Rokas Lengvenis

The Art of Self-Review: A Solo Developer’s Guide You should always have someone to review your work – a manager, a lead, a mentor, a psychotherapist. An external perspective is crucial for validating your thoughts and intentions. But what happens when you don’t have anyone around? That's my current reality. Five months ago, my backend engineer partner moved to another team, leaving me solely responsible for all server-side decisions. Initially, I felt sadness and loneliness, which quickly led to a drop in both speed and accuracy. This challenge prompted me to elevate my self-review practice, and here's how I do it: 1. Complete the Code — Ensure it's fully functional and meets all acceptance criteria. 2. Post for Review — Submit your code as you would for any peer review. 3. Switch Tasks — Move on to another task until the end of the day. 4. Start Fresh — Begin each new day with a Code-Review session. 5. Review Your Code — Use a Code-Review Tool like GitLab to gain a reviewer’s perspective. 6. Blur Ownership — Review your code alongside others’ work to minimize bias. 7. Leave Honest Comments — Critique your code as if it were someone else’s – no hesitations or leniency. 8. Address Feedback — Review comments, respond, and proceed to QA. > Be a leader for yourself. Poll - Do you practice self-review? - Do you leave comments for yourself? - Do you agree that your code isn't ready for cross-organizational review until it passes your self-review? - Do you apply self-review to other activities, like planning a vacation? Inspired by [Christian Hammond's blog](https://lnkd.in/d5Y3KZHB) #LifeIsASoftwareDevelopment #CodeReview #SoftwareEngineering #TechLeadership #BackendDevelopment #DeveloperLife #SelfImprovement #AgileDevelopment

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Today I'd like to give a huge shout-out to my husband, 💻 Mariusz Mościcki who landed his 1st full-time role as a QA! 🎉 For those of you who don't know Mariusz - he's my biggest supporter and the best partner I could ever imagine to have! While I was going through my career change to become a Software Engineer, he became a stay-at-home dad so I could dedicate 100% of my time on learning. He was always there for me and never said "no" to some of my craziest ideas :) This is why I'm so happy and proud of him that he was able to make a career switch as well and land a QA role at the Xfaang team! Piotr Zientara, thank you so much for beliving in Mariusz na giving him a chance. For those who are interested, here's a little bit of a sneak peek from Mariusz's journey: - he started from joining the uTest where he first attended their academy. Once he got the basics and fullfiled minimum requirements, he started receiving invitations to paid projects, - in the meantime I was helping him with learning the ecosystem - the Browser Developer Tools and VS Code became his best friends. We also spent many hours preparing for an interviews, so he would feel more comfortable during the discussions with the interviewers/hiring managers, - he was applying for a QA roles in Prague and Czechia (we lived there for 3 years), but despite being invited to the interview process, he couldn't land a job, - he had mamy moments where he considered stopping going through a career change and become a bus driver (there's a huge demand for them now), - once we moved back to Poland he started applying for a roles there - still without a luck. He was getting interview invites, submitting tasks, but being mostly ghosted, - he first interviewed with Xfaang many months ago and back then he wasn't selected. He stayed in touch with Piotr while continuing polishing his skills and landed a short collaboration with the company. Later he did a 1-month internship with them and after that was offered a role! Please join me in congratulating Mariusz on his career change 🤗 #MondayMotivation #CareerChange #CareerChanger #QA #CareerSwitch

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At the moment, LinkedIn is once again seeing a wave of posts on the subject of "Why is the software methodology xyz actually called xyz? Wouldn't abc be a better name? We should rename it!" If something is already established and recognised by millions of developers and testers, why waste energy on such questions? By the way: for me personally, renaming always makes sense if the old names have negative connotations and/or can hurt people. For example, ‘mob programming’ to ‘pair programming’.

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TDD is expensive Like many other niche technologies Delivery of software is not only a technical problem It’s logistical and people problem as well It can be using Kotlin in Java company It can be adding a better database engine It can be applying Event sourcing to all systems You can say all of those are great But there are a couple of non-technical problems 🧠 Knowledge The whole team must know the new solution They need space to learn and practice You may get training from an expert Both cost money and time 🚦 Risk You face the bus factor What if the devs will leave? (they will) How will you maintain the niche solution? How much will it cost to hire or train a replacement? 👩 Hiring Adding new technologies narrows the pool of hires The more niche you go the harder is to find a good fit The longer hiring process will strain delivery You'll have to balance with higher salaries ☯️ Alignment What about your current team? 80% of them like tests but aren’t fans of TDD What will you do? Force them to learn or let them go? The culture will take a hit and retention will sink What can you do instead? Keep it simple Keep it boring Focus on the basics Drive incremental improvement Find alignment before picking new tech Get excited about the features and business If you don’t need to fix niche problems You get more time to deliver value

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If your organisation needs help pulling everything together - clarifying product vision, getting serious about delivery, building inclusive teams with a clear sense of common purpose - Matthew has the rare mix of talents you need to make it gel.

