Tell me about yourself - Sept 6, 2022

[ivanze]

Hi, my name is Ivan. I have a university degree in Marketing and Public Relations.
My work experience was always IT-adjacent, as I worked in various roles in an online gambling industry (poker, sports betting, casino) for my entire life. My latest job was as a Product Manager in an online casino operator, mainly focused on the ex-USSR market. After moving to the US, I've decided to start my journey as a QA specialist. I've always enjoyed working as a mediator between the product development team and the end-user. My long-term goal is to become a highly skilled specialist working inside a team of people who deliver quality products to the users.

[ilyasmirnou]

Hi, I'm Ilya. Originally from Belarus, currently live in the US.

What is your education
- Four university courses in statistics, then quit. At that time I had some argumentation in my head why I did that, but it didn't really make much sense. University was a great experience.

What is your work experience
- For the last 2.5 years I've been working for a food company. Formally I'm a warehouse associate, but in fact it's a computer job related with orders processing, working with electronic tables, creating shipments for Amazon FBA, etc. [This part should be completed later, as the company has it's own website which is an online shop on one hand, but also is an app with a broad functionality for internal use. Why not to include this in projects portfolio]

Why career change (what was wrong with your previous profession)
- Everything's ok with the current job, and I'm thankfull to people who I work with. It was them, our developers, who motivated me to try a new sphere. And it coincided with my desire to try something new, something that requires qualification and is a profession by itself.

Why QA
- It complies with my natural abilities to learn, follow the instructions, be patient and carefull. Growth opportunities make this job even more attractive. I've learned about QA profession long time ago, but considered it boring and complex and it scared me away. Now complex means interesting for me.

Fun fact for those who might read this: the pleasure hormone (dopamine) is released by brain cells not at the moment when we get what we want, but when we realize something, guess something, begin to understand something. The joy of understanding and awareness has a physiological nature. And the more complex the intellectual objects that our brain puts together, the more dopamine is released and the more pleasure we experience.
There should be lots of pleasure on the way, guys

How you see yourself professionally in 5 years
- Being a solid professional in QA, at least.

[DinaraMiller]

I have the bachelor's degree of International Economic Relations and Master's degree of Psychology
* Telecommunication (marketing), ABA / RBT (working with autistic children), Banking
* Since I am single mom I need the Job which it is gonna be convenient to work from home and I know that from my experience I need the decent paycheck
* I have very strong analytical skills which I assume is gonna be perfect fit to work in QA. I want to use these skills to get this experience and be successful
* In 5 years I see myself being very professional in QA (automation) and making not less that 100k a year!

[Veranika V]

Hello, my name is Veranika.
1. I have a bachelor's degree in economics and management (Belarusian National Technical University). I also have the education of an assembler-tester of radio-electronic equipment and devices in the field of Electrical Engineering.
2. My previous work experience was at the Belarusian Machine Testing Station (economist-manager). I also worked as an installer of electronic equipment and devices. In the US, I work as a Mobility Tester/Triage Operator. I am responsible for the day to day activity of products that require identification, test, grading and data-wipe. Also I Finds ways to improve programs, processes, systems, etc. to increase productivity.
3. Because, after my move to the US, my work is to some extent related with the QA field and I like it. Therefore, I want to continue to develop in this field.
4. I want to try myself in this area where there are many opportunities.
5. It would be nice to grow up to QA Automation

[VerbalTouch]

What's up, forum!
My name is Andrei, nice to meet You!
I graduated from the Orthodox gymnasium in 2009 and started my bachelor degree at The National Research University "Belgorod State University" and I've got it in 2013.
My work experience won't be connected with my education, because I started my own business in 2015 right after my one-year of service in Black Sea Flee. I had different types of businesses and I finished my enterpriser career in august 2021.
The main reason of career change was my move to USA. I choose QA because I've seen how my friends QA engineers spending whole day on a couch and when I asked them what are they doing for living. All of them answered me that they are Software testing engineers. Ok, I am just kidding. To be honestly I just want to start my IT career and the most convenient way starts from QA engineering.
I see myself like a happy father and husband raising up my kids, loving my wife, enjoying my life. Oh, sorry, You asked professionally. I see me earning $600 per hour as a back-end developer in a modern to future time sturt up with all benefits.

[ERendon87]

My name is Erika and below are the answers to the questions asked:

1. I'm a college drop-out from the Computer Science program. Went straight into the workforce.
2. I've worked in the Hospitality, Insurance, and Property Management sectors.
3. I wish to go back to my roots as far as the industry that I originally wanted to be in.
4. QA reminds me a little of coding and I want to learn more about it.
5. In five years, I would like to see myself as an accomplished QA professional that is working in automation.

[ELENAPRO]

Hello.
My name is Elena. I have a master's degree from the Krasnoyarsk State Agrarian University. I am a food processing engineer. I worked as a technologist at a factory for 15 years. I changed my profession after emigrating to USA. I have the degree of Associate of Arts from LAVC. I have been working as a teacher's assistant in a Montessori school for 3 years. I decided to change my career because I want to change my life for the better and QA is what I need. For the next 5 years, I would like to see myself as a successful QA professional. I am ready to give my time and energy to achieve the goal.

