My journey with testing so far...

A journey of thousand miles starts with a single step. - Confucius

This is my first step.

My journey with testing so far:

I, Santosh Shukla started my testing career by chance and not by choice. (I was recruited on-campus by my dream company Infosys then and freshers are not asked for their choice at India's most respected company. I did not have any preference either is another thing :o)
So, I was assigned to work with the testing division of Infy - IVS (Independent Validation Solutions).

I started testing professionally which I realized, I had been doing till then sub-consciously.
I have been an inquisitive child, I still am. I question things which do not seem right to me.
I think these are the bare essentials of being a tester.

Worked with a so-called Agile team in my first project. Only the development team was agile there, testing team wasn't, which essentially makes the whole team non-agile. Experienced three complete test life cycles and learnt basics of testing. Then worked on a second project of independent testers where my team comprised of all developers who had to act as testers and I was the only skilled tester. (Most of those developers have now switched to testing.)
Realized that I love testing, and I am a good tester at this point of time and became sure this is what I wanted to do.
Learnt testing with some tools that the world values a lot. I do not.  
A tool is a tool is a tool.
A human being, and his unquantifiable skills are much much above the tools.


I have done certifications:
Certified Software Test Engineer
Mercury Certified LoadRunner Expert

Are certifications valuable? Yes and No (More on this later...)

After a year and a half stint at Infosys, after knowing the service industry, after knowing the importance of working under pressure, meeting deadlines, valuing processes, and Predictability, after learning Customer is King and Always Right I accepted the offer from the world's largest enterprise software company, ORACLE .

At Oracle, I learned how great products are made and how the quality is embedded into the entire process. Learnt to work on a self-managed team and being the single Tester to one of the product that the entire Oracle Applications developers fraternity used extensively. It is altogether a different feeling to be a part of product company. Learnt that developer is your friend who cares about the product equally as you do and is more than happy to help you find the ways to improve his/her code.
Repeat with me... "Developer is a Friend."

After working with these two great and big organizations, I interviewed for another great and young organization, InsideView. I chose this organization because of the existing team of Stars, because of leadership team that I interviewed with. I knew I was being heard, and I could relate to the company, both of us are trying to establish ourselves as leaders in what we do. I work in a true Agile team, where developers and testers are not two teams but are a single Engineering Team. Where Collaboration is a way of life. Where testing team does not (only) find bugs but understands the UserStories along with developers and are equal contributors in moving the development life-cycle from requirements to shippable phase with the best quality.

I am learning testing everyday...
With this blog I will share my learning and encourage discussions/comments for a mutual growth.