Tag: immigration

Brazilian QA’s around the world series – Julio de Lima

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 🇧🇷 ❤️

Brazilian QA’s around the world series – Ana Paula Vale

Ana Paula Vale has been working with Technology for almost 9 years. Right now she is a Frontend Engineer and this became her career development goal after she shifted from QA Engineer.

Working with development has always been part of her life even as a person in the Software Testing area, as she was already applying test automation in every company she has been through, as she has always been passionate about it and saw the value in having automated applications.

Be sure to follow Ana on LinkedIn.


TL;DR;

Ana Paula immigrated to Portugal for new personal and professional experiences. She researched companies, job requirements, and living costs in various countries. Language was a challenge in adapting to QA practices, but she improved communication by clarifying perspectives and proposing ideas. She introduced BDD and automation concepts to Portugal. Quality importance seems consistent between Brazil and Portugal. Ana learned about visual testing and brought an automation mindset from Brazil. Work-life balance improved in Portugal with flexible hours and better quality of life. She transitioned from QA to a Frontend Developer role and noticed better recognition for developers.

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

I didn’t have a great reason. At first, I wanted to leave Brazil to have new personal and
professional experiences. I started by trying Australia, New Zealand, Canada. I also tried
the company you, Rafa, were working for, remember? Haha 😂
But it turned out that I had a friend living in Portugal who referred me to the company
where he was working for.
I researched which companies were in those countries, what they asked for vacancies,
the cost of living in the cities, and what the culture was like. I also improved my resume,
sent cover letters to the companies that required it, and made connections via Linkedin
to get more ideas and tips.

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

Yes, first the language. Even though we speak Portuguese, it wasn’t easy for us to
communicate in meetings and several misunderstandings happened. In these moments,
I tried to clarify my perspective, listen more, and ask questions. Also, give quick
feedback.
I was used to working with BDD, with an agile testing mindset, and always participating
in the product solution process, for example. But when I arrived, I realized that most of
the tests were manual, and I needed to be patient to understand their side, involve
myself more in the processes, propose my ideas and show them that we could try to
start automating things and why it could be better for us. I really believed in the power of
working with Behavior Driven Development and also did some workshops for them, for
example.

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

No, as far as I remember, the importance given to quality was the same.

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

Yes, I learned more about visual tests and how to automate them. In Brazil, I thought I
only needed a tool like Applitools to do this, for example. And then I learned that visual
testing was more about image comparison and that we could also introduce visual tests
into our pipeline in a cheaper way, I would say.

Photo by Gratisography on Pexels.com

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

Yes, I feel that in Brazil we focus a lot more on test automation and on the idea that
testing is not a phase, but an activity. I learned in Brazil that we are all responsible for
the quality of software and I brought that back here, when I started teaching the
developers from my team to automate, to think about test scenarios and how we could
start to avoid bugs, for example.

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

So, it depends. But I would say yes because I feel that I am very passionate about what I
do and that this can cause an increase in the load I give to work haha because I really
like to work. But now, after having migrated (yes, I now work as a Frontend Developer), I
feel my life is simpler. Unfortunately, I noticed that I’m more listened to now as a
developer than before as a QA. It was much harder to explain why testing is important,
for example.
Talking about work-life, I would say it’s better, of course. All the companies I worked for
offered flexible working hours, alternating vacation days, that is, you didn’t have to take a
whole month of vacation, for example. In addition, the cost of living is low and the quality
of life is better. So going out at night is safer and cheaper. 😂

Thanks for sharing your experience Aninha 🙏 😊 I know closely how you built your path to become what you wanted !

Brazilian QA’s around the world series – Vinicius Pessoni

Solutions-oriented and highly adaptable Pessoni has 13+ years’ experience leading and shipping high availability software for high-growth organisations. ISTQB CTFL Certified Tester. Proficient in Linux, JAVA, Kotlin, Ruby, GoLang, Test Techniques (manual and automated), SQL, Software Development Processes and more. Awarded University Professor. Find him on channels @pessonizando

Be sure to follow Pessoni on LinkedIn.

