Talk Description
Superheroes are all around us. These are the people managers come running to when a critical bug appears in production. Or the people who sacrifice their evenings, weekends and vacation time for their employer.
I used to be one of these superheroes. I used to love being called upon when a critical bug appeared in production. It was great to feel appreciated. As software testers, we don’t experience this feeling of appreciation often enough and for me, it was addictive.
As I got involved in more projects, this superhero status became a problem. I wanted to experience this feeling of appreciation again when things went wrong so I was reluctant to share knowledge with team members. I would often be called upon when an issue arose.
At first, this felt great. When I was answering calls outside work, the praise kept coming. Soon enough though, this became what was expected of me. I was no longer a superhero in the eyes of management, but I was still putting in the excess hours.
Something had to change before I burned myself out completely.
In this talk I want to talk about how I developed a strategy to become the most effective employee I could be, but within contracted working hours. I learned to share knowledge, challenge excess work that landed on my desk and ensure that all the work I was doing was completed within my 9-5.
I want to share how you can be passionate about your job but also have a very healthy work-life balance.
What you’ll learn
By the end of this talk, you'll be able to:
- TBA
Ali Hill
QA and Continuous Delivery Consultant
Ali began his software testing career testing video games before moving into an Agile testing role. He now works as a QA and Continuous Delivery Consultant at ECS Digital.
He has a passion for learning. Recently Ali has been interested in learning how software testing can flourish in the world of DevOps and Continuous Delivery and has been sharing his testing knowledge within his cross-functional team.
Ali can be found talking about testing on Twitter, blogging or at the Edinburgh Ministry of Testing Meetup.
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