Sure. It wasn’t a panacea by any means though, as I reckoned it needed tow quite motivated and switched-on folk to be operating at the same time, otherwise it became a monologue. There’s a gem of a great idea, but in my experience it didn’t click as it was intended to..

Hi kcal

I said “not a tester” because where possible I don’t use them.

I make sure that the QA on the team is the guardian of quality (not a tester) and working with the Devs to make sure that they are automating the tests to such a level that when the code is ready that they have seen them being built and know 90% that the code will perform as expected hence “Not a tester”.

e.g. BDD / TDD / CICD / 3 amigos etc.

A

I make sure that the QA on the team is the guardian of quality

I keep trying to persuade people here that is how QA should be operating, not just acting as a buffer to the sloppiness of developers.

it’s the way forward 8)

you would think that QA would be keen to work like that, get a bit more involved, but they seem happy to trudge along doing the same old stuff all the time.

I’m in the good/bad position of being in a tiny team and change from within is a bit slow!

Yeah you get some challenging teams. There are ways to try and change behaviours:

– Run spikes / PoC’s
– Run test sprints with different ways of working
– Run a team retro and identify where you have areas where you could improve
– Lunch & learn sessions
– Agile games if they are not experienced in this space
– Seed in guys who have worked in this way from other teams if the organisation is big enough
– Bring in a coach with the right experience if you don’t already have the internal knowledge

good luck – it’s worth the effort!

2 things not to do listed here IMHO:
– Be a Tester (what are they?)
– Prince 2 training (for the love of god please no).

+1

Sorry mate, but part of being in IT is constant improvement and keeping up with the rapid changes. If you’ve failed to do that then you end up out a job!

In saying that your skills are transferable, teaching and testing are two good areas to look at.

All the best but your going to struggle now with a 8 month hole in your CV.

That’s a bit bleak.

if you don’t play the game, expect to lose. IT is still learning its trade so to speak. Compared to Accountancy, Engineering etc.

Yes, I’m in IT.

I would suggest contract BA/IT Analyst.

Use the problem solving skills from your dev experience, and your knowledge of what is required in a good spec. There is always demand for people who can bridge the gap between Business and IT, and who understand the end to end delivery process.

Is this really doable?

Doable in what sense?

Really 8 months is nothing.takes a few weeks to get back up to speed and productive with a new farmer work or even language if it is of the same class. Domain knowledge is usually the key.

Op are you willing to take step down I. Salary? I only ask as if you have only worked in IB your desired dates may be a little higher than other industries.

Doable in what sense?

A move from IT Dev to BA. I get the impression that you need to do that move whilst working for an organisation rather than when unemployed?

Given the current situation I accept that a very large salary drop is most likely 🙁

Looking on the positive side if you are unemployed it’s a step up!

Looking on the positive side if you are unemployed it’s a step up!

🙂 I need to do more of that!

Also think outside your normal domain. I recently moved into automation. Salary drop for now but ATM low responsibility while learning the ropes, but good contracting market with most I have met 45 plus, so less agest. Requires programming skills and if you have general software background you can tie together the general architecture better than many who have only worked in automation.