Tell me about yourself - Sept 6, 2022

[Grigory Davydov]

Hello, I am Grigory Davydov.

• I have master degree in aircraft design engineering.
• First 6 years of my career I worked as design engineer, customer success and account manger in aviation industry.
  4 years ago I joined telecommunication company as project manager leading the team of software and hardware engineers in order to built various inflight entertainment and connectivity solutions for airlines.
• I won a green card and moved to the heart of the Silicon Valley to continue my career in IT industry.
  As it is hard to compete with local IT project managers because of my English, education and lack of understanding of the local market, I decided to utilize my previous experience and knowledge in software development to grow as a QA engineer. I also missed engineering tasks being a Project manager.
• I am technical and very detail oriented person.
  I also love studying IT solutions to find how they work.
  I am passionate about delivering the perfect products to the customers.
  These 3 characteristics make me a tester with a really great potential.
• In 5 years I will become a QA lead at Google with deep knowledge at testing automation and load testing.

[konst_abramov]

Hello! My name is Konstantin Abramov. I have an associate degree. In 2008 I graduated from Saint Petersburg college of management and commerce as a "Technical Maintenance of computer equipment and computer networks" specialist.

For about 5 years I worked as a freelancer making websites using PHP, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and MySQL technology stack. Then I completed a course on operating of Backhoe Loaders and worked on the construction site of the "Piterland" aquapark in St. Petersburg. In the next organization, my duty was to give access to the repair team to the hot pipeline on the accident site to fix it and then restore the pavement after repair.

At the same time, I continued my self-education in IT technologies learning such things as Java, PostgreSQL, Spring Framework, Vue.js, and other IT technologies. The problem with my work as a backhoe operator was with my reaching the ceiling of further development in this field of working - I can professionally operate many types of construction machines and at the same time, I saw the limit of salary this type of job can give me.

Because I am still interested in IT technologies and they continue to develop rapidly, I decided to change my job sphere back to IT and chose QA as the best sphere for me because I often find lots of bugs in popular applications. I'd like IT products to be less glitchy and serve people by doing our lives a little easier and better.

In the nearest 5 years, I see myself as a QA team lead actively helping new team members to grow professionally and making great non-buggy apps.

[EllenK]

My name is Elena.
I have a bachelor degree in Russian/English language from Moldova Slavic University
Most of my life in USA i was teaching and working with children.
However, always wanted to work in IT field.
I think it is a good time and opportunity for me to learn something new and get a career in QA Automation.

[LiudmilaL]

Hello! My name is Liudmila Lobanova.

I have an university degree in the Moscow University of Radiotechnics Electronics and Automatics (Technical University). I have lived in Moscow all my life.

Last 20 years I have been working in the IT-area as a Network Engineer, Network Administrator, and Head of Network Technologies and Telecommunications department in a big manufacturing company. I deal with LAN/WAN/WLAN/Security and Unified communication devices: deployment, configuration, maintenance, and support. I liked my job, but now it's time for a change.

I am changing my career because of several reasons: I got green card, burned out on my present job and I would like more freedom with working remotely.

Ok, but why is QA?
Actually, I tested software on my present job pretty often, especially in UC: integrators and developers offered us their new products and we did “pilot tests” to recognize if the product is suitable for us and if it really has some advantages that can give us possibilities to provide the best service for our staff. Basically, I compared promoted behavior of the software against actual behavior in the our own environment.
I hate bugs and want to make difference – so my way to QA is naturally.

In 5 years, I see myself as a Senior quality assurance Engineer or maybe even as a QA Lead. )))

[Christina C]

Hello! My name is Christina. I have a Bachelor's degree in tourism management and hospitality business .
For 6 years I worked in the restaurant business and for one year in the transportation company .
I’m changing my career because I’m feeling this is the time to grow and learn new things for me.
QA is a fast and affordable way to get into the tech world , meet new people and to change the lifestyle .
Hopefully in 5 years I'll be a professional and successful tester .

[maryna05]

Hello,
My name is Maryna.
I graduated with a bachelor degree in business administration from the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC).
I've worked as a procurement specialist at DMI, Inc. for five years. My main duties were managing the company's projects by interacting with suppliers and customers on a daily basis. I currently work as a real estate appraiser and I’ve been working as the appraiser for the past seven years now. My main duties are determining the values of the properties by inspecting them and preparing the appraising reports for the clients.
I've recently realized that there are no more opportunities for growth in my profession. Therefore, I’ve decided to make a change in my career and with my research and with the successful stories from my friends I've decided to pursue a career in information technology.
I believe that QA is a very interesting path for me because it gives many opportunities to apply my existing skills and learn new things daily. I'm sure I will never get bored of it!
In five years I'm expecting to become the Quality Assurance manager.

[dakalta]

Hello,
My name is Tatsiana
I'm from Belarus, moved to the US twenty years ago. I have a bachelor's in Economics from my country. After moving to the US I got a degree in the medical field and worked there for seven years. Then I had kids and became a stay home mom and worked home part time as an accountant. Now, when my kids are getting bigger and more independent, and since I've always been attracted by the cyber world, I decided to try myself in IT. I know I'm going to fit into the field and will succeed.

[Antik]

Hello, my name is Anton.
In 1998-2001 I studied Financial Management at the Kyiv National Economic University (did not graduate) and more than 20 years gain knowledge in practice, working in publishing and graphic design.

Computers are my passion since 1990 when I had my first Macintosh Plus at home. I began learning layout design by myself. Then I got my first parliament newspaper job at 16 years old.

