Hi! I am Anjana Prakash and I am from Kerala. I am an optimistic and
enthusiastic person who has an undying love for food and testing. I
have completed my bachelor of computer application from CMS College
of science and technology, Coimbatore.
I began my career as a tester trainee with Infosys,
where I became a
permanent employee after 3 months of training. From there, I shifted
to RapidValue Solutions as a tester.
And Testvox is my third abode.
After rapid value, I came to Calicut in search of something from my own home land. That is when I found out about Testvox through LinkedIn. I followed them there. I have done my share of research. I discovered that it is a testing-only company.And for me, it was a jackpot hit to find the exact thing I wanted in my town.
A tester basically checks the quality of an application. There are
many applications available on the market which are untested or the
developer tests some basic functionality and provides it to the
client. But they won’t survive in the market for a long run because
customers may find difficulty in working with them since it is not
bug free.
So here comes the importance of a tester. We check the quality and
inform the developers of the defects so that they can increase the
functionality of the application.
I started my career in manual testing and then turned to automation testing.
Manual testing and automation testing are two entirely different concepts. We need more technical and analytical skills to do automation testing. So, the shift was not at all easy. But Testvox culture helped me adapt quickly to the arena. Also, they put effort into making sure that I learned.
I have always wanted to try automation testing. I tried to learn about it all by myself, and that did not work well. After joining Testvox, I got a month-long training program which helped me learn automation. That training gave me a route map to learn about automation. They guided me well enough that I am super confident about my automation career now.
Unlike the other places I have been, the workspace of Testvox has a
lot to offer.
Mostly, in companies, there will be one kind of project for a whole
team for the whole year. That limits the interaction with other
teammates. But at testvox, it's different. Here I know almost every
tester, because we work as a team. We have different kinds of
projects. There are auditing projects, short-term projects, and
everyone contributes to those. That accelerates our bonding over
work. Other than that, there are HR activities and weekly meetings
that help us get to know each other.
So, in short, we have an amicable work environment here.
Knowing everyone makes things easier as well.
As a tester, meeting a developer is an indispensable step. Developers
differ from person to person. Some will be corporating, but there
were bitter experiences as well.
There is this one particular incident I remember. That was when I
was in Sign On. There were a few developer trainees, and one among
them helped me learn about something I wanted. That was a generous
act. They don’t do that often.
Being a tester in itself is a challenge. Testing for bugs and
identifying them is a tedious task. It is important to keep the
requirement updated when there is a change or update.
Whenever people who are responsible for the requirement update fail,
testers get the blame, and that is one challenge of being a tester.
The next challenge is in dealings with the developers. We may tell
them about the defect, but they won’t be treating its root cause.
They just solve the issue that is on their face. Often, that affects
other features and creates regression issues. That will cost our
time.
And there are those kinds of people who want everything at a train's
speed. They won’t give time for exploration, they request speedy
detection from a tester and that is another challenge we face.
Being a tester is not an easy job.
I didn’t choose this career intentionally, I became a tester by
chance. I went to Infosys to learn about things as a part of my
college ritual. I have only an oblivious idea of the kinds of jobs
in the field. A tester was nowhere near my thoughts. Infosys
assigned me an operational executive job. During the training at
Bhubaneswar, I got to know that what I was doing was coding.
But I am exactly where I am supposed to be. That’s the happy
beginning of my testing career.
As a tester, finding defects
gives me
happiness. When we find a defect, then we will probably
come
to meet more defects. Finding defects means we are
growing
as testers. So, each defect I detect makes me happy as a
tester.
In automation, creating a script, running that script,
having other members of our team use it, is another
happy
moment. I get a thought that I am contributing. That
boosts
our confidence level.
We check the quality and inform the developers of the defects so that they can increase the functionality of the application. I started my career in manual testing and then turned to automation testing.
I am a person who wants both family and work to the fullest. Since I
like testing, I don’t find it difficult to manage time. These two
lives are a part and parcel of me. Hence, I enjoy being there for
both my work and personal life. Working for testvox gives me enough
time to concentrate on my personal well being and family.
I happily spend my evenings, sitting around, gulping coffee with my
loved ones while doing what I am supposed to do as a tester.
I read blogs and articles related to the field. Another way I learn about testing is through YouTube.But mostly, I google. I search for what I want, and Google will direct me to various blogs related to that issue, and I have an immense amount of data within minutes.
Yes, there are two things I want to share with those who want to
pursue testing as a career.
One, there is this talk in the market that we don’t need to know
coding to become testers, which is wrong. That is fake publicity
.Though we can try manual testing without basics , it is difficult
to survive in the industry with that alone. There are many engineers
and I T professionals in the field. It’s all about the survival of
the fittest. It is better to update ourselves with technology.
To learn automation, you need to know coding.
Second, always ask questions. I never asked questions to my team
leaders, and that resulted in unwanted misery in my career journey.
If we have doubts, it is best to ask them. Continue to ask questions
to whoever you want until you understand the concept completely.
To get domain knowledge and application knowledge, it is important
to get the scenarios straight. For that, you need questions.
Understand the application and test. Don't accept anything the DA
says, analyse it and go through it.
Do your own research.