Life at KOMODO: Junior Software QA Engineer

Next up in our day-in-the-life series is Kyle Heron, a Junior Software QA Engineer who joined us around 6 months ago. You might remember seeing a little bit of press around the new starters we welcomed around the time lockdown hit the UK, and Kyle was one of them.

We caught up with him this week to find out more about his role at KOMODO - along with what it’s like joining a company in the middle of a pandemic.

So let’s get stuck in, shall we?

Meet Kyle Heron, Junior Software QA Engineer.

Firstly, why KOMODO?

I was attracted to applying for a job at KOMODO because of the chance to work with a tech team who I could learn from and develop my own skills. Prior to joining the team, I’d worked for a large IT consultancy company, where I’d worked in a second-line support role. I was looking to work in a smaller-knit team where I could get stuck into challenging projects and work closely with great people.

Six months on I can definitely say that I’ve learned a lot and I am developing my skills in a multitude of areas, plus I get to work with really talented software engineers, project managers, designers and consummate professionals across the business. The nature of the projects we deliver means I have multiple touch points across the agency and get to collaborate with a wide range of people, which is great.

I joined the business in February - just before lockdown - so it wasn’t great timing in terms of settling into my role and general office life, but KOMODO transitioned smoothly into remote working and there really was no downtime, which was really fortunate. I’ve kept in touch with the team via team stand-ups and endless Slack banter.

What does a day-in-the-life look like for you?

My role entails testing applications by:

- Developing/running automated tests: These tests run through applications and check various parts of each app. Each test expects things to happen and will report back if the expected outcome occurred or if there has been any issues.

- Testing features/fixes as they are developed: When a developer has finished a feature / fix and it has been reviewed, my role entails looking at the ‘acceptance criteria’ of what the work should achieve and testing the application to ensure the new feature/fix has met all of the criteria.

- Creating/running through regression test packs: As part of my role, I must ensure that when we add new features and fixes to applications, we aren’t breaking other parts of the application! I create, maintain and run through regression packs which contain tests across every part of each application to ensure they all still work after we make changes.

I currently work on two projects, which both work in bi-weekly iterations, where each iteration we as a team develop and deliver features and bug fixes. My role specifically in each iteration is to test that the work we do matches the client expectations and doesn’t inadvertently cause issues elsewhere.

My role also involves a lot of discussion with both the clients and the developers/designers on my team to confirm things are working as expected and that criteria is specific and clear.

In the morning we have a team stand-up to find out what the team did yesterday, what we’re doing today and if we need anything from anyone. Following that I take a look at Jira/Clubhouse (project management tools) to pick up my next task. Typically this involves testing new features/bug fixes to ensure they meet requirements, or developing more automated tests to increase the end-to-end testing coverage on our applications.

Pre-lockdown, I’d use lunchtimes to head into town for some good food, but now it’s all about spending time with my dog and enjoying the Great British Summertime (which, as we all know, usually involves anything but summery weather!).

Afternoons usually involve speaking with my team around testing that is being done or what needs to be done, before carrying on with my work from the morning, writing some more automated tests or manually testing new features/fixes.

What do you love about working at KOMODO?

To echo the sentiments of my fellow team members who’ve been featured in these posts, it’s all about the team. I love working with the team at KOMODO.

They are excellent at what they do, provide me with a lot of support to learn and are a good laugh to be around.

What 1 piece of advice would you give someone considering a role at KOMODO?

My only piece of advice for anyone thinking about applying for KOMODO to be confident and simply go for it. This is a fantastic team, an excellent range of client projects that keeps things interesting and a solid foundation that - despite the challenges thrown at all businesses thanks to COVID-19 - stands strong and is running smoothly.

It might seem a daunting prospect applying for a role in the middle of a pandemic, but we have some really good opportunities available, so I’d say go for it!

I’m biased, of course…