So I’m currently finishing my fourth week on the job at QA
and have covered quite a lot of content, got settled and completed a relatively
large group project.
So at the last personal update I had finished my first week
completing my Java training, since then I’ve completed a week of DevOps, which
is a collaboration and communication of software developers and IT professionals,
while automating the process of software delivery and infrastructure changes [Loukides, Mike (2012-06-07). "What
is DevOps?"]. In this we covered usage of Ubuntu and MintOS as
standard operating systems for businesses and tools. We then learnt basic bash
scripting and use of Vagrant and VirtualBox to create virtual environments
containing instances of these operating systems.
We then used bash scripting to install a variety of
different tools and software for integration as a continuous integration
pipeline. The source code is managed by git, which is then connected to Jenkins
to act as the CI server, which uses Maven to build successive iterations of the
software. Jira is used for software and bug tracking, while finally using
puppet for configuration management and deployment. Overall I managed to create
a full interlinking system that could work in a small business to create and
manage its software development.
The following two weeks comprised of studying enterprise architecture.
This is a well-defined practice for conducting enterprise analysis, design,
planning, and implementation, using a holistic approach at all times, for the
successful development and execution of strategy. Enterprise architecture
applies architecture principles and practices to guide organizations through
the business, information, process, and technology changes necessary to execute
their strategies. These practices utilize the various aspects of an enterprise
to identify, motivate, and achieve these changes [Federation of EA Professional
Organizations, Common Perspectives on Enterprise Architecture, Architecture and
Governance Magazine, Issue 9-4, November 2013 (2013).].
We split into groups of eight and began work for a fake
client NBGardens, the client is a garden gnome (a very profitable business apparently)
and accessory reseller. We as a consultancy firm have been hired to analyse the
business and should propose our own solution to improve it.
Throughout the week we’ve practiced SCRUM methodologies as
our formatting for carrying out the multiple tasks set, we also covered v-model
and waterfall, although I have experience with all three previously so it was
mostly recap. We also covered BPMN, UML and Data Modelling techniques and
software, we used these to create a variety of reports either for a current ‘as-is’
state of the business and a ‘to-be’ diagrams of the system we proposed.
What was particularly useful about the two weeks was the
focus on client relations. I had good opportunity to practice public speaking
and speaking to clients. This was generally for requirements capture as we
spoke to a couple of the ‘employees’ (actually just trainers badly acting), but
the experience was useful nevertheless.
Finally I may have been selected for my first actual
consulting job which is using C#, one of my most comfortable languages, for
Woking County Council, I hear they would like a new unified tax system however
the details I have so far are very limited.
Overall my first month in QA is going well and hopefully it’s
just the beginning.
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