxing holidays together. Angi enjoys keeping fit and I enjoy Formula 1 and watching the rugby.”
What is your biggest achievement to date – personal or professional?
“Before joining Acutest, I served 24 years in the Royal Airforce in Avionics which gave me the opportunity to move into real-time software on Harrier and Eurofighter (Typhoon). I have been fortunate enough during my career to have traveled across the world. During the Falklands War in 1982 (40 years ago, time flies!) I worked on the Chinook (Wokka Wokka) aircraft.”
Thanks for taking the time to talk to us Paul!
Championing our employees at Acutest
At Acutest, we continue to value our employees and encourage collaboration and professional development, with regular social events. Recently we published our employee satisfaction results for 2021 where an overwhelming 94% of Acutest employees felt they belonged within the Acutest family, 26% above the UK national average. We are deeply proud of these results and we look forward to what the next chapter holds for Acutest.
Like what you’re reading?
We are looking for bright, enthusiastic consultants to join us on a wide variety of projects across our high-profile client base. You will have the opportunity to work hands-on within functional test projects, creating and executing test cases. On top of that, you’ll also gain experience with cutting-edge tools and technologies. You will work across multiple industry sectors and disciplines, so will need a consultative nature and be able to collaborate with individuals of varying levels of technical knowledge. Many of the projects you will be involved in will enable leading blue-chip businesses to demonstrate the productivity of their systems and websites. A majority of these are in the public eye, so will give you the professional satisfaction of being able to see the results of your work in action.
Written by Julia Bluckert.
