Test amidst Chaos

I had been wanting to write this post since Thursday, but I was so busy with work that I haven't got the time to do it and put justice to the essence of it at the same time. Now, I have to stay home due to heavy rains so I have enough time for blogging...

I am in my 8th employer now. Yes, you got it right, 8th! They say that I am a job-hopper. One of my friends told me that I am a corporate butterfly. One of them tagged me as a Corporate Playgirl. One of them said that I am so hard to please. The others said that my employers always wanted to keep me, it is just ME who got the problem. But, I never think of it that way. First, a job-hopper is someone who gets a job and doesn't manage to accomplish something in the organization before leaving. If there is something that I am proud of, this is it. I mean, yeah, I leave jobs every now and then but before I do so, I always make it a point that I have done something or accomplished something in the organization before leaving.

I remembered my SVP in REWSS, when I filed my resignation at REWSS to join VC, he tried to talk me out of it. He is a very good manager, I have learned so many things from him, peoplesoft stuff. I was a pioneer at REWSS, the very first girl and the only one to join a horde of men. I put the QA process in place and God knows the pain, the tears and the hardship I had been through before gaining the RESPECT of those men who are not used to QUALITY, RULES, and PROCESSES. But of all the accomplishments I got, my REWSS experience is the best so far. But when the challenge of putting everything to order wears off, I got really bored with the system I am testing. I am doing mostly admin stuffs because technically, I am QA lead there. So, came a time that I feel like its time to move on since I really like testing a lot and as I said to Rick (my SVP), I am not into management although he keeps on insisting that I have the potential. I told him that I like technical stuffs. He is very understanding. He told me something that I cannot forget for the rest of my life. He said that leaving an organization to join another one is something that he considers a need sometimes specially for those people with extraordinary skills. He said that it makes the person get out of the box, that is how a person will realize what he truly wants. He said that sometime, you have to leave to know what you really want. I even cried a lot when I said goodbye to Brian Wasylowich, my Canadian boss (the one who hired me). It broke my heart when he even flied back here in the Philippines when he heard about my resignation. I cried even more when he gave me a fatherly hug on my last day. I really respect those two men (Brian and Rick, REWSS's Batman and Robin). We get in touch until now. Before I left, REWSS is getting bigger and bigger and there are more girls there now unlike when I first started there. :)

Then I joined an organization (VC) that already have a process (though it is not CMMI, but close enough). The system is very challenging and Quality is a priority. I like it so much. Though they call it RUP, it is still iterative in the essence. It is where I feel like I am proud of what I am doing. Everytime that my project gets deployed, I feel so happy and proud. Too bad, I have to leave it without doing much thought, I admit now. I learned my lesson and I learned it well...

I am not sure where I gave my best. I think I always give my best to all my previous employers except SunPower, which I felt like I owe an them an apology. It never worked out for me at SunPower maybe because, I got out of VC not because I wanted to but because I feel so bad during that time and I wanted an escape, which turned out to be a total disaster I must say. But I think SunPower is not a total waste of time. My resignation there had a good outcome btw. I heard from my friend there that my Pakistani boss had improved a lot after talking to me and after I left the group. He really got some problems with his management style. And unfortunately for him, I am so pissed off during that time, my emotions are always at edge and my patience ran out so I cannot help but be honest with him. I told him what his problems are but in a polite manner. I always make it a point to be professional even if I feel so bad. I think I only failed at VC, LOLz!!! I had always been honest anyway. I am not a good liar. I had been so honest even with Yoshia.

Then now, I am in another organization using Agile development process. I realized now why Agile development requires people with 5 years experience or more. It is self-organizing, and there is no room for training. Most of my QA colleagues (who joined the company much earlier than me) came from process-driven organizationa like Accenture, Intel, IBM, etc... They are always complaining about the chaotic development and they are having difficulty adjusting to changing requirements. At first, having been with VC for almost 2 years, I am no longer used to agile. But as days passed by, I am adjusting quite faster than others I guess maybe because, I had always been a part of an organization with chaotic and fast-paced development. There lies the challenge. You have to deliver quality software in a short span of time (imagine, testing and creating test cases for the system for only one week). We are doing testing in parallel to development. Coordination and self-organization is a must to keep up with the deadline.

I really don't know why I am in this organization. I was thinking that it is for my own good. My usual skills are getting back like a rush of wind, skills that I thought I had lost when I started to hate what I am doing due to some personal stuffs that happened to me in Alabang.

Then I have this realization. Other employers think that those QAs who came from process-driven environment are the GOOD ones. I contest this. They should realize that those who deserve much respect are those QAs who can test and deliver amidst a chaotic environment. That is how it should be.

I want to propose a toast for all those QAs who can test amidst chaos... I salute you!

October Fest turned September Fest

As usual, we are waiting for the next deploy with the fixes for all the blockers in test env.

Sheessshhh.. I told my colleagues here that there should be an additional severity in our bug maintenance tool called "SUPER DUPER MEGA OVER SA MAJOR NA BLOCKER!" with matching exclamation point...

I think I had wasted my entire day waiting for the fixes. I already managed to update all my test cases, created most of my test data, created a test data matrix for my own use, updated the test status report and yeah, I even tested Sametime (a chat-engine integrated with Lotus notes) and I managed to find a bug in it.. (Imagine? I can add myself in my own list and send myself messages!)

