How long have you worked in your role/s?

I have been working with AireLogic since March 2022 so I’m still a newbie here, but I have been working as a tester for 7+ years, with approximately 5 of those being in automation.

What inspired you to work in the tech industry?

As a child, I spent most of my days tinkering with my mum’s computer. Naturally this meant it would break. Out of fear of what might happen when my mum would find out, I would research the problem and learn how to fix it. Sometimes this worked, sometimes it didn’t, but I would always learn something.

Computers and technology have always been a fascination to me and I enjoy learning more and more about it.

During my highschool years, I had quite a bit of knowledge of PCs already from breaking my mum’s all the time and so I was even able to help the I.T. staff diagnose and repair problems they are facing, the student becomes the teacher!

I would also be introduced to the wonderful world of HTML and creating web pages. There’s something really satisfying about writing code and then being able to see the results and say “I did that”.

As I got older, people would learn of my repairing skills and it became nearly a daily occurrence where somebody would have a PC problem and come to me for help and I just loved it. I still enjoyed learning about new problems and how to fix them and keeping up with new technology advances. It was also a really good way to show off!

But how did I get into a career of testing? It started out in a call centre, where I would be taking calls from customers, using the system to assist with their enquiries. However, this system was very flawed and contained many bugs. I didn’t like this so I would personally report these bugs to the I.T. directly, including how to re-produce it, sometimes I could even give an idea of where to fix the problem. The company then realised I was better suited to testing than I was taking customer calls, and that’s where my dream career begins! 

They say, “get a job you love and you’ll never work a day in your life”. This was exactly that! I was hooked. Even during the evenings, weekends and holidays I would still be testing, teaching myself new ways to test and understanding how the problem occurs in the first place.

OK, so now I am testing and I am loving it and getting paid for it! Where do I go next? I know! Maybe I can make this testing faster, and automate it? Introducing jMeter! The performance testing tool that suddenly becomes an automated functional testing tool!

With this I didn't need to learn a coding language, but I was able to understand variables and how they fit into place. It really made testing our APIs a much nicer experience. I would even get some fancy graphs to showcase my results.

Now, many years on, I am designing, creating and maintaining different kinds of Automation testing packs, in Python or in Java. for both websites and APIs. And there’s more to learn! (Mobile I’m looking at you). 

The TL:DR version of all this is. Technology has always fascinated me from a very young age, and continues to do so now!

What do you like about working at Aire Logic?

The people I work with in Aire Logic are really great and welcoming. I’m not the most formal of people to speak to so working in a big, strict corporation would not suit me. On top of that Aire Logic is there to support whatever is needed, understanding that people do have lives outside of work but also supporting the desire to expand knowledge and learning. It’s hard to get a company who values their employees to this extent

What are your skills and expertise?

• Java, Python
• API Testing
• Automation (Selenium, API)
• Pipeline set-up (for my automation packs)
• Behaviour Driven Design (BDD)
• Test Driven Design (TDD)

Fun fact

I have been a beekeeper for 3+ years so far. I decided to do this because honeybees fascinate me but I am also deeply fearful of stinging insects (damn wasps!). I wanted to fight this fear and so far it seems to be working.

I am also developing my own Discord Bot, so I am slowly teaching myself other roles within the development teams I work in. This helps me gain an understanding of the struggles people in these roles go through, and helps me to provide better value in future as a tester