In our latest posts, you already learned about what it’s like to work as a Ruby Developer and a Java Developer at ePages. To give you some insight into our world of Quality Assurance, we’ve talked to one of our Quality Assurance Engineers, who shared how he started with us and how his daily work looks like.
Here’s his story:
Hi, my name is Vlad. I’m 28 years old and I come from Kharkiv, Ukraine. I’m working as a Quality Assurance Engineer at ePages since September 2015.
How did you end up working at ePages?
Due to the war and the poor living conditions, I was looking for a job outside of Ukraine. I checked Linkedin for job ads, as it is an international platform and the information there is in English. I came across the ePages job ad for a Quality Assurance Engineer in Hamburg, found it interesting, and I submitted my application. I applied for the job in Germany, despite not knowing a word of German.
Why Germany?
If you want to move from Ukraine to somewhere else, the most famous countries are USA and Germany. And Germany of course is nearer to Ukraine than the USA. In my view, Germany is the best country to find a job.
How did the application process work?
I applied for the job in December 2014 and then was invited for a number of interviews via Skype. The first one was with the Technical Recruiter. Then I had two more technical interviews: one with QA engineers in Jena and another with Team Ocean in Hamburg, for which this job was intended for. At the final stage, I talked to Harm Behrens, the CTO of ePages. He offered me to come to Hamburg for a trial working day.
All your interviews have been very successful. What happened then?
Of course I travelled to Hamburg to do my trial working day. I got to know Team Ocean and I was shown their workflows and specialities. Furthermore, I got a very good impression of the office, the environment, and my future colleagues. I noticed the familial atmosphere at once. All in all, I had a very good impression of ePages and I wanted that job. And what shall I say… here I am, now a member of Team Ocean.
How did you manage your relocation?
Right after I received the OK for the job at ePages, I applied for the VISA to work in Germany. At the end of August I moved to Hamburg, where ePages provided me with a temporary apartment. I immediately started to look for my own apartment and also the process to relocate also my wife and my daughter.
Was it hard to find an apartment?
Sometimes it was a bit hard because of all the documents that are required to rent an apartment. But the team helped me a lot with the communication. I then started my German course at Colon in October. I attend the classes twice a week in the evening after work.
Did you get support with other administrative issues?
Well, German was nowhere really required when it comes to bank account, health insurance, registration… all that worked fine just with English.
Tell us about your first weeks at ePages.
Well, there’s not much to say: I was integrated from the very first day. It really felt like I became part of another family. People were so nice and everybody helped me.
After just one week with ePages, we had the ePages YOU company event. It was nice to meet all the other colleagues. You know that when you start a new job: everyone knows about you, but you don’t know the colleagues. I also made first contact at the YOU with Team Ocean’s twin team from Barcelona.
And the technical aspects?
I opened a GitHub account the day I started with the team, and did my first commit after two weeks. My first main task was to integrate Selenium Test and bring the knowledge to the team. I already had experience with that.
What does a typical work day look like?
I usually start work between 8:30 and 9:00. Then I work myself through some administrative stuff or tackle some smaller tasks. At 9:30 we have our Daily Standup. Depending on what the teams did, I will do the Q&A for these tasks.
At 12:00 I have lunch with the team. We have so many different opportunities for lunch just around the corner.
In the afternoon, I continue my work from the morning. Finding bugs and suggesting improvements is my job 😉.
Next to this, I’m responsible for automated tests. Sometimes I have meetings with the colleagues in Jena to discuss topics with regards to ESF (ePages Selenium Framework) tests.
Which technologies do you use?
I mainly work with Selenium, Java and GitHub as well as Docker and Jenkins.
What do you like at ePages?
I really enjoy working with my colleagues and I love to come to the office in the mornings. ePages is like a family. Honestly, the most important issue in a new company is the team and the colleagues. If you match with the team, it’s like a machine. Everything works smoothly together. And it’s like that at ePages.
At ePages, we have very straight-forward processes. You can get things done without appointments. You don’t even need an appointment with the CTO. You can just go to his office and talk to him about your issue.
What does an applicant need?
A Q&A must empathise with a developer, a customer, a merchant and a company at the same time. Being able to think from different perspectives is the key. Every customer is different, so a QA candidate has to be flexible and put themselves into different positions.
They should be team-minded and able to listen to everybody’s problems.
Related posts
- Working as a Java Developer at ePages
- Working as a Ruby Developer at ePages
- One month as an ePagee
- How ePages gives new developers a great start
About the authors
