Staffing Specialist Alesia
Hello, Alesia! Tell us about yourself, please.
Hello! My name is Alesia and I’m a Software Testing Engineer with about 2 years of experience. I was born and live in Minsk, Belarus. Here I graduated from Minsk State Linguistic University with a major in cross-cultural communications and public relations. In the fourth year of my university studies, I took part in the internship organized by EPAM, that’s how my career in IT started. I realized that quality assurance is the sphere that attracts me most. Before joining the Test IO Community, I worked on several EPAM projects as a Tester, but never had such a cool atmosphere and friendly people around as I have now. Glad to be part of this wonderful team!
As for my hobbies, I should say that in everyday life I enjoy long walks, cooking and painting by numbers, this really helps to distract and recharge batteries. Also, I’m a big fan of quizzes and mind games. Every Wednesday my friends and I play the Sherlock quiz. Speaking about ideal weekend activities, I enjoy spending time with my family and friends, especially it is cool when there is a chance to go to the countryside to breath in some fresh air and admire picturesque Belarusian nature.
Please tell us in detail about your work as a Staffing Specialist. What are your daily tasks? What is your favorite part of the job? And despite the fact that you have not been with us for so long, what insights do you already have?
I work as a Staffing Specialist in the Community Delivery team. And I should say that I really enjoy my work at Test IO! Before joining the team, I have been contributing to Test IO as a Tester. And now, being a Staffing Specialist at Test IO Community helps me to put a different perspective on the testing process. My current responsibilities involve community requests processing, running and analyzing surveys, engaging with testers, as well as supporting the delivery of complex customer projects.
Traditional question: what new things are you preparing for testers in the near future?
Understanding the pain points of testers (which I had to learn the hard way), I’ll work on improving community delivery flows to make the Test IO platform better (and hope testers’ lives happier). As a community, we plan to enhance the existing staffing process, generate creative win-win solutions for our customers and, of course, offer more interesting opportunities for testers.
What are the pros and cons in your profession do you see?
That’s definitely a good spot to foster your soft skills! Open-mindedness and multitasking are those two that help me manage day-to-day activities and never lose focus. In fact, I think these qualities are crucial for testers, as it helps not only to find bugs, but also to dive deep into the essence of the issue and accurately report the results of your research. Sounds too scientific, I know. But that’s one of the pros of my profession – you never stop learning. As for the cons, this sphere will definitely not suit those who prefer to lie down on the job, stagnate and save on quality. But it’s not my story.
What do you think is more important at work: communication skills or academic knowledge?
I should say that it’s good to keep the balance in everything. Academic knowledge provides general guidance, which is good, but to turn it into an effective working strategy you should keep in mind the context. And then, no matter you’re composing an email or solving a tough conflict situation, the golden rule is a moral principle which denotes that you should treat others the way you want to be treated yourself. My personal way to do this is trying to put myself in the recipient’s shoes to see how my words affect them.
If given the opportunity, which language would you learn and why?
Linguistics has become one of my interests since university years. I studied English and Spanish there. And the thing I like the most about languages is that you always need to polish your skill, no way to study the language till the very end (even if it’s your mother tongue), it’s always a life-long journey. At the same time, not sure whether you’ve noticed it or not, but I feel like speaking some language allows trying on various personalities. Scientists explain that it happens due to our attitude to a language and the cultural values we place on it. But that's real magic! And, of course, last but not least is the way all languages are interconnected (borrowed words, culture-specific terms, proverbs, humor and so on). That’s a full world! So, the more languages we speak – the better. I’d probably start learning Portuguese some time, because at first glance it’s very similar to Spanish, but when you hear these “already known” words being pronounced, that sounds really different and very unusual.
What do you dislike doing?
I really hate doing routine tasks, no matter if it's hours of regression testing or household chores. Routine kills creativity.
Do you have pets at home? If so, which ones?
Yes, I have a cat named Vasiliy (Vasya for short). Not sure why, but this name is rather common among male cats in Slavic folklore. The fun is that for the first 5 months we had called him Vasilisa (female name, also Vasya for short) - thought it would sound more unusual and creative, until we discovered it’s a boy. Actually, the story of Vasya started 10 years ago and was nothing different from the stories of other kitties born in the street. My grandma started feeding a stray cat that brought up two kitties. But in a short time after this, a car accident happened, and a mother-cat died leaving 2 tiny meowing creatures unattended. Several days passed rescuing the kittens (mother-cat was hiding them) and we finally discovered them in the attic and picked them up. From that moment I’ve never separated with Vasya. This August we’ll celebrate his 10-years anniversary.
