Name: Chad Humphries
Designation: Agent 00117
Double Agent Role: Director of Client Services
Special Skills: Describing things in an approachable, non-technical way, and advocating for engineers in management.
Aliases: Spicy Code and Spicy Code
Location: Columbus, Ohio
Favorite Emoji: 🤖

This year we’re celebrating 10 years of Test Double, and with that comes growth. Chad Humphries joins Test Double as our new Director of Client Services. He has 20+ years of experience in engineering, leadership and security at both consulting & product companies, including seven years at GitHub. Chad co-founded EdgeCase and Matched Pattern, and founded product companies in the developer tooling space.

We’re excited to see Chad make an impact in improving and growing our client service abilities, and fostering an environment of empathy, trust and support. Chad shares Test Double values around always improving and flexibility for work-life balance. He loves helping people with their problems and believes technology can be a great tool to do so. So he works to maximize the positive impact technology can have, while respecting privacy and trust of users.

What are you proudest of doing in the past year at work?

I really enjoyed being able to start a new role that let me work with an international team in six countries (five time zones). Being able to pull people together across continents, and be respectful of their schedules and time was difficult, but rewarding.

Looking ahead, what has you most excited for the next year at work?

The ability to help scale a company as it grows both in terms of capabilities and how it supports our employees. I want to help continue to make the organization scale to where we think it can be while remaining healthy for our employees and culture. That means even as we grow larger, we are able to provide dedicated, personalized support to help every employee with both day to day and career growth.

What is your favorite thing about being a Double Agent at Test Double?

The large number of people with different backgrounds to learn from. It’s been very motivating to branch out and learn new things and disciplines. Growth and learning is the through-line in my career. It’s what I enjoy most and it motivates me to get out of bed and get to work every morning.

What do you think makes Test Double unique?

A very clear focus on doing the best thing for the client. This shows most clearly when we integrate with teams and adopt their processes. Meeting clients where they are allows for a huge amount of trust building and really helps us be able to gently improve processes and outcomes.

What have you been thinking about a lot lately in software development, and why?

The move to cloud based development feels a revisit to some forms of development from the 80s, except internet infrastructure is still flakey for a lot of the country. I think it’s a huge positive along many fronts, but we have to remain constantly vigilant to the fact that we don’t control the connection, the speed, or the device people use to interact with apps.

Many pockets in more rural areas are still relying on dial-up and urban core neighborhoods often have unreliable connections due to stalled broadband projects. We have to meet them where they are. It’s important for developers to remember that—no matter what application they are working on. The future is not now for everyone. The future arrives very irregularly to different groups of people at different times. And we’re building it, so we have to be the most aware of it.

Tell me about something memorable that happened to you last year.

I finished work on a long running dream car project (Porsche 911 Sport Classic restomod), and finished my book backlog for the first time in years!

What has you most excited this year outside of work?

Working in the community to help people during these times. I’ve done some volunteering with various food charities and it was honestly super exciting to be able to help with my hands out in the community.

What book/podcast/movie/TV show have you been thinking about a lot lately, and why?

I watch a lot of movies every year, and listen to a lot of podcasts. I think Maximum Film and Blank Check are my two favorite podcasts of late as they provide differing perspectives on why film is crucial, what it can do to move you, and how different people can interpret the art. And they both are pretty fun on top of that.

What are you looking forward to most post-pandemic?

Countries and states slowly normalizing vaccine passports for travel opening back up. I’m so excited to go, really anywhere! I deeply miss Edinburgh, and it would be among my first stops if I can.

What’s something interesting about you that’s not on your resume or LinkedIn?

I’ve done some track racing and despite being mechanically not adept I’ve rebuilt a few engines in my day. It’s so rewarding.

Chad Humphries

Person An icon of a human figure Status
Sleeper Agent
Hash An icon of a hash sign Code Name
Agent 00117
Location An icon of a map marker Location
Columbus, Ohio

Cathy Colliver

Person An icon of a human figure Status
Double Agent
Hash An icon of a hash sign Code Name
Agent 0080
Location An icon of a map marker Location
Louisville, KY