TestLion Pride Meet a Tester: Volodymyr In Meet a Tester, we feature QA experts from our community who share their love for quality and Testlio. Volodymyr is an ISTQB certified QA engineer with over 4 years of experience in manual and automated testing. Tell us a bit about you I was born in Kopychyntsi which is located in the region of Ternopil (western part of Ukraine) but I’m currently living in Kyiv. My native language is Ukrainian but I also speak Russian, English and a little bit Polish. Volodymyr in Barcelona What is your educational background? I graduated from the Physics and Mathematics faculty of Ternopil National Pedagogical University with a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science. Several years ago, I also obtained an ISTQB® Foundation Level certification. How did you end up testing for Testlio? I ended up testing for Testlio through the recommendation of my friend who had been testing on the platform for a while. At that time, I was working as a business analyst but was thinking about switching to a QA engineer position. Therefore my friend invited me to try out new opportunities at Testlio. So I registered on the Testlio platform, passed the first test task and received an invitation to my first paid project. To be honest, I performed rather mediocrely on that project since I lacked practical testing experience. Hence, I started digging deeper into testing and completed further training courses. And when I got a second chance, I used it. I have been testing with Testlio since 2016. ☺ What are your specialties? I work as a test automation engineer in one of Ukraine’s largest IT- outsourcing companies – so in my daily job, I specialize in web UI test automation with Java. At Testlio, I get the opportunity to test a wide range of web and mobile applications using both manual testing and automation. How does Testlio’s pay compare to other crowdtesting platforms? Actually, I have never tried any other freelance testing platform. I started with Testlio and I am happy to be here – I feel no need to look anywhere else. How do you manage the balance between testing and personal life? I believe it all comes down to having good planning skills and knowing what to prioritize. My wife (who works as a doctor) and I put a lot of sweat and effort to advance our careers – but we also know not to exhaust ourselves and take a well-deserved vacation once in a while. Volodymyr (in the middle) with his wife at Testlio’s Tallinn office posing with Testlio’s team members and company founder Kristel Kruustük What motivates you professionally? I am constantly looking for new challenges and experiences! I love working in the IT industry as things are constantly evolving – even if you just want to remain on the same level, you need to “run fast.” Also, I find other people’s inspirational stories very motivating. ☺ What’s an interesting fact about yourself? I am really passionate about football (or soccer for our American friends). I used to play semi-professionally a long time ago but now I play for a few amateur teams. This keeps me fit and helps switch my mind off from everything else. Volodymyr in action What are some of your favorite apps? The best app on my phone from a usability standpoint is Monobank – it’s a Ukrainian mobile-only bank that makes daily finance operations super easy. How would you convince a friend to join Testlio? All of my friends have already heard about Testlio and quite a few are part of our testing network. 😊 Do you like software testing? Join Testlio and be part of our amazing network of testers!