[Sofia R]

My name is Sofia. I have a Master’s degree in Linguistics. I worked as a teacher in my native country, but then it so happened that I moved to the US and I realized that it was the perfect time to try something new. I have always wanted to try myself in IT sphere. I got really inspired by several friends of mine, who have been happily working in QA sphere for many years already. I realized there is a chance for me to start working in IT developing in this sphere. In 5 years I see myself as Senior QA manager making a difference in QA.

[Elena Velikaia]

Hello,
My name is Elena, I have a master's degree in environmental engineering.
I worked for a local company as a Lead Engineer for labor and environmental protection for over 9 years. But during the pandemic, my position was reduced, free time appeared, and I decided to get additional education, which I originally wanted to go to study, but I was not enrolled to IT specialization at the university. So I started studying software testing on my own, and then enrolled in a qualified course in this specialty.
In the next five years, I see myself as the head of the software testing department.

[olgaberezina]

Hi, my name is Olga. I recently graduated with my Master's degree in Business Analytics. During my time in school, I worked at the IT help desk on campus and provided technical support for our learning management system. I'm considering changing my career because my classes were not as enjoyable as I thought they would be. I do still want to stay in the IT field. My colleagues told me to try out this school as QA is something that I would find interesting since I want to learn more about software testing. I also like to challenge myself, so I'm excited to get into this field. In 5 years, I see myself as a manager in this field, but I know I need to understand all of the groundwork first to lead a successful team!

[polina.eshenkovva]

Hi guys! My name is Polina.

1. I have a bachelor's degree in Public Relations from Russia and US college associate degree in graphic design.
2. Before I moved to the US 5 years ago I used to work in advertisement and advertising-related fields. The most IT-related experience back then for me was content management through CMS platforms like WordPress and working as a project manager together with the IT development team. Since I moved to the US I've been working in retail, and I'm an assistant store manager at the moment.
3. I don't like working in retail anymore and it was never a goal for me to work there. I feel very bored there, while unsatisfied with my schedule and compensation, and I finally feel comfortable with moving forward and getting myself back to advertising / IT-related businesses (and getting paid better too lol)
4. QA seems to be the shortest path into the IT industry. Also, I have a few friends who used to recommend me to take this path for years, and I feel I've just been waiting for too long
5. In 5 years I see myself working in the IT industry, hopefully in the lead position.

[tetiana_sh]

Good Evening, my name is Tetiana.
I have Bachelor Degree in economics from Ukraine. 13 years ago I moved to the USA and for 8 years I worked in the restaurant industry. Four years later I changed my careers and now I work in an automotive industry as a sales representative. I love working with people but after many years of giving away my energy to others I decided to focus on myself and do what I like. We have been working with a new CRM at my current job for a few month now. It has a lot of "bugs" and I decided to reach out to our company IT professional to give him my opinion about those bugs. He listened and agreed that some options needed change. Since then I'm certain that QA is what I want to do. Also it's a great opportunity to get into IT industry, grow and work from anywhere in the world.

[Bereteg]

Hello, my name is Eldar. I'm 35 and I want to be a great Tester! =)
* I studied to be a programmer from 2005 to 2009 *
* Worked:
- 2 years as a personal driver.
- 3 years as an electronics technician for a railroad company
- 2 years as a low voltage technician, laying telecommunication lines between and inside houses.
- 8 years as a computer foreman.
* In 2021 I wanted to move more and prove myself in other areas, tried my hand at horizontal directional drilling.
I now work as an electrical mechanic, repairing Trucks. Since in America I thought I was going to drive a truck.
* Back in university I noticed that I liked to look for bugs in my programs and my classmates' programs more than I liked to write the program itself. In all of my work I'm drawn to improve and perfect the organization of my work processes.
* I see myself passionate about improving and perfecting the products I work with

[Costa]

Hi all,
Thank you for sharing your stories, it was interesting to meet you virtually (for now).
My name is Costa, I live in Canada for last 6 years in beautiful British Columbia.
I graduated from University with degree in Mathematics and Computer Science but worked mostly in retail as buyer, demand planner and category manager. It's interesting and challenging job that helped me to improve my time management, multitasking, task prioritizing skills. I also have a lot of experience in team building and supervising.
Covid changed a lot in our lives, and one of the main changes - it gave us opportunity to work remotely. And we (I) liked it. So, the main reason for me to look for a new career - it's a chance to work remotely and keep balance between business and private life. With my education and work experience I feel like QA role might be great fit for me.
In a 5 years I definitely would be a QA manager as I have a lot of relevant experience in supervising and building teams.
Thank you.

[AnastasiaK]

My name is Anastasia. I graduated from Slavonic University in Kyrgyzstan with a Master's degree in Journalism. For many years I've been working in the local newspapers and magazines as a writer, and as a proofreader as well.
Since I moved to the USA, I realized that it will be quite difficult for me to work as a journalist due to the obvious English language obstacles. I started my work here at the Hospitality industry with the thoughts in my mind that definitely I need to study again to get a new profession on the new land.I need something where I could use my previous experience in Journalism, and I shose QA testing. Testing job is to gather evidence and draw the conclusions, it is detail-oriented job, where you should be an investigator and perfectionist, - the features that I definitely have. That is why this job is ideal for me, I really have a passion for the testing and enjoy the process of the work. I constantly plan to improve my skills, so in 5 years I see myself as a Senior QA engineer in a big company, where I can use all my knowledge and skills.