Raluca is a senior QA engineer, with more that 13 years of experience in the field. She started as the first QA within the company and loves the domain as it allows her to switch from a project to the other, regardless of the technology involved. We sat down with her virtually in order to gain insights into her professional journey as well as to find out her plans for the future.
Tell us a bit about yourself: your background, personality and hobbies.
I started my journey as Quality Assurance Engineer in 2008, after I graduated from the Computer Science Faculty in Cluj-Napoca.
After almost 14 years in this field, I am still passionate about my work and I really feel that this domain fits my personality 100%. I am very focused on details, with an analytical thinking and I am the biggest critic of myself. I am still curious and eager to learn new things day by day to be up to date with the latest technologies in the QA field.
Outside of work, I enjoy spending time in nature, doing many outdoor activities with my family and friends. I like ATV rides, the occasional garden parties, mountain biking, hiking, skiing, climbing, camping and caravan trips.
What is your favorite tech?
My favorite ‘tech’ is all about ensuring quality. The quality is tech independent and this gives me the possibility to easily switch from a project to another, which is something I really love about my position.
During my career I worked with Java, C#, C and JavaScript. During the last 6 years I have been working with JavaScript, being involved in writing unit tests, integration tests, API tests and end-to-end tests.
What is a typical workday for you?
I like to start my day bright and early in the morning, with my special “coffee” – a 5 km jog at 5 am. After that I help my 7 years old son to get ready for school and get myself ready for work.
Once I arrive at the office, I grab a bottle of water, I get comfortable in my chair and enjoy my job – reading emails, monitoring the automation tests, doing the QA tasks according to the latest priorities and talking with my colleagues about the existing or possible problems in the project. When I need a break, I read some technical articles or I socialize with my colleagues.
Why did you choose to work at AscentCore?
I have worked with some of the people in the company before and I really liked the experience. Also, they offered me the opportunity to bring my QA experience and my values in AscentCore as the first QA in the company, starting some projects from scratch, so I accepted the challenges.
What is your favorite AscentCore value and why?
Relationships – this also implies good communication, transparency and integrity. I think this is very important for the team’s success as it promotes trust and increases motivation.
What is the most important lesson you’ve learned in your role?
Focus on the solution, not on the problem. Focus on learning something from any situation. Focus on the advantages / opportunity in any situation.
What’s next in your career journey?
I’d really like to explore the AI domain from a testing perspective and include AI as much as possible in testing processes. Also I’d like to coordinate some junior QAs to bring my values and my experience in their careers.
