In a previous post I mentioned a 5 week (3 days a week) online
Testing class I was taking by Ajay Balamurugadas, a passionate Tester from
India. Our last class was this past Wednesday
and it was a great experience. Not just
to explore new things in my journey of self-learning, but to experience a Skype
group class full of enthusiastic people from India!
Ajay’s passion about Testing and passing on his knowledge
came through in this class. It was
evident in the beginning that he wanted the class to succeed. He could be tough on you, but he would do it
with a good intention to challenge you, to bring out the best in you.
A few of the things we worked on, alone and as a group were
the following
- Test strategy
- Mind maps
- Test ideas
- Bug investigation
- Bug reports
But we also
went off the agenda many times to discuss an interesting new topic or a
question that came up. That was always a
fun adventure.
I was very
interested in the discussion on mind maps.
I’ve done a little bit with them, but since this class they’ve become a
bigger part of my life. It’s an easier
and faster way to break things down to workable bits than just making lists. I’m finding that I’m not just using them for
Testing, but for other things in my life.
The other thing that I’ve taken away from this class is Ajay’s
enthusiasm with Testing. It’s easy to
forget that we as Testers really do love Testing when we are so busy and it
sometimes feels like a “job”. One of the
best ways to conquer that is to continue to learn new things. And there are so many ways to do that. So many resources out there!
I’ve been a
Tester for several years, but I couldn’t pass up not only a free class (thanks,
Ajay!), but a class from someone I’ve been hearing about from other Testers and
Testing coaches. Experienced Testers (and
new Testers) should take every chance they can squeeze into their busy
schedules to get as much training and self-knowledge as they can. You never know what new nugget you’ll hear
about that you can add to your tool box but also pass along to other Testers.
I now
consider Ajay to be a friend along with many people in the class. A very nice perk!
Check out
Ajay’s blog at www.enjoytesting.blogspot.com/
Order Ajay’s
books: www.enjoytesting.blogspot.in/2011/10/release-of-my-ebook
