Story of One QA Engineer Who Fought Procrastination

Eugene Korobka
QA Team at Rozdoum

Once upon a time, there was a QA Engineer who had, for the most part, been engaged in only long-term projects.

He preferred working in a fast-paced and dynamic environment. Being responsible for several simultaneous projects, working on different activities, meeting challenges that he had never been faced with, and learning something new every day was thrilling for him. The given circumstances pushed him to be better, and over time those challenging situations developed his skills and shaped him into a true professional. Being on a team of like-minded individuals, he rose through the ranks as a leader, someone whom they could always seek advice from.

In reality, his job was far from such desires and he would often daydream about a life like this. As he had a stable long-term project, monotonous day-to-day tasks were draining his creativity. Weekdays became indistinguishable as one day would bleed into the next. All the application features were always specified, described, and covered by his checklists. His responsibilities were just an endless string of repetitive activities: rechecking bug fixes, regression testing, documents maintenance and so on. Sometimes he would even search for additional miscellaneous activities to do, especially when the project was at its support stage.

He was very much aware that he had been slipping into this mundane routine for some time now. He felt he knew everything there was to know about his job. He believed that when there is nothing new to learn, no goals can be achieved. Many months had gone by. How many would be difficult to say. He realized that over this course of time he had grown content. The only thing he was developing was the number of words that he could type in one minute.

It was a drizzly day in September and he was sitting at his desk as usual. There was no lightening or thunder to accompany the rain, but a thought struck him nonetheless. He was watching the office manager fulfill her daily obligations, but noticed something interesting, even peculiar. She was always happy even though her job would undoubtedly be described as mundane and repetitive. The way she worked, she had a curious way of making a small game out of everything that she did. The kind smile had never left her face, whether she opened a door to a visitor, answered a call, or printed papers, even the way she ordered the supplies. It was as if she was dealing with the cake for a birthday party. She would create new and interesting ways to do something that was otherwise quite boring. The QA Engineer realized at that moment that life is only what you make of it.

He strongly believed that no matter what the circumstances were, there should be an opportunity for personal growth. It was hard for him to accept that he was not the best of the best. The most difficult thing that lay ahead was getting his head out of the routine that he had grown accustomed to. He started to spice things up and was immediately rewarded with the joy of discoveries. He started looking for some new ways to do things. He didn’t stop after reading his first how-to article or after watching a workshop video. He made his progress step-by-step, a small post here, another life-hack there. He blended his routine with techniques from other areas: Business Analytics and Project Management. Adding coins of new knowledge to his experience helped him swim through his everyday monotonous work, taking no notice that it was unpaid and that it took up a lot of his free time. He applied new approaches to the tests and management tasks that he did thousands of times before.

He noticed he became more committed and engaged in his projects. Putting into operation the latest technologies and methods increased his work efficiency and developed his skills. He no longer perceived his job as a burden to carry. He was incentivized and goal-oriented. He found that he was receiving more “good jobs,” and “pats on the back.” These intangible boosts of self-esteem felt good. This QA engineer had achieved his zen.

Moral

Don’t let your life simply pass you by. If you didn’t learn anything new today, and you didn’t improve yourself in some way then the day can be considered wasted. Learning is a stimulant, it is addicting, and it will inhibit boredom. Be creative, be smart, your life is in your hands and it is limited so don’t waste it away.

Quality Assurance with Rozdoum

Rozdoum was ranked as one of the top QA companies in 2016 by Clutch. Our QA team  ensures an application, the software, as well as Atlassian Add-ons, as the part of the development lifecycle, are nothing but the highest of quality. Meanwhile, our QA engineers have the experience testing the outsourced projects for our customers, and, as you’ve read in the article aloft, most of them led to a long-term partnership. Contact us, should you be willing to discuss an opportunity, or write the author a question.