Masterclass: [E] Building a World Class QA team - Further Discussion

The recording of the masterclass will be available to MoT Pro members in the masterclass section.

If we didn’t get to your questions tonight or you’d like to continue the conversation, why not ask them here?

Questions That Got Missed

" I experience that my QA see themselves somewhere else and use the department to a foot into the door for other roles do you combat that and how you build QA as a valid career path in people minds?" - Marcin Pieprzowski

“What do you do when a team member’s career goals includes management, changing roles for good cv content for ‘their career’ - and yet the job can’t provide that?” - Kevin O’Neill

“How long should we take to train the basic for a trainee intern who doesn’t have much QA knowledge?” - Malkanthi Hewage

“Who do you think should be responsible of hiring QA team members? QA Lead/QA Manager/Engineering Manager/CTO” - Ruslan

" I am currently in the position of starting a new team in a very fast firefighting environment and I’m pressured to hire my first two Testers will you say it is more important to start with seniors rather than juniors? Just due to my availability for upskilling" - Tjoeffie

" I experience that my QA see themselves somewhere else and use the department to a foot into the door for other roles do you combat that and how you build QA as a valid career path in people minds?" - Marcin Pieprzowski

Hmmm, I think it’s about understanding this in the interview (asking them questions about motivation to be a QA, how they develop as a QA etc) and depends on what and why they’re looking to move as well. Is the reason that there’s no career path in QA? Or other ones are more appealing in your company?

“What do you do when a team member’s career goals includes management, changing roles for good cv content for ‘their career’ - and yet the job can’t provide that?” - Kevin O’Neill

I think that’s a person who’s very focussed on themselves and I wonder if you’ll ever satisfy them? I guess if you’re getting a good return from them I’d be thinking about how I can give them opportunities to stretch themselves but I think I’d need a top level employee to do this as I guess it would be constant and I doubt I’d do it just so people can improve their CV?

“How long should we take to train the basic for a trainee intern who doesn’t have much QA knowledge?” - Malkanthi Hewage

I think the definition of basic here is what’s at stake. You can throw somebody on a training course and in a week they’d have enough knowledge to pass the ISTQB foundation so does that class as basic? Hands on work only, you’re probably talking a few months perhaps? I’ve had plenty of people with zero knowledge be working mostly independently in 3 months no issue but you’re just scratching the surface at that level.

“Who do you think should be responsible of hiring QA team members? QA Lead/QA Manager/Engineering Manager/CTO” - Ruslan

Whoever is managing/working with them. I think having a level of senior oversight involved to ensure people aren’t making short term selfish decisions (e.g. I run a project, I need a tester so just hire the first person I see to make up numbers)

" I am currently in the position of starting a new team in a very fast firefighting environment and I’m pressured to hire my first two Testers will you say it is more important to start with seniors rather than juniors? Just due to my availability for upskilling" - Tjoeffie

Has to be senior imo. If you’re firefighting, bringing in people you need to manage/train will remove your ability to fight the fire. The word pressure worries me as it can lead to bad decisions but I think being open and honest about the situation in the interview should lead to the right people to join the company.