Julio de Lima is a Principal QA Engineer with 14 years of experience in software testing. He has worked in all levels of testing. He has implemented functional software testing automation process in 18 companies using tools like Selenium Webdriver and TestComplete also non-functional automation testing using JMeter. He has a Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering and Computing with a focus on AI and some software testing certifications: CTFL, CTFL Agile Tester, CTAL Test Manager, CTAL Test Automation Engineer, CBTS (Brazilian Certification), and SoapUI Pro. Sporadically he also works as a guest post-graduate professor at: CESAR School (Recife and Manaus) and Unicesumar (Paraná). He is also a well-known speaker at Brazilian conferences such as iMasters PHP Experience, The Developers Conference, BRATESTE, É dia de Java, PHPConference, TICNOVA, TestTalk, GURU-SP, ScrumDay Brazil, Jornada Colaborativa, and also two International conferences: STAREast 2020, Selenium Day North America, and QA Global Summit.

Be sure to follow Julio on LinkedIn.

TL;DR;
Julio de Lima immigrated to the USA for better quality of life and bilingual opportunities for daughter. Pursued career growth, adapting to cultural shifts. He noted flexibility in work schedule and emphasis on delivery over seniority in the US workplace. Julio adapted QA practices from holistic to specialized approach. Embraced QA’s established importance in the US compared to Brazil. Learned to identify business opportunities through software quality. Brazilian lessons of dedication and positivity proved valuable. Noticed differences in lunch culture and work-life balance, with more relaxed hours in the US.

What were your reasons for choosing to immigrate to the USA? How did you prepare for finding a job and planning your move?

I would say that the main reasons were the possibility of having a better quality of life and also the possibility of giving my daughter the possibility of growing up fluent in a second language. The climate in the region where we live is similar to Brazil, which is our country of origin, and that made all the difference in the choice.

I saw in the company I currently work at, the opportunity to one day live and work in the United States of America 🇺🇸, so the path I planned and followed involved establishing myself as a consultant who delivers with quality, is reliable and who manages to work in multicultural teams. I needed to build this reputation so that I could one day achieve my goal, that’s how I got the international company transference 🙌

What are some of the cultural differences you’ve encountered in the new workplace ? 

The biggest difference I notice is related to the flexibility of the schedule when I have really satisfactory deliveries. In my home country, it is part of the culture for a senior manager to work late to demonstrate commitment. In my current context, regardless of your seniority, the commitment is with your delivery. I can’t say that this is a common factor in all organizations in the US, but it is definitely something that I found in the company where I work and that contributes a lot to my quality of life.

Are there any specific challenges you faced when adapting to the QA practices and standards in the USA ? How did you overcome them? 

Yes, there is. In Brazil 🇧🇷 I always had a more holistic position as a QA Engineer, but in the US what I found was a more segmented culture. A good example is the fact that in many of the clients I worked with, non-functional tests are performed by specialized companies instead of having the QA Engineer as the influencer and facilitator of such practices. Therefore, my first test strategy, which involved such practices, sounded strange when I said that I, QA Engineer, would be responsible for organizing the way in which these tests would be carried out.

My way of overcoming differences has been to adapt, learn the common format of the country or organizations, become an expert on the subject, earn the respect of clients and then propose changes that can really optimize the way we work in tests and quality of software. This positioning helps not to sound like just someone disgruntled or parochial, but rather, a real connoisseur of the pros and cons of whatever approach is used.

Have you noticed any variations in the perception or importance placed on quality assurance compared to Brazil? If so, in what ways? 

Yes, I noticed that here in the US the role of the test and software quality analyst has been considered important for years. I mean, there’s no need to convince leaders that software testing is important, they already know. Compared to Brazil, this is definitely a great advance, after all, there are still many companies that do not formally have software testing and quality professionals due to the simple fact that the leaders “do not understand the benefit” 😬.

Are there any new unique methodologies or tools that you’ve come across that have improved your QA processes? 

Not exactly. What I learned here so far was more related to how to identify business opportunities through software quality, that is, thinking about the issue of the positive impact on costs, effort and time through changes or implementation of certain approaches to testing and software quality. This has taught me to look at my work as something even more valuable than I thought 💪, that is, using testing and software quality as something to reduce the organization’s expenses or even increase its profit.

Are there any specific lessons or skills you learned in Brazil that you find particularly valuable in the USA ?

In Brazil I learned to find a way to solve what was assigned to me, no matter how difficult or complex it is. This made me have a more dedicated profile to deliver with great dedication. Another point was the desire to bring a positive and lively vibe to the work environment. I feel that both helped me a lot from the first moment here. The people I worked with gave me great feedback, when they liked working with me for being a high-spirited vibe and quality deliveries.

Have you noticed any differences in the work-life balance or professional expectations ?

In Brazil we have a predefined lunch schedule by law and culturally we even have a time range in which we commonly have lunch. Companies kind of force us to do this, fearing lawsuits related to this at the end of the employment contract. Upon arriving in the USA, I realized that lunch time is not something like in Brazil, I mean, many of my colleagues go down, buy snacks and eat at their tables, something that is not common in Brazil, where we usually go out to have lunch with co-workers at restaurants in the area. It’s like a daily celebration 🙌. Even in remote work, there is a time to disconnect from work and have lunch, rest or even solve personal problems. However, this is not common around here and meetings are scheduled right at the time that in Brazil it was kind of a sin to schedule meetings. It shocked me a little at first, but nowadays I’ve managed to adapt and deal with it more naturally.

Talking about the amount of time at work, I would say that here it has been much better than in Brazil, as I said earlier, there is not that pressure that the more senior you are, the later you have to finish your day at work. This is a fantastic thing.

Thanks Julio !! Amazing person to follow in QA ! Not many people know, but I once was also a student of Julio, back in the days I was learning calabash and ruby for mobile automation 😂

And with sadness, but also thrilled to have the collaboration of so many BIG names in QA not only in Brazil, but now internationally as well this was the last post of this series ! Thanks to everyone who participated and helped with this project ! Amazing to share and learn from your journeys outside our home country 🇧🇷 ❤️