Alekson Fortes is a software developer with over 10 years of experience in IT and I have a strong technical background mostly as a QA expert. He has been working with Agile (Scrum, Kanban, XP, Lean) since 2017, and has experience in test automation, DevOps, cloud, CICD, pipelines, and testing strategy. Also, He can help teams to adopt TDD/BDD/ATDD, acting in the levels of Unit Tests, Component Tests, Integration Tests, and E2E Tests.

Be sure to follow Alekson on LinkedIn.

TL;DR;

Alekson Fortes shares his experience immigrating to Canada, finding a job, and adapting to the QA practices. Cultural differences included language barriers and a different work-life balance. Challenges were overcome through learning and gaining confidence. The perception of QA varied, with some companies viewing it as a basic entry-level job. Unique methodologies like ATDD and exposure to AWS improved QA processes. Soft skills learned in Brazil were valuable for facing challenges abroad. Work-life balance in Canada prioritizes personal time and offers generous vacation and sick days.

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

Canada chose me! I was at The Developer’s Conference in Brazil as a speaker and the recruiters of my first company were there, so I talked to them and after 10 days and 3 interviews I had a job offer. I thought I was not ready to find a job abroad but the destiny thought I was. I was preparing myself on that time by studying JavaScript and Protractor.

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

Language barrier, hard to express myself as I do in Portuguese. Also, people in Canada work less than in Brazil and I had to learn to step on the break when I just arrived. Wanted to work after 5pm and some people told me to stop and go home.

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

I had a huge imposter syndrome, so I imagined the QA practices here would be more advanced than the ones we have in Brazil. It took me some months to realize things here were not advanced as it was in some places I have worked in Brazil. Of course I also had some practices that were better here, example: working together with developers. At my first company I started to pair with devs everyday and after 1 year I was able to perform dev and ops tasks. I overcame my syndrome after I lost my first time regarding the pandemics and I got 4 new job offers in 10 days after being laid off. This showed me that I was not only lucky to get a job in Canada, but I was also qualified for it.

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

I noticed that some companies still think QA is the last step of SDLC. This has a big influence from the Games industry which is strong in Montreal. Since it is hard to automate tests for a game, usually companies hire testers who will play the games to find bugs and QA is perceived as an entry level job. Some people have no idea what a QA engineer is because of this. They think QA is only someone who repeats manual tests. Again, we also have mature companies where QA is really advanced and updated to the best practices, but the gaming culture was a big surprise compared to my experience in Brazil.

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

I learned ATDD by reading the agile testing book here. It is something I could have learned in Brazil, but I did here and I applied with success in Canada. Also I was exposed to an AWS environment where I learned a lot of DevOps and cloud. It helped me a lot to get the 4 job offers later in my life here.

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

I invested strongly in Soft Skills and it helped me to have Emotional Intelligence to be able to face my challenges here. People think life abroad is easy, but it is the opposite. Especially when you come alone. The soft skills I learned that most helped me were NLP(Neuro Linguistic Programming) and Toastmasters skills. All available in Brazil.

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

A huge difference. People really care to have a work-life balance and they rarely do extra hours or work during weekends. We also have a lot of vacation, holidays and sick days. Some companies in Montreal like Ubisoft are allowing people to take 6 weeks of vacation. I have worked in a place where I used to work only 4 days per week, 32 hours.

Alekson’s journey as a QA professional in Canada has been one of growth and adaptation. Thanks again Alekson for sharing your experience and insights 😊