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About a year ago, I launched a Russian-speaking YouTube channel (https://lnkd.in/eUwiSVEU), which has grown to 75k subscribers. Although it began as a blog about my QA career, I haven’t posted anything related to that in over six months. When I started, I secretly hoped that content creation might be "my true calling." I was excited about the idea of turning this passion into a full-time endeavor, freeing me from the constraints of my previous career in Tech. A few months ago, I left my job, partly because of this new passion. Around the same time, I read a book called So Good They Can’t Ignore You. It made me realize: you can’t abandon a career and suddenly succeed at something entirely new just because you're passionate about it. It requires building what the author calls Career Capital — a set of rare and valuable skills you can offer to the world. Only AFTER that can you think about receiving something valuable in return. This approach worked for me as a QA engineer — a realization that only came to me after I attempted a career switch and read the book. I became skilled not because I was naturally talented but because I dedicated countless hours to deliberate practice and navigated many stressful situations, like sleeping just 4 hours a day and working 16-hour days during an onsite 3 week trip abroad to prepare a system for UAT. I hadn’t fully appreciated that these challenges and focused efforts were what helped me grow professionally. For my new activity — YouTube — I’ve poured approximately 400 hours into a single video (the most recent one). That’s totally OK because: 1. I’m new to scriptwriting. 2. I have no prior experience in video editing. 3. I struggle with shyness, often feeling extremely anxious when filming in public places. Despite these challenges, I want to become good at content creation. However, the biggest realization is how much I also want to excel in my primary field — QA. More than even I’m now willing to invest hundreds, even thousands, of hours into mastering the skills required to become a true professional. Ironically, while chasing what I thought was my “true calling,” I’ve come to understand that the only real “calling” is the pursuit of excellence in the work I’m already doing. Have you ever faced a similar realization about your career? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

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Spent today rewriting some 'important' tests on a relatively new service that will definitely make my life (and my team members' lives) a lot easier. The great thing about a good set of tests is that: - You can rely on them, usually for years - They're easy to understand, and update - They're fast, cheap and dead simple to run Creating good tests creates stability in an unstable world.

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If your teeth hurt, would you go to a psychiatrist? No? Then read further, because I AM ABOUT TO BLOW YOUR MIND!!! Proper role separation in software development teams yields a huge productivity and quality boost. Traditional separation of roles and concerns sorts developers in two main blocks: backend and frontend. Let me say plainly: this is just wrong. There are a lot more layers, and the cutting lines should be put elsewhere. The first layer is design+HTML/CSS. Professionals working in this layer create and implement the UX, both the Interaction Design and the Visual Design. The ideal situation is achieved when the designer is free to code for fastest iteration cycles. The second layer is the API layer. This spans across the frontend and backend systems. Implementing a feature at this layer requires processing data, exposing it (securely) via the API, and then consuming this data in the frontend with the right business logic. The extremely tightly coupled integration between the two requires fast iteration, and having a (sometimes bureaucratic) separation here is the worst efficiency killer. Developers here are software engineers experts in concurrency, high-frequency/low-latency processing, and security. The second layer is ridiculously complex and should be treated with respect. The third layer is the background processing layer. This is the layer that makes sure that data is synchronized between all the data sources such as external ERPs, product catalogues, CMSes, etc. as well as our own local data stores (hopefully a normalized good DB like Postgres and a document DB like Elastic). The processing here is asynchronous and in the background, so there is not a lot of pressure on high frequency/low latency even though of course incremental concurrent processing of large data syncs such as to and from an ERP must be done intelligently or you might end up with latencies of 24h (the 90's called and want their ridiculous delays back). Data people (architects/engineers/scientists) are the ideal professionals to work on this layer. Finally, DevOps. Whenever DevOps is done by a backend engineer who "likes DevOps", a DevOps fairy falls from the sky. DevOps is a specialization and should be done by experts, especially if using the mega overkill of Kubernetes: old school Linux SysAdmins are Kings and Queens here, they know how to turn a 200k a year Kubernetes into a faster, simpler, safer, 30k a year Docker cluster.

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What is a TypeScript Engineer? I keep seeing this pop up in recruitment posts, which means clients are asking for it...right? Has this replaced the FullStack Engineer, which, lets be honest, meant a NodeJS developer. That was back in the good old days when it was only NodeJS. Now we have Bun, Deno, Hono and more. Or perhaps its asking for a Javascript developer...whatever that means in todays world of a thousand js frameworks and evolving ES standards. Or are they actually asking for a Java developer, because someones used Gen AI along the way and it got confused between Java and Javascript (*shudders*) Are they seriously in need of a type system engineer, thats kinda niche. It's hard enough trying to explain what you do as a job to "normal" folk as it is, without this level of obