me_smith

Hello. I am QA that writes tests for engineering. Technically, my title is a Software Development Engineer in Test (SDET). Not only do I write "test plans", I work on the test framework, infrastructure and the automation of those test plans.

Every company is different on how they implement the QA function. Whether it be left to customer, developers, customer support, manual only QA, or SDET. It really comes down to how much leadership values quality or how leadership perceives QA.

If a company has a QA team, I think the most success comes when QA get involved early in the process. If it is a good QA team, they should be finding bugs before any code is written. The later they are involved, the later you find bugs (whether the bugs are just "noise" or not) and then the tighter they get squeezed between "code complete" and release. I think that the QA team should have automation skills so more time is spent on new test cases instead of re-executing manual test cases.

Anyways, from my vantage point, the article really hits hard. QA are sometimes treated as second class citizens and left out of many discussions that can give them the context to actually do their job well. And it gets worse as the good ones leave for development or product management. So the downward spiral is real.

Oh wow I read “The Shadow of the Wind” and enjoyed it. I didn’t know that there was a series. Thank you for the comment. I now have a few more books to search for in my local used book store.

I’ve been driving my Toyota Tacoma for 22 years now and currently at 245k miles (with some off-roading thrown in there). With regular upkeep, it’s amazing how much abuse these can take and still run fine. I haven’t had any major problems. My next car will definitely be a Toyota.

Don’t need to imagine… looking at the bookshelf right now. One day they will be opened.

I’ve applied and got hired through a job posting a few years ago.

Yes! I learned about the library state park pass program recently and it truly is wonderful. Some state parks don’t accept the pass but the vast majority of them do. It has propelled my wife and I to explore outside of our normal park options.

From my own experience, I think this can be part of it.

My wife and I lived in an apartment several years ago. While there my wife had sleep issues and seemed to get sick more often. Close to the end of our lease, after a little rain, we found mold on the carpet and on some of our stuff in our bedroom closet.

We reported the mold to the landlords. They quickly denied it was mold, calling it “mildew” then had contractors tear open the wall and redo the insulation, carpet and walls. They offered to pay us money if we didn’t write a review regarding the incident.

We moved out as soon as we could. Now that we are lucky enough to live in our own home, we both feel a lot better in terms of sleep and health.

I can’t prove the mold was the cause of bad sleep or prove how long the mold was even there. But I don’t think I can go back to renting where I don’t have control or insight into how things are maintained.

I agree with this. Driving into the office to be stuck on Zoom is not fun. My team is spread across three geographic regions plus people that are WFH that day. No matter what, we have to be on Zoom to collaborate. I’m not sure how this makes us more productive…

What would be a good starting point with Emerson?

> You could be in a conversation with someone and see their eye drift upwards to read whatever notification arrived on their device. It felt rude.

I would like to extend this to smart watches. So many conversations I have had where someone is constantly glancing at their watch. I know it is just an automatic response to some vibration but sometimes it feels rude.

Great job! Simple and executed well. Thank you!

~353

Not a take home assessment but after I went in for a half day in-person interview at one company, I was totally ghosted by everyone, including the recruiter. They didn’t bother to send a rejection email and didn’t bother to respond to any of my emails.

I used up vacation time to meet with them, I would expect some type of acknowledgement regardless of the outcome. I didn’t even care if they gave me feedback. Just give me a “yes” or “no”.

The company was Splunk.

The QA engineer position isn’t in the link provided. Is it still open? Is it a manual QA or SDET position? Thanks.

Thank you for sharing your story.

When I was in college, I joined a community service fraternity. One of the most memorable and heartwarming event was our visit to a retirement home. We were there to help the staff, but the best part was sitting with the residents and listening to their stories. Stories of war, stories of love, stories of friendship. Stories waiting for an attentive and friendly ear. Sometimes, all you need to do is just listen.

I look back at that day with fond memories.

This is probably one of the best things I read on here. Thank you for sharing.

I appreciate many of the comments here. I don’t feel alone.

I’ve been working on something for a couple years (off and on) and some days/weeks/months my motivation takes a nose dive to the point where I stop work completely. Eventually I get back into it but one of these days, I might drop it completely.

Reminds me of Elantris by Brandon Sanderson.

I always turn to the phone and read something on HN. I am trying to fix this.

I’m trying to get better at reading a book.

Thank you for the recommendation! I’ll take a look!

Thank you!

Thank you for sharing! Looking forward to reading through these.

Do you have a link? I know of the google testing blog, but are there actual resources that describe how testing is done at google?

Thanks for the reply!

1. Go backpacking/camping in some wilderness nearby

2. Catch up on the reading list

3. Start or enhance an exercise routine/habit

4. Learn to cook and start a habit of cooking

5. Catch up with friends and family

A month is a good amount of time to build a healthy habit that can take you into the new job.

Regardless of what you do, I hope you enjoy the time off!

I absolutely enjoy finding a used bookstore while exploring a new town or city. I can't help but meander through the dusty, over stocked aisles overflowing with old and new books. The personality of the store is not just built from the owner but also the surrounding community and the books they read. Some stores have large science fiction sections; some have larger history sections; and some may even have an actual engineering or computer science section.

During one of my meanderings, I found "Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programming" (SICP) lying under computer reference books on the top shelf. I got the old rickety foot stool, pulled the book down and found it was in decent shape, so I had to buy it. And yes, I know I can read it for free online.

If anyone is in the San Jose, CA area, check out the Recycle Bookstore. One of my favorites.

Nice website! Light and concise.

This is probably a me problem but I read “Southeast” as Southeast Asia. Not the Southeast region of the U.S. I kept scrolling down and got confused for a second while it hit me what “Southeast” actually meant.

Edit: thinking about it a little more, it might be because I live on the west coast and think of Southeast Asia food more than Southeast US food.

Yes! Gregory Hayes’ Meditations translation is definitely easier to approach than others I’ve seen. Would recommend as well.

I would also recommend A Guide to the Good Life by William Irvine to get a good intro/overview of Stoicism in general.

The Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey.

In my mid twenties, this book helped me pay off all my student loans and build an emergency fund with 4-6 months of runway. It changed the way I think about money.

I Will Teach You To Be Rich by Ramit Sethi.

This built on top of Dave Ramsey’s by helping me create a system to build my wealth through investing and still continue to save towards future goals/emergencies.

But some have left:

> “A handful of young families recently moved away, including Palumbo, who left during the pandemic. Those who’ve left tend to say they made the decision in part because even compared with a few years ago, the island didn’t feel like home anymore.“

There is extra friction to leave a whole island. They can’t just pack up their stuff, stick it in a car and drive far, far away. Not to mention leaving family, friends and community they will have to buy a plane or boat ticket to see again.

I agree there are usually multiple sides to a story and this one definitely leans anti-Ellison with an obvious negative slant from the locals. The article does mention locals think it could have been worse. But I would probably be a little upset if a billionaire buys up all the land around me and drives away small local businesses and under delivers on his promises to the community.

I don't know how many times I have read this set of forum posts on pixel art throughout the years. It is always one of my go to resources when I get that urge to build a 2d pixel game. Well, I haven't finished a game and I can't do pixel art, but it still is a great resource to go back to, at least for the memories.

Thanks for sharing!

Had to look up the skit. Thank you for the laugh.

The link for those wishing to watch and skip a google search:

https://youtu.be/NMS2VnDveP8