Anyways, I am just staring at my desktop's clock for almost 2 hours now and I am waiting for 5pm. I am very skeptical that the fixes will be deployed by that time.. Hehehe..

So, by 5pm, I will go straight to St. Francis Square to buy my dvds and bluray disks hahaha! I plan to have a movie marathon this weekend because I am guessing that it will be rainy este stormy over the weekend. So I prefer to stay home and just watch movies. I had always been out of the house every weekend! I think the house misses me already hahaha!

Then, need to drop off to Megamall to buy some stuff... Oh, I need a new pouch and an external hard disk. My files are multiplying by the minute.

And then by 6pm, we will go to San Miguel Avenue for the early October Fest! Hahaha! Its only September and there is October Fest already. The last time I had been in October fest was 2005... I hope that it won't rain... I heard that Kamikaze and Pupil will be there. It has been a long time since I last drink alcohol too hahaha! The last time was when Yoshia was here last May, I think and it was in Alabang.. Hahaha! Hmmmm... Come to think of it, I always go out but since most of my friends here don't usually drink, I only eat during get-togethers hehehe...

It is so funny. I have scheduled exam later this 6pm at Optimum Solutions (somewhere in Ortigas too). They called me up for a position in Singapore yesterday and asked if I am interested. I thought that I should try even if I really want to stay here in the Philippines for now. But then, when when my colleagues here invited me to the October fest, I cancelled my exam hahaha and I said that I will no longer pursue the application for some professional reasons. They said that I can pursue anytime if I wanted to and just give them a call or send them an email.

I really don't feel like applying to another job at this point anyway, since I already know what I wanted and I already have a plan...

I wish its 5pm already! Damn, it is still one hour and nine minutes to go... I am so bored... hahaha!

PATIENCE, ANNIE, PATIENCE!

thoughts on group names

Okay, I am starting this entry while waiting for the next deploy to test environment (and by that time, I could resume my usual testing)

I had been listening to the radio for the last couple of months ergo weeks while here at work. I enjoy on-air discussions about different topics in everyday life.

And then I developed a hobby of googling lyrics of those songs I find really nice. And my friends find it weird that I jot down the title in a tissue paper hahaha!

Then, I will download them from youtube when I get home.

I just noticed something from the singers of new songs nowadays. I find them very entertaining to the point that I am spending time blogging about it.

Okay, enough introduction, let me get straight to the point.

Girl/Boy groups emerged like mushrooms popping during a thunderstorm and I don't know if anyone notice this but the group names are quite interesting.

Take for instance, Wonder girls (the group that sang and danced the hit NOBODY). And I just learned from my VC friends last Saturday that there is a local version of Pussycat Dolls/Wonder Girls guesting in Subzero. They are called the Mocha Girls. Inspiration strikes me. I took all the names from the Nescafe vendo machine here and wondering if someday, such names will emerge as girl groups. Here they are:

1. Cappuccino Girls
2. Latte Girls
3. Milo Girls
4. Tea latte Girls

Now, I was wondering what if we use cakes?

1. The Blackforest girls
2. The Chocolate Mocha girls
3. The Belgian chocolate Bliss girls
4. The Mango Passion girls

So what about the singer of the song "Issues" (which everytime I hear, I remember JIRA) called "The Saturdays"... So we can use the days of the week as group names

1. The Mondays
2. The Tuesdays
3. the Wednesdays
4. The Thursdays
5. The Fridays
6. The Sundays

And we should not forget the "Indigo Girls" who sang "Power of Two". So we can use colors now, can't we?

1. The Rusty Girls
2. The Fushia Girls
3. The Magenta Girls

Sheesssshhh... Now, this really scares me. What if someday, some group use weird names such as those from a tool shed?

1. The Screwed-up girls
2. The Hithereto girls

Look at Paradiso Girls! Hahaha, the one who sang Patron Tequilla. Hmmmm, now that is something, what if we use drinks?

1. The Tequilla Girls
2. The Bourbon girls
3. The Brandy Girls
4. The Gin girls
5. The Margarita Girls

Are we really running out of very good group names? What happened to creativity?

My brain cells are really not that used up hahaha that is why I am having these thoughts.

Anyways, that is all... have to get back to work... :)

sorry for any grammar mistakes... hehehe, I will just edit perhaps during the weekend...

Kimmy Dora ... So FUNNY to the nth level!!!

It has been a long time since I laughed so hard and I mean so hard (my tummy aches, I had tears in my eyes and keep stomping at the floor inside the movie house) in a movie.

We just watched Kimmy Dora awhile ago at Cinema 10 Mega A. Hahaha! I even went inside the theater with my ID on! We went running from the office to Megamall just to catch the 5:30pm airing of the movie and we were not disappointed!

The movie is soooooooo funnnnnyyyyyy and Eugene is soooooooo gooooooddddd, I believe she is much much better than Ai-ai. Eugene used to be Ai-ai's sidekick but now she had her break and her first movie is such a huge success!!!

I really cannot forget some of her quotable quotes... Here is one the I like best when the father asked Dora (who is pretending to be Kimmy) if SHE IS ON DRUGS:

Father: Are you on Drugs?
Kimmy/Dora: “I’ll look into it. I’ll get back to you on that. I’ll give you an update.”

Winner!!! I can apply this to any job, I believe hahaha!