How the work of a tester works in the S8 Capital holding: an inside look
Hello, my name is Artyom and I am a data warehouse test engineer.
Three months ago, I moved into a new direction for me – I became a test engineer for an integrated data factory, or in other words QCD, DWH, that’s all. Prior to that, I had experience in front and back-end testing of Web applications.
Tastes could not be discussed. A dream job for one person may not be for another. In this article, I will share a little personal experience of working at S8 Capital, my feelings, the system of working in our team.
First steps in the company
All employment took place remotely: during the first week, we had a meeting with the manager, where we discussed in detail the tasks and the scheme of interaction; communicated with colleagues at a welcome webinar for newcomers to the holding; got to know the team greeted each other in private chats. It was told in great detail what to do at every moment, where to look for the knowledge base in Confluence, how to customize everything you need for work.
After registration, the employee is sent the original documents, equipment for work and a welcome pack, which includes a diary, a pen, a business card holder, a thermal mug and a lottery ticket. I received everything in seven days, these terms depend on the place of residence and the conditions of the transport company.
But even while the computer is on the road, it is possible to connect to some corporate resources with information necessary for immersion: lectures on company values and courses in various areas of activity. When a new laptop arrived, the first couple of days I was engaged in setting up access. For each role, a checklist is written to help you deal with the design – the procedure is simple, everything is done in a couple of clicks. The leader and mentor are always interested in promotion, help in all matters.
There is a bot – an interactive assistant “Pascal” (yes, it is named after the outstanding French scientist Blaise Pascal), where you can find useful information (for example, about employees, vacations, benefits), apply for a temporary absence and more.
Beginning of work
In the first month of work, I took courses on the iSpring platform. They are interesting and exciting. The adaptation course in the form of interactive videos was prepared by the corporate university S8 Academy. I also immersed myself in the corporate culture of the holding, got acquainted with patterns and examples of work in my project team.
Successful course completion earns points that can be redeemed in the corporate rewards store. It has merch, books, certificates, for example, for reducing the working day. I plan to save up for a backpack. I had never tried my luck in the lotteries before, and the word “Fun” had a different meaning for me, but now it’s part of the job.
From the second month, simple project tasks began to arrive, thanks to which I immersed myself in the details of the work and the features of interaction in the team. I was given a simple and understandable task from the sprint backlog. First, I myself got acquainted with its formulation and description of the refinement, then I phoned the mentor, he explained the process and the approach used in testing. Then I took the testing of the revision of the manual on the UAT environment after the completion of the test on the FT-bench by another, more experienced colleague. After closing these tasks from the backlog of my team, I was connected to participate in E2E testing, at first also “under the wing” of an experienced colleague.
A variety of tasks allows you to develop hard skills (during the test of the tasks of the project team and the support team, you immerse yourself in technical details, apply test design techniques) and soft skills (multitasking, the ability to work in changing conditions, for example).
My results and conclusions
During the trial period, there were no insurmountable questions or misunderstandings. After a month and a half of work, the mentor said that I was successfully coping with the tasks – such feedback is very motivating.
The company has many different corporate activities: a book club, quizzes with cash prizes, its own magazine about the life of the company and employees, a sports league (football, running, basketball, e-sports), partnership with the All-Russian physical culture and sports complex “Ready for Labor and Defense” (GTO) at Luzhniki, corporate awards, volunteer movements and much more.
The main thing is not to forget that any undertaking is always difficult and incomprehensible. It is important not to be afraid to ask questions of more experienced colleagues – they will always help. Onboarding is not a short lecture, but a continuous, fluid process.
For three months of work, I had many tasks: some of them were of the same type, in others it was necessary to apply different approaches to the process and interaction both with the system and with colleagues. It certainly wasn’t boring.
I can say with confidence that I have never regretted accepting the offer to work in the S8 Capital holding.
