Team Leader Charlie

In Nov 2018, I signed up when I was giving a lecture in Spain regarding Data Science for Research purposes… I remember the cafe and the exact table I was at when looking for a way to become more independent and free in terms of work and budgeting. The context was, in October, like as soon as I arrived in Spain (my plan was moving to Europe), my main client closed the project we’re working on for over 2 years that hit my pocket very badly… but also opened up the opportunity to think about “future Charlie”. So, I went to this cafe and looked for online opportunities with technology that I have always liked since I was little. I found out that I could do testing, so one of the many results Google gave me was test IO. I clicked on the result and immediately I liked the website; the “Become a tester” was pretty straight forward, and it was all done before my first espresso ended. That week, I became a tester and started learning from scratch, because by that time I was merely a dilettante.

I started taking things seriously after leaving Europe and decided to get back to Brazil, where I immediately saw that, if I could get all the knowledge and value from the platform, others could get them too. So, I started the project of creating a fan page, outlining my communication plan of promoting Test IO in Brazil when I thought I needed to tell this idea of mine to Evgeniya and Stefan because I wanted to mention the brand in my communication and don’t have any problems because of it. Turns out, they were also thinking about growing in Brazil. So everything was on the cards!

This is how my role as a Community Representative started. Therefore, I had to master the Academy, learn all processes as best I can to try to get the right answer to any possible question and even foresee many other things. In the end, I grew up as a tester along with the Brazilian Community. Then I was so happy to receive the invitation to join Discord Moderators and a little later to join the community reporters, both activities I like a lot because I think together we can build up a solid Community of knowledge.

And lastly, well, a mind-blogging invitation to apply to a new TL position for Americas… something that I never ever thought possible! And I never considered it because I thought I must end my Community Representative role, and to be honest, this is so important to me to continue because I do know how much impact this job has on real people, on real lives. Thus, not having the possibility to keep bringing people to Test IO was something I just couldn’t bear. Fortunately, I can still be spreading the word, keep helping people to get into crowd testing with Test IO and also help testers as TL.

What I would not do today? Hmmm, this is tricky, in many ways, because what I did wrong and not wrong was what brought me here, but in terms of silly ideas or mistakes, well, I did underestimate the content in the “Bug Severity Assessment” spreadsheet… I will take it more seriously. I thought they were just some random examples, like only applicable to the specific scenarios mentioned in the file. But then, during the time I became Community Representative officially, well, my first goal as a tester was to master all the bugs within that file. And that’s what I did the first month that, afterwards, showed me I could make a living from testing and that test IO was the answer to my personal and professional questions. This happened in 2019, June.

Right now I’m still part of the Community Representative team for Latin America even though this 2022 I had moved to the Philippines fulfilling one of my life long dreams, living in Asia!

Titles and attachments (screencasts /screenshots). If both match, I know that the rest of the report can be amended easily or in most cases will be understandable. Because the title is like the first part of the report and the attachment, the ending part. So If I can easily go from one to another, I know the report is cohesive and I'll have no doubt to forward it. Nonetheless, reviewing bug reports before forwarding is a must. Spelling, wrong instructions in steps or wrong names that mislead TL’s, that’s like the final touch of my process.

My favourite part is when I get comments from testers about their own reports... yes, that happens mostly because of the rejection of the report (which I think is only seen negatively because of the meaning of the word however, they provide enormous benefits), and this is the opportunity I've to reach this tester.

Of course, rejections are not cool (I’ve been there many times), but only at first glance... So when I get those comments, it’s when I think I got the tester's attention and it’s the time they are eager to read my answer, so I give them all my thoughts about it as clearly as possible.

In this way, they can follow the rationale of my assessments and therefore understand the glitch or the behaviour better... Perhaps I was the one that got it all wrong, so I learnt from that conversation and amend my error as best I can or perhaps it's on the tester, so they just get a new insight on the job at hand.

I always imagine next time the testers, @[add_name_of_a_tester_here] will not think the same about the same behaviour or bug anymore, or about the feature, or even the (product/website or app).. and that's how I believe I can contribute a little to our Community and to our customers… In fact, I already have seen improvements in testers about the matters we’ve discussed… that's awesome!

I meditate, I like to work out (that includes yoga, tai chi) every single day. I do not do the same activity every day, but I do try to balance my mind, body and soul as much as I can. The body was meant to move, the mind to create, to learn, and finally your soul, your heart, well yes, to love... that I know it sounds cheesy, but it’s true, we just need to discover the meaning of this word ourselves… it’s a long process, but the journey is always what is important, not the final result.

So we all have an idea of how to deal with our minds and bodies, but perhaps not the other part, the heart part. And the best way to nourish your soul is by sharing with your beloved ones. Time, a dinner, just a single talk, one day per week, 15 minutes, anything, something… but throughout this kind of conversations that you just don’t even blink; the ones that your notifications in your cell phone are not longer more important that the person before your eyes or on the other side of the screen; the kind of conversations that you just don’t track time because being there is all that matters. That’s how I try to balance that part, especially since I've been living abroad by myself for so many years… half of my life!

Well, these, plus some reading, learning languages or how to play musical instruments, cooking (Asian cuisine is my thing) and writing for our podcast Test IO Open Mic, which I’ve the honor to be the host… that’s what I do in my free time.