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.
“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.”
“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
“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.”
“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.”
“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.”
“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.”
“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.”
“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.”
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.