People of Symphony starring Anja Andric: Quality Assurance in focus – How it improved my skills and showed me which way to go

It's time to meet Anja Andric, a QA Engineer from our Belgrade development center! Besides the unmistakable fashion style and positive energy, Anja is famous for her constant desire to learn and grow. Before joining Symphony, she spent the first three years of her career solving problems and searching for why something is not working. "But, one day, I stopped and realized that while analyzing issues and bugs, I had found a new career path. That's precisely when I realized I should change the purpose of my programming and switch to automation testing," Anja started her story.

Experiment to find what you love the most – Journey from automation to manual testing

While upgrading her technical skills, Anja started working more closely with the clients. That opened a new perspective in her career, so she soon became a Technical Product Owner and spent two years working in an Agile team.

Anja explained in more detail: "To better understand automation, I had to better understand client requirements and deep dive into the implementation, which gave me a product owner perspective. That way, I had an opportunity to approach the problem from several sides, keeping in mind the job aspects of software and QA engineers." 

Even though experimenting with roles helped broaden her perspective and scope, enabling her to progress rapidly, Anja returned to what she loved the most – QA.

Symphony's selection process: How I learned from it

"I was fascinated by my technical interview, as I didn't expect to learn from it but to be questioned. However, the discussion with my interviewer gave me a completely different perspective on things I was doing in the past and helped me realize that there is a whole new world in Quality Assurance I could grasp." 

That was when Anja chose Symphony as her new destination and challenged herself by doing something she has never done before. Her team had supported her, and Symphony trusted her knowledge and previous experience, giving her space to learn, make mistakes, and do what was best for the team and the project. The key expectation was transparency and dedication, and everything else was part of the process and the joint journey. 

"The company's attitude motivated me to do something I thought I would never do - manual testing besides automation. My team supported me, the company had my back, so I stopped thinking about how I am doing things and the tools I am using. Instead, I focused on better product delivery in each sprint. Also, not only have I upgraded my technical knowledge, but I also have an opportunity to work closely with clients and have a touch with the business side of the story." 

Looking from this position in her life and career, Anja shared what she learned about Quality Assurance from her previous experience.

Understanding the QA role – What it takes to bring value

"To be a sound QA Engineer, you should be systematic. To be systematic, you need to be patient. There are no quick wins in Quality Assurance, and, of course, there are no tools and methods that can teach you to be analytical. A person should work on their testing skills each day and develop the mindset needed," Anja explained and continued: "QA is a quality assurance of the application - not ourselves. Sometimes it means that you will have to sit and write ten automated tests in three days, sit with software engineers and read things from tables, or sit with product owners and analyze each possible situation that the user can do. In the end, your only goal is to provide value by providing a quality product. Once you understand your role, you will realize your capacity for technical upgrades and learn to be better in everything you do."

"That should be your focus and not the tool you are going to use. To achieve all of that, you should pay attention to the quality of code, UI, usability - your app should be user-friendly, and still, you need to meet business requirements at the same time and think about what is essential for our users." Anja concluded with a smile. 

Here in the Belgrade development center, we have a community of 9 excellent QA Engineers working together and helping each other develop all the necessary skills for their job. Will you be the 10th? There's always an opportunity to join our team in Belgrade, so check out our openings here.