Years of work as a senior designer and executive editor in newspapers, magazines and scientific journals - let me be proficient in a variety of tools for creating and managing different projects in media, marketing, print, digital and web design.

But printing industry continued to be replaced by digital technologies more and more. In 2019 my company began to develop online learning platform for continued education of doctors. I joined this project as a graphic designer, found it has a lot of issues and took on the responsibility to develop requirements and verify its quality. I loved this work and began to study QA deeply and participate in projects in this field.

Over the next few years I would like to hold more responsibility in software QA. I hope to to maintain passion in my work and to prove myself in software QA, UI/UX and coding.

[Myltivitamin297]

Hello.
My name is Mykyta
I finished my High school in Ukraine
My Work experience is : barista (2 years) , Bartender( 4 months)
I got laid off during the COVID
I feel like QA is a perfect job to start your IT career
In 5 years i see myself in Automation QA

[Aigul_Dix]

Hi,
I am Aigul
I have bachelor in State and Local Management
I worked as an accountant, then I worked as a house flipper (was self employed)
Immigration
Living in California inspired me to take a look at tech professions
I definetely see me at a project management in near future

[MarynaG]

Hello!
My name is Maryna Galaviz.
I have a Master's Degree in Teaching and Translation. I've been working as a private tutor of English and German back in Ukraine. When I moved to US I started working as a Medical Interpreter.
I decided to switch into a different field because I prefer the IT corporate environment, more chances to get a remote position. And last, but not least, the pay is important too since I moved to California recently.
I chose QA because I've been watchin Portnov's Youtube channel and I found it inspiring and motivating.
In 5 years I see myself working in a Tech Company and being promoted to a QA Manager.

[Iuliia Bondarenko]

Hello. My name is Iuliia. I have a bachelor degree in International Law from Ukrainian university. I have never got a chance to implement my knowledge in law because I moved to the USA right after I graduated. I have an office experience working with the Secretary of State and insurance companies assisting the customers with the services related to trucking business. After the maternity leave my friend recommended me to try the QA job. I think I have all the qualifications to be an excellent QA employee since I am very detail oriented and have a lot of experience with paperwork which would help me to do a quality job in IT sphere. I am open to learning the automation as well so I can develop and get even better employee within the next 5 years.

[Gelik]

Hi, my name is Angelina.

I am a QA engineer, however, I've spent the first 10 years of my career life working in marketing, accounting and mostly in property management.

My career path started from getting the Master of Arts degree in Translation and Interpreting. Learning English was my very first passion since I was a child. After that, I continued my education and got the Master of Arts degree in Economics.

My education helped me to get my first job as a marketing manager, back in 2011 in Ukraine. After immigrating to the USA in 2014 I got a job as a bookkeeper and pretty soon I was promoted to the position of a property manager in NYC. I worked in the same company for 7 years and gained a lot of important skills that later on helped me to succeed in QA profession, including compliance and documentation skills, dealing with people (sometimes with really difficult ones), I got a lot of user experience with various software applications.

However, after a while, I realize that changing my profession would improve my family life. I became a student of Portnov QA school by accident. A friend of mine, who knows me pretty well, advised me to investigate an IT field because he thought that my meticulous attention to details and desire to learn and self-improve would be a perfect match for a QA career. He has been working over 10 years in IT at that time, and he recommended Portnov school.

I successfully completed my training and internship, and the more I was getting involved in software testing, the more I enjoyed the profession. Today, I know for sure that software testing is my long term career commitment and my goal is to become someone who makes a difference in software testing industry. Therefore, I’m looking forward to becoming a member of a professional, strong team working on technically challenging projects.

[Iuliia Shevchenko]

My Name is Iuliia Shevchenko.
I Graduated “Technical National University “Kharkov Polytechnical Institute” back in 2008 and my major was Chemical Engineering. I used to work as a technician in chemical laboratory and as a Senior Engineer for a few years.
My career growth in this industry had to be stopped due to moving to US and starting a family. And after having a few years break, I realized that I do not want to start all over again in Chemical Industry. So, I’ve been looking for something where my technical background would be useful, but something totally new at the same time. And this is how I came to this point, where I am taking QA classes. This is a new and very interesting choice for me and I am determined to succeed.
In 5 years I see myself being a high-skilled QA specialist, whose knowledge and professionalism is highly-demanded in IT industry.

[Elena F.]

Hi there!

My name is Elena, I live in NY. I'm from Russia, Moscow, I have an bachelor degree in Economic and incomplete bachelor degree in Technology of the organic substances (Russian State Univercity D.I Mendeleev)

My work experince was mostly in Administrative positions. The last 13 years I worked in commercial estate field as a PA to the owner of the holding, in addition to this position as a senior specialist at lease department. My responsibilities were related to paperwork and interaction with existing and potential tenants (world-famous brands) using CRM tables etc. I checked and revise all the docs, long-term contracts, commercial conditions, project, blueprints so on related to this identifying mistakes/mismatches, so I served as a final point before release and submitting for signing.

Since the pandemic began many employees had to switch to remote work format as I did, unlucky ones were cut. That time I was about to move to the USA and it was a very time to think over what is the next career direction I should go to and where could I use my experience and skills, so I opted for IT but didn't know where to start as a beginner, that tome I knew about this school

While in the USA I met some people who are graduates from Portnov school and successfully employed. I've known the specific of QA testing in details, that left me in no doubt to start with this. Challenging and fast-moving times shows that IT - is a future of the modern life. And the absolute advantages of this work for me are - room for growing, salary, mobility, developing, always in demand.

In a 5 years I'd like to be a experienced QA automation engineer.