In the spotlight: Sanjay combines QA Engineering with his DJ career

“Music is my passion, and my biggest dream came true when I got to work as a DJ and could make a living out of it. However, there was a downside. During the week, as a DJ you spend most of your time alone in your studio and on the weekend, you are mainly performing. This means you don’t get to talk much to any competitors or colleagues. I missed the feeling of belonging. My girlfriend went to many parties at work and did fun stuff with her colleagues, and eventually, she grew a circle of good friends among them. I wanted that too.

As an adolescent, I could spend hours fiddling with computers and trying to hack software. In retrospect, this fits perfectly with my job as a QA Engineer. For example, I’m constantly trying to ‘demolish’ our platforms to make them hacker-proof, for example. I need to think about the logic behind everything constantly, why does it work this way and why does it not? Will the end user understand this, or will they stumble upon it? Funnily enough, this also overlaps with my work as a DJ, in that you do the same when working with technology and music. The music in your head doesn’t simply appear on your laptop.”

How did you gain your skills as QA Engineer?

“In my onboarding period, I started by gaining basic knowledge from books, for example. That was tough because I was more used to classroom learning.

Fortunately, I soon started working independently on projects, which started with simple assignments. I thought that was cool, I enjoyed that they were not too complex. However, I also sometimes failed and made plenty of mistakes, but that is part of the job. Fortunately, the team had space and sufficient understanding for that .

Eventually, I took a 4-day QA training course with some other colleagues. I learned some things that I wish I had known from the start, but on the other hand, I really liked that I had been able to set up the working method that works for me. I work on many projects and feel that flexibility within my work is an important factor. I am also definitely a nit-picker when things don’t work well, which is an important trait to have as a tester.”

What do you like about your role?

“As a QA Engineer, I am the spokesperson for the end user. I know it won’t make the user happy if it doesn’t make me happy. So I want it to be excellent for the user. I really want them to feel that it is a great experience. You also have to think about the customer’s perspective. Why do they want something a certain way? And should we pay attention to every mini detail if the budget is small? Those are interesting commercial issues you cope with as a QA Engineer.

In addition, at Triple, I experience freedom and responsibility above all else. For example, if I have to pick up my daughter from school or I need to do something in between for my role as a DJ, this is not a problem. Every layer of the organization seems to trust each other, as colleagues do what they have to do. We all feel our responsibility. And as a result, it sometimes occurs that you find yourself spending half an hour playing a Nintendo game with a group of colleagues in between work. Because we also know that once the game ends, everyone returns to work and gets the work done.”