So I’m sitting here doing some revision to refresh my rusty skills ahead of starting a new job. I did one new almost-radical extra homework thing in my job interviews this time to improve my chances of landing a role and it worked. These days you have to truly impress. What have you done in your first week to impress?
I know it’s a broad question, but I’m keen to try something new just like how I did in my interview process, anything at all, even if it might sound weird. Tell us all about it.
That is quite a lot, and a great cheat-sheet. I like your tactic.
These days security is a huge barrier to new starters, so a sheet like this that will trigger any enrolling and induction that might slow you down is super useful.
A new colleague introduced me to the application I was supposed to test. Curious, I asked if I could borrow his mouse for a moment. After just three or four actions, the software suddenly crashed.
On my first day as a software tester, I told the R&D Director I wasn’t going to write the test scripts he had asked for. Instead, I used what I later learned was exploratory testing to discover a succession of bad bugs that requirements-based test scripts would never have found. Some were new but it transpired that some had been in the product (a microprocessor-based security system) for years.
I didn’t do it to impress - that sort of thing doesn’t concern me at all. I did it because he had given me a stupid task and I wasn’t going to waste my time writing scripts. It shocked people rather than impress them, but I’m a maverick who is much more effective if you just give me an objective and don’t worry about how I’m going to achieve it. Many managers, including the ones who later bought the company, can’t accept that.
i don’t recommend this tactic unless you’re very sure of your ability and are willing to look for another job if it goes wrong.
I am thinking to make a staff list/org chart in powerpoint or something. Mainly because it is a small company and that kind of thing often does not exist. But yes, I aim to memorise everyone’s name as soon as possible.
Ha ha, I think you might have a touch of that special disease a lot of software engineers have Steve, we hate repetitious tasks. That does not make you worth less, but you know that. It does mean we need to work on people skills more, so that’s not a thing I am about to take a chance on.
I may have a bit more freedom initially, and so any ideas that will bring value in a small company are going to help everyone. I’ll have a “large surface area” so no fear of running out of important work after people start dumping test work on my later on.
I don’t have a problem with repetitious tasks if they are worthwhile. I do have a problem with stupid tasks, and I put the writing of test scripts in that category.
I don’t have any people skills and don’t really have any inclination to acquire them. I prefer to just find people who accept how I am. These days, people are so self-obsessed and narcissistic that it’s almost impossible to please anyone.
Well, I have a story for later on people skills. But yes, finding someone who you work well with can be hard, especially when many of our team will work remotely.
I dont start new jobs often but I do fairly regularly join new teams and projects.
This is a bit less pressure than a new job when you have a whole lot of job security and probation things at the back of your mind.
However as I see it a lot I thought I’d share.
First thing, relax, everyone knows you are onboarding and they have taken you on board because they are confident that you can do the job well and unless they are all firefighting people will be willing to help you settle in.
People - get to know who is who, coffee.
Tools - this can be frustrating, you want to hit the job running day one but sometimes its a week maybe longer to get things set up and give you access to everything just so you can do a bit of testing. Remember everyone on the team has been through this, they feel your frustration.
Process - how do things work.
You - I wouldn’t rush this, its often the most important one.
Note taking and some level of planning during that first week so you can sit back at end of that week, have a beer and look forward with some sort of sense of direction.
I have encountered a serious problem that is causing the software to crash.
I may have found a quality treasure