Bart Sutton
About Bart Sutton
Bart Sutton is a Performance Engineer with extensive experience in performance testing and engineering. He has worked at NWEA since 2016 and has held various roles in the software industry, including positions at Serena Software and ARRIS.
Work at NWEA
Bart Sutton has been employed at NWEA as a Performance Engineer since 2016. In this role, he manages performance testing in a complex environment that includes multiple MongoDB sharded clusters and large-scale Postgres database systems. He supports the MAP Assessment Student Testing Applications, which operate in a cloud-based environment comprising over 300 systems. Sutton is responsible for performance and failure mode testing for all NWEA Map Releases, ensuring the system can handle peak usage levels of up to 350,000 concurrent users.
Education and Expertise
Bart Sutton studied Electrical Engineering at Midlands Technical College, where he earned an Associate's degree from 1980 to 1982. He later attended the University of Phoenix, achieving a Bachelor's degree in Information Systems from 1994 to 1995. His educational background provides a solid foundation for his expertise in performance engineering, particularly in testing and managing large-scale database systems.
Professional Background
Before joining NWEA, Bart Sutton held various positions in the software engineering field. He worked at ARRIS as a Principal SQA Engineer and Project and Performance Lead from 2011 to 2016. Prior to that, he served as a Senior Performance SQA Engineer at Serena Software from 2008 to 2011. Sutton also has experience as a Service Manager at Prism Software from 1987 to 1988. His diverse background contributes to his proficiency in performance testing and engineering.
Performance Testing Skills
Sutton collaborates with development, DevOps, and support engineers to reproduce production issues and conduct detailed performance testing. He utilizes tools such as JMeter automation and Soasta to drive complex user loads from multiple locations worldwide. His role involves ensuring that applications perform optimally under various conditions, which is critical for maintaining system reliability and user satisfaction.