2006-Apr-4 - Starting To Buzz |
A long weekend break to Boston and I'm now back and buzzing
( the fact that it was a great trip and the sun was shining helped ! )
A seven hour plane flight gave me plenty of time to read the latest articles that I'd printed out
"Web Load Test Planning" and ""Trade Secrets from a Web Testing Expert" by Alberto Savoia and "The Top 13 Mistakes in Load Testing Applications" by Mark D Anderson got me thinking that we should be doing some soon on the new project and not do our usual approach of waiting until the program was live and starting to slow down before looking into it.
The March edition of Better Software that was waiting for me in the US also had a great article by Scott Barber about being a "Tester PI: Performance Investigator" that fitted in nicely with those reads.
So a whole new field for me to learn and do - I think JakeBrake might be getting some mails from me soon ( thanks for the offer ! )
My latest purchase from Amazon was also there "Surviving the Top 10 Challenges of Software Testing" which I'd bought after a recommendation by jpweston. A book small enough to be read over a weekend and a very good read - look out for a review soon !
Better Software also had a great article "Help Wanted" by Lisa Crispin
I was very pleased to read the technical skills she was emphasizing
- Experience with SQL statements - tick
- One year experience with scripting language ( Perl, Ruby etc ) - no tick yet but thats just what I've started learning
- Knowledge of basic Unix skills - thats what I learnt to program on all those (cough) years ago - tick
- Experience collaborating on some level with programmers. BIG tick - not only did I collaborate, I was one !
She also wanted the tester to be
- Excited about trying agile development - BIG tick, I've been one of those pushing for us to try SCRUM
- Active in local user groups - if QA forums and a blog counts then another tick
- Learns about new tools and techniques on his own - I think a shelf full of books, a browser full of bookmarks and a laptop with Perl, Ruby and Watir on it gets me another big tick.
If only the vacancy hadn't been filled and Lisa was aware of my blog...
Seriously, it was good to know that my skills and new career direction seems to be something in demand
Back in work and all fired up I posted a question on QA forums about testing conferences in the UK that I could attend and start mixing and networking with my fellow testers and not only did I get good advice but I was also recommended to think about writing a paper based on my blog.
Now that stunned me for a moment
I have a new machine at work - which is great and means I will be all set to let rip - but the downside is a day or two of reinstalling a lot of stuff
So I'm buzzing - but work isn't. The last Sprint finished ages ago and everyone just seems back to the same old same old rut
Time for testing to start and get some momentum going -
Let's GO !
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2006-Apr-5 - Untitled Comment |
| Posted by metalbaby |
hey phil,
i will just brush up on the ol' *nix commands, work on my vb and i will see you at that testing conference some day. might have to find me a boat and row myself to the uk though. one day. i want me some pounds! and not the love handle variety... |
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A developer breaking into the QA world - now broken into it and entering the world of test consultancy
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