For my final blog post this semester, I want to discuss my personal in class experience.  During the last class, our Software Testing and Quality Assurance class did an in class code review that I found to be very interesting.  Basically, were given some code for a solitaire game and were told to individually look through it and record our feedback.  At the start of the class, the team leader put all of our issues we each found together into one sheet.  We then all projected the code/issues on the wall and discussed our findings.  It was very interesting to me how many different things we all found when looking at the same piece of code.  For example, the problems with the code that I found mainly had to do with the visual display of the program.  While, someone else in my code had issues with the programming style and suggested to use a Driver class.

As a developer, you will quickly learn that there is a million ways to do everything.  Although one way might work, it doesn’t mean it’s the best way or the way it “should” be done.  Practicing clean, elegant, efficient code is a huge part of programming.  You need to not only make the program do what it’s supposed to, but also properly comment, come up with good names, have good spacing and much more.  A messy program is much more prone to problems that will be unresolved or difficult to fix; especially in the real world where there will always be multiple developers working on the same stuff.  I found this activity to be a great learning experience.  I enjoyed being part of a code review and having some input into what I thought could be better about the program.  I hope to do something like this again next semester before I’m off into the workplace for real!

From the blog CS@Worcester – Alex's Comp Sci Blog by alexsblog13 and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

Week 11, I found the blog that talks about the Software Testing Clinic and what exactly it is.  I have never heard of this clinic until coming across this blog so it was very interesting to learn about it.  Basically, the Software Testing Clinic is an environment for people who are new to software testing and or want to enhance their skills that they already have.  The all day clinic consists of a team of mentors/senior testers that guide people how to be great testers.  The mentors are available for questions at any time. There is also meet-up sessions in which the mentors hold interactive exercises, discussions, and whiteboard lessons.  The meet-ups will cover things like how to do well in an interview, automation, testing tips, communication skills, note taking, and technical testing.  2017 is actually the first year that they will be holding an full day clinic, in which they will be able to cover much more then they usually have time for.

I found this testing clinic to be an awesome idea.  This is a great way to educate new testers and to give them all of the knowledge they will need to be successful in their careers.  This is an all day workshop that seems to be a fun way to learn the proper skills you need as a tester.  Although the idea of testing seems easy, there is a lot of things that go into it that you wouldn’t necessarily know if you weren’t taught the correct way.  The fact that you will be able to talk and meet with both experienced testers, and people just like you who are starting out seems really cool.  I wish I knew about this before I started my first year at my internship.  A clinic like this would have been very beneficial.

From the blog CS@Worcester – Alex's Comp Sci Blog by alexsblog13 and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

For week 10, I picked to read a Quora blog answering the question, “is 30 years old was too last to start a career as a developer?”.  Reading through all of the responses gave me a good indication of both what a bunch of engineers thought about this question, and also what I thought.  The majority of the responses said that it is never to late to learn something knew.  There was one response in particular where a grad student at Stanford talked about challenges regarding starting a career so late.  These challenges included difficulty in interviews.  He said that if you decide to all of sudden change your career, you will have to be prepared to answer those type of questions in interviews.  Also, you might have to face being the “old guy” amongst a bunch of young kids right out of school.  You not only would be older then them, but also you may not be as educated and experienced on the things you are doing.  Many college students have had many years of internships and stuff.  Age discrimination can be a challenge in the workplace, but that doesn’t mean it’s too late.

I personally believe that it is by no means too late to start an engineering career at 30, or any career at that.  To be a developer/tester you only need 4 years of schooling. Although of course it will be more difficult at times to catch up to everyone else, that doesn’t mean it’s not possible.  You can do anything if you are willing to put in the time and effort to do so.  You only have one life so why not do everything you can and always wanted to?  Most people in the workplace are very excepting of everyone, and they wouldn’t judge you because you are “too old”.

From the blog CS@Worcester – Alex's Comp Sci Blog by alexsblog13 and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.