Tim McDonald
Test Engineer
Nationality: British
Home: Espoo, Finland
Languages: English, Finnish, Swedish
Tim McDonald joined the team in late 2020 as a Test Engineer. His role is invaluable for a software company, as he makes sure that our tools are the best they can be before they get into the hands of our customers.
Now based permanently in Finland, we caught up with Tim to find out how a chemist handles the tricky business of software testing.
Why did you join Euformatics?
What drew me to Euformatics was being part of a company which is at the forefront of innovation in the bioinformatics industry focusing on genetic analysis. I think it’s really exciting to be part of the development of technology that can prove vital in successful diagnoses of patients based on their genetic code.
How has Euformatics helped you in your career development?
Working with Euformatics has allowed me to broaden my interests and skills. I had thought a degree in Chemistry would limit me exclusively to working in a lab, but I am constantly applying skills I learned during my degree. For instance, I read publications from journals specializing in genetics to improve my understanding. By doing so, I can try to imitate a customer, to ensure they are receiving the best possible experience from our software.
What has been your favourite project at Euformatics?
I have really enjoyed the methodical working required for the self-declaration for the CE mark. This required me to test every function to guarantee that each and every function of our software was still operational with the new software update. Trying to purposefully break the software with exceptional or lesser-used commands or inputs was a fun challenge!
What advice would you give to a new colleague?
Absolutely ask for help. Its easy to think that what you are doing isn’t quite right when you first start in a new role. At Euformatics especially, everyone is very friendly and more than willing to help out or answer any questions you might have.
What do you do outside of work to kick back and relax?
I love going on long walks and listening to the nature around me, especially the birds. I recently bought a pair of binoculars and have been going outside to birdwatch and disconnect from work. I’m working on learning the calls and sounds of the different birds now too!
What have you learned since joining us?
Working with Euformatics has been my first major employment opportunity with a larger team of people, and I have learned a lot from all of them in every area of the business; from sales and marketing to genetics or software development. I’ve also enjoyed expanding my knowledge of genetics past high school level and can now appreciate how important genetic sequencing can be for medical diagnoses.
Talk to Tim if you want to know about…
Birds, drug synthesis (the legal ones!), or the pleasures of a cup of coffee!