Often think of job change especially when projects are on hold or when you have open and close web browser 20+ times in the last hour?(not when u r testing a web site) What shall you do when no task is delegated to you and the boss is sitting the cubicle behind you?

Positive thinking: Just like the quite night before a storm, maybe I will be flooded once all the projects are released at the same time. Maybe I should study ISTQB advance certification.

Negative thinking: Am I going to be redundant and my job is going to be outsourced. Maybe I should study ISTQB advance certification.

Take a look of the water condition of where I am going to duck in:

-         97 Testing & QA job listed in the last 7 days in my city metro area on one of popular the IT job site (IT2). 75% of them looking for middle/senior level QA tester, the salary offers vary from AU$ 60,000-90,000 (not too bad).

-         If you have been to one of ISTQB exam sites, you will notice how many testers there are or how many people wants to be a testers. (competitive)

-         Many companies as I know (even some big Corps) don’t have testers; they use developers/BA as casual testers. Let’s hope one day their developers/BA go on strike that they want a clear job description when they find out it’s not humanity to tell themselves that their babies are ugly. (potential)

-         Different companies require sets of different skills: their legacy system, operational environment, automation tool, business environment etc. QA is certainly not a one to many kind of job. (challenging)

Anyway, learning and self-improvement seems always fit in many situations when you don’t know what’s the next.

“What is the book which changed your life?” I was asked by an interviewer once a few years ago.

Till now I still can’t figure out a single book which have completely changed me or my life, but I believe there are many books or short articles floating on the web or a single quote have changed me at some stages.

I remember reading Ken Follett’s The Pillars of the Earth, touched by the human strength from the struggling builder or a dedicated monk; and Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief to see the gentle hearts of normal peoples in Nazi Germany in WWII.

I remember how my attitude towards testing is changed by a single quote from Lee Copeland ‘s article - All I Ever Need to Know about Testing I learned in Kindergarten, he quoted Norm Kerth’s words: “Regardless of what we discover, we understand and believe that everyone did the best job they could, given what they knew at the time, with their skills, abilities, and the resources available.” And I certainly won’t forget Professor Randy Pausch’s Last Lecture, one of his advices is believing in peoples, each one has his/her good side, giving them time to show the good side….

All those people like many others have left the light on for ones behind them in their life journey, and their lights have brightened and changed my life.