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!