A Different Kind of QA: Calling all Engineers
It’s common for people to ask why a good engineer like myself would want to work in QA, especially when you have to fight the stigma’s of QA, namely:
1) You are in QA because you are not good enough for development
2) You are in QA as a stepping stone for development
3) You are in QA because you don’t like coding
My response to those statements: pish-posh. While these statements may apply to some people in the field, they certainly don’t apply to the people serious about QA. A good QA Engineer solves quality problems with an algorithmic intensity that rivals traditional programmers. They are a true hacker in the older sense of the word - they are here to find and exploit the problems in the system in any way possible.
Every problem has its boundaries. For most developers, the boundaries for implementing solutions are usually confined to one language, stack, or technology. The boundaries for problem solving in QA are generally much wider, simply because our solutions don’t have to be productized, exposed to the public, and aren’t necessarily even in the same language or stack.
This allows a much wider range of creative freedom when solving problems. Learning new languages and technologies becomes essential for your work. Having a large arsenal of tools to attack a problem becomes a necessary part of the job. This provides you with even more of a reason to learn about the latest and greatest in tech, which is something that appeals to all engineers alike.
At Xobni we approach QA differently than most. The people we look for are not here because they are not good enough for development. They are not here because they don’t like coding. The QA people here are expected to be at the top of their game. They are expected to build and create software that can topple the Jenga-like building blocks of our product. They are expected to be creative people who like to learn, explore, and exploit software.
That being said, Xobni is looking for a QA engineer! Check out the job post, and send resumes to ryan dot gerard at xobni.com if you think you can rock our world.
We call our QA team’s room the Pirate Lair (see above).
May 28th, 2008 at 10:41 am
truly great job ad. you’d make QA engineers proud about their job
but my real question was: I don’t get the huge speakers? so you guys have parties as well in the pirate’s Lair?
May 28th, 2008 at 3:49 pm
From one QA evangelist to another - huzzah.
I think a really good software QA engineer is also one that finds enthusiasm and passion in indentifying questionable behavior and ferreting out the root cause. They also need to be able to think carefully through the software they are testing and look for cracks and areas of vulnerablity that go beyond the customer (those people who want to use the software for its intended purpose) to the consumer (those people who want to use the software outside its intended purpose).
It’s a very challenging career choice and I’ve loved my 12 years in it!
I like the Lair - We had a Tester Mosh Pit in a prior group I worked for
- Maura
May 28th, 2008 at 6:54 pm
Wow!! This is by far the best job posting I’ve ever seen, the quality of your company is truly reflected in this job ad. Thank you for the awesome inspiration.
May 30th, 2008 at 12:51 pm
[...] QA Automation Engineer at Xobni (San Francisco, CA 94108) Do you have passion for understanding, breaking, and testing cutting-edge products? Xobni is looking for our first full time automated QA engineer. This person will work with the rest of the Xobni QA team to make sure we’re shipping stable, delicious software. You can read about our philosophy on QA on our blog: http://www.xobni.com/blog/2008/05/27/a-different-kind-of-qa-calling-all-engineers/ [...]
July 7th, 2008 at 7:51 pm
[...] Do you have passion for understanding, breaking, and testing cutting-edge products? Xobni is looking for our first full time automated QA engineer. This person will work with the rest of the Xobni QA team to make sure we’re shipping stable, delicious software. You can read about our philosophy on QA on our blog: http://www.xobni.com/blog/2008/05/27/a-different-kind-of-qa-calling-all-engineers/ [...]
July 23rd, 2008 at 2:58 pm
[...] Gerard, our QA engineering lead, seeks an QA Automation Engineer. Ryan wrote a great blog post that gives a good perspective on the value quality engineering. If you are interested in this [...]