TL;DR;
In this interview, Pessoni discusses his reasons for immigrating to the UK and how he prepared for the move. He shares cultural differences he encountered in the workplace, such as dress code nuances, and the challenges he faced while adapting to QA practices, including learning a new programming language and embracing agile methods. Pessoni highlights the growing value of quality assurance professionals in both the UK and Brazil, with the UK offering more opportunities in the QA space. He also mentions the benefits of using BDD and issue managers like Jira in QA processes. Additionally, Pessoni emphasizes the importance of creativity and resilience learned in Brazil, which are highly valued skills in the UK. Lastly, he appreciates the UK’s emphasis on work-life balance, contrasting it with past experiences of working long hours in Brazil.

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

I was always curious about other cultures and countries, since I was a kid. While growing up, even though I didn’t have the chance to visit other countries, I would watch documentaries and read about them and their history. That would fascinate me! At some point in my life, my parents then moved to the UK due to a financial crisis we were going through so they could try a new start in a new country that would give them more possibilities than Brazil. After that the dream to live in another country grew more and more in me but I took several years to have the courage to move into the UK. So, after several years after my parents living in the UK I finally had the courage to leave my career as a University lecturer in Brazil and moved into the UK.

Regarding preparing for moving, I spent a year studying more English, doing TOEFL and IELTS and applying for jobs. TOEFL and IELTS were not used back then to apply for jobs but I was studying for them because I wanted to do a PHD in the UK. I ended up not doing it but studying for these english tests were really helpful for me to improve my english level. 

So when I was looking for a job, I applied for multiple roles until I got an offer! In this way, I only had courage to quit my successful lecturer career and come to the UK 🇬🇧 because I had already secured a job.

Its always nice to have some money set aside also to help you with the move. You will have to think about where you are going to live, save money for deposit and other needs. Some companies will give you help on that. Mine didn’t. But I was fortunate to have my parents living here, so I stayed with them until I found A place for me to live.  

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

I experienced different cultural nuances in different companies that I’ve been in since I moved to the UK. I remember that in the first company I worked, one of the funny things but that it was a super surprising one was about the dress code. Even though the company wasn’t formal, there were some things you just couldn’t wear in an office. For instance, once I showed up in sweatpants to the office. However for me, being a Brazilian and since the office didn’t have a formal dress code, I thought was not a big deal. But then, after some days, one of my office friends told me that I couldn’t wear that in the office. I was surprised how long it took for some of them to tell me that. Even my manager didn’t tell me that right away. I would expect them to tell me as soon as possible so I wouldn’t repeat the funny incident. But they waited several days and multiple times to tell me about that. So, it’s nice that people are super polite in the UK. However, that can sometimes cause some funny situations like this one.

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

When I came, my automation skills were not great and I was accepted to work in a different language that I had experience. I had a lot of experience with Java and also used to teach in the universities. However, my first job in the UK was using Ruby as a programming language. So, it took me some months to learn the language and to become more productive. One of the other practices that I was really working on in my first job here (very differently from Brazil) was the agile methods. The company I joined was very mature in scrum method and it was super nice to learn it really in real life. Even though I used to teach agile methods in Brazil, I have not experienced companies there doing agile in the very smart way as in here. 

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

I believe Brazil is still in a journey regarding valuing quality assurance, testers, professionals. In here I can see that the quality assurance professionals are valued and have good salaries. I could also see that changing for the better in Brazil in the last 5 years. 

The UK has generally more opportunities that Brazil in the QA space. 

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

One of my favourite ones and most controversial I would say its BDD. Using behaviour driven development in a day to day to develop software really helps to have more clarity, stir better conversations and also to produce better products. I would also say that having good issue managers like jira really helps in productivity and day to day organization.

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

Two of the things I think its very valuable for our careers not only in Brazil but that is super valued here is our creativity and resilience. As Brazilians, we are used to deal with unexpected situations and hardships. That develops in us the ability to handle difficult problems, challenges and also to be creative while solving them.

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

Definitely! And that’s one of my greatest learnings from living in the UK. I love how this culture values work-life balance. I have learned much more here. There were times in Brazil where I would be working 12 hours a day in 2 different jobs, like crazy. Since I moved in here I can have a way better quality of life in general.

Thanks a lot Pessoni, even tho I also moved from Brazil 🇧🇷 to UK 🇬🇧, we had loads of different experiences and this summarises the reasons why it is always good to learn from others !