1. What exactly do you do?
- What field is your job in?
Information Technology - What is your job title?
Senior Software Engineer - Please provide a brief description of the firm or organization that you currently work for (size and general description of what type of organization it is)
My company is a worldwide company with over 125,000 employees, at last count. This company provides technology consultant services to all industries.
- How long have you been employed in this position?
2 years - How many hours do you work a week on average?
55 - Please provide a BRIEF description of your duties and responsibilities. (job description)
55 - Please provide a BRIEF description of your duties and responsibilities. (job description)
I lead an end user test support team. I coordinate with the end users to perform testing on the application software. I maintain the environment and testing schedule and resolve all issues encountered by the end users.
- What was your gross income last year? Please include any bonuses or incentives received.
57000 - What is your expected gross income for this year? Please include any bonuses or incentives you expect to receive.
70000 - Please list any benefits you have (Please include number of weeks vacation, sick leave and type of health insurance, retirement plan 401k)
17 days vacation, health and dental insurance, 401k - Do you feel you are under/well/over compensated at your current position?
under compensated
2. Work environment!
- Does your job entail you working with others on a daily basis? Is this something you like/dislike about your job? Explain
Yes, my job entails that I coordinate with end users almost everyday, as well as my team members. I dislike meeting with end users as they are very demanding.
- Do you work collaboratively with supervisors/managers?
- Do you work collaboratively with your co-workers?
Yes - Describe your work location (e.g., office, home, theatre, in the field) and what you like/dislike about working in it
I work with my team members to identify and resolve any issues that are encountered by the end users.
- Please rank in order of importance from 1-8 (1- most important 8- least important) Assign each number once.
- 1 Income
- 7 Work Environment - co-workers
- 8 Work Environment - supervisors
- 6 Benefits
- 4 Hours
- 2 Level of responsibility
- 3 The actual "work" you do at your job
- 5 Job Title
3. How should someone new to the workforce get a J-O-B like yours?
- If someone wanted to go about getting a job similar to yours, what would you recommend for him or her to do?
Be ready to work hard. Brush up on communication skills. Be willing to stand firm. Be confident and know that you have something to offer.
- What skills do you think a person should have if they want to pursue a position like yours? Please be specific and explain why (e.g., social skills, organization skills, technical skills)
For social skills, Be patient and willing to compromise. Have a good natured personality is a plus. For organization skills, you must very organized. Take detailed notes and review all schedules, charts, and meeting notes. For technical skills, beginning Java knowledge and middle level SQL skills are required.
- Do you feel that you need a certain level of education or training to be successful in your job?
Yes. - What advice would you give to someone who was about to start work in your position/ line of work?
Be ready to work hard. Be ready to work overtime. Always complete your assignments on time or document any issues that prevent completion of your assignments. Always go above and beyond on what is required by your supervisors and always let them be aware of the work that you do.
4. How did you get your J-O-B
- How did you find your current job? (e.g. newspaper, internet, referral, etc.)
Internet - What was the application process for your job? (e.g. submitted resume, paper application, electronic application, all, etc.)
electronic application with resume, face to face job interview, phone interview. - Did you have to interview for your current job? If yes, what did the interview process entail? (e.g., number of interviews, who you interviewed with, group interview, individual interview, etc.)
Yes. There were two face to face interviews with project and team leads regarding development and testing methodologies. After the face to face interviews were completed, there was a phone interview with a HR representative. A job offer was extended at the end of the phone interview. - If you can remember, what questions were you asked at your interview?
What did you do at your last job? Did you supervise/lead any teams. Describe the purpose of regression testing. - Is this the job / field you planned to work in?
Yes - If your job is in a different field from your original plan how did you get here? Explain (Plan can be from high school/college/post college/personal plan)
N/A
5. Background: Are you qualified?
- Was there training for your current position? If yes, what did it entail?
N/A - Do you feel your employer properly prepared you for your job? Explain
Yes, although there was no training, my previous work was in a similiar field. - Do you feel your educational background prepared you for your job? Explain
Yes, I had a bachelor's degree in Management Information Systems (MIS) and development/testing of applications for business purposes is the type of work I expected. - If applicable, do you feel your internship experience helped you prepare you for your job?
6. The Future and Beyond (FINAL SECTION)
- If someone were to observe you at work, what would he or she say is "fun" about your job?
I'm in charge of a team with little supervision. I tell people what to do. ;) - What is (are) the most fulfilling aspect(s) and least fulfilling aspect(s) of your current employment? (e.g. fiscal, spiritual, type of work, hours, commute, compensation, etc.)
The project that I'm working on is working towards a goal that would help millions of people in the state that I live in. - Is your current employment part of your career plan? Why or why not?
Yes. My career goals are to work up the corporate ladder in my field and become a senior executive in my company. I am progressing in my goals. I was initially hired as a team member in a part of a team and I was promoted and now lead up a team. - What are your current career goals? (Can be broad or specific)
Continued promotion and recognition of my work. - Is there anything else you would like to share about your career?
It is ideal for college graduates who do not have plans to have children for a while. There is a lot of overtime, but good work and hard work will be recognized. It will put you on a path towards advancement.
7. A Day in the Life Of...
- 7 am - 8 am
Sent out daily email to end users at 6:30am notifying them the required batch jobs (automated processing of data) were run successfully and testing can begin for the day. Monitored environment from home, via VPN connection to the project. No issues reported by users. - 8 am - 9 am
Attended daily conference call at 8:30am to discuss any issues encountered by the end users. There was one issue encountered where the users were unsure about the display on a page. - 9 am - 10 am
I checked with the application developer and business analyst and confirmed the page is displaying correctly and emailed the end user. - 10 am - 11 am
I compiled reports for my immediate supervisor, project managers, and development leads concerning the count of the tasks and forms generated by the application from the batch run. - 11 am - 12 am
I resolved several issues from the end users. This entailed viewing the issue in the application, looking up software use cases to verify the application is functioning correctly, and responding to the end users the results of my findings. - 12 am - 1 pm
- 1 pm - 2 pm
Discussion with team members concerning the breakdown of assignments. Confirmed that the automation regression suite (testing of existing functionality of the application through specialized software that executes and records the results) is nearing completion. - 2 pm - 3 pm
I reviewed the schedule for the next round of testing and confirmed that the activities assigned to all teams, including mine, to prepare the environment for the next round of testing is accurate. - 3 pm - 4 pm
I compiled reports for my immediate supervisor, project managers, and development leads concerning the count of the tasks and forms generated by the application from the batch run. - 4 pm - 5 pm
Testing completed at 4:10 with no other issues. Prepared the environment for tonight's regular scheduled run of batch jobs. Quickly reviewed the assignments of team members who created the files to be used for tonight's batch run. Sent notification to batch operations team that script execution was complete and the scheduled daily batch schedule can begin executing. - 5 pm - 6 pm
N/A - 6 pm - 7 pm
Logged into work, via VPN, and verified the batch run is still running and it is currently processing the correct records. - 7 pm - 8 pm
N/A - 8 pm - 9 pm
N/A - 9 pm - 10 pm
Logged into work, via VPN and verified the daily batch run is complete. Verified the correct records were processed and script execution can begin tomorrow. - 10 pm - 11 pm
N/A - 11 pm - 12 pm
N/A