Friday, June 1, 2012

Ajay Balamurugadas' Testing Class


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/