Meet a Test Lead: Edwin Carina Kärt Mattikas , Employer Brand Manager based in Tallinn, Estonia. July 21st, 2022 In Meet a Tester, we feature QA experts from our network who share their love for quality and Testlio. Edwin is an Ignite graduate, mobile app developer and Test Lead from Nigeria. Tell us a bit about yourself. My name is Edwin Osarenmwinda. I’m from Nigeria and I currently live there as well. I’m an equally optimistic and pessimistic individual. This helps me strike the much-needed life balance between knowing that although I deserve the best, nothing good comes easy. I’m an introvert, this often makes me prefer to meet people online than in person. This is one of the many reasons why Testlio is a perfect fit for me. What is your educational background? I studied Chemistry at Delta State University, Abraka. School for me was more for the certification than for passion since the choice of courses was not that wide. As a result, soon after leaving school, I turned fully to the Internet to satisfy my passion while making ends meet. I soon realized for sure that anything is possible if you believe in and act on it. No knowledge gained is ever completely lost. How did you find Ignite? Youtube! Before that I would literally research for hours daily, trying to find the perfect fit for me to build a career online. I found out about Testlio and added it to my archive but did not know about the Ignite program at the time. When I revisited Testlio’s website and snooped around deeper, I found it. I then spent the next week or two researching its authenticity, potential growth benefits, structure and all. It ticked all my boxes and from that point, I threw everything I got at it. And today, as the saying goes, the rest is history. What changed after you graduated from Ignite? My finances! Accountability to myself and others. I have since become a better Team player. Loyalty to my time. Respect for my mind and being intentional about taking occasional breaks from everything. Kindness to myself and not stressing my mind to the state of stupor whenever I occasionally drop the ball. I stopped telling myself things I won’t tolerate hearing from others about me. I have become more career-oriented. Honestly, the list goes on… What are your specialties? My testing specialties are regression, functional, exploratory and hardcore sanity testing. I like to get really imaginative with scenarios and occasional edge cases. Another specialty of mine is the ability to put myself in the shoes of an end-user and application owner. This helps me develop great improvement ideas, adjust reported ticket focus and guide Testers towards a better work quality. Why do you Give a Damn about testing? It enables me to make an impact. Different applications touch different aspects of actual, human lives — and I’m able to contribute to their development. It is a fulfilling feeling. Indeed, “not all heroes wear capes,” haha. How do you balance testing and personal life? I probably don’t, or maybe not enough. And this is largely subjective rather than objective because the flexibility that comes with working at Testlio is great. Sometimes it gets overwhelming trying to hold it all together (work and personal life) but setting priorities prior to the activities and following them through has been super helpful. What’s an interesting fact about yourself? I am a songwriter and a great rapper (even though I can’t sing to save a life, haha!). I’m very empathetic. What are some of your favorite apps? Youtube Payoneer Home Workout Twitter How would you encourage someone else who would benefit from Ignite to apply for the program? The world belongs to dreamers who take action on their dreams. But you can’t really dream when all you try to do is ‘survive.’ Ignite, being a social impact program, gives you the freedom to dream and a means to act on it in a structured environment with a deep-rooted culture of Kindness and Giving a Damn. From the meetings with other people to the introduction and access to different applications, you get the feeling that you are traveling around the world without leaving the comfort of your home. I would further encourage anyone by emphasizing the flexibility and good passive income that comes with working at Testlio, should they decide to pursue a career in software testing. Are you interested in becoming a Test Lead? Join us! 👇 Become a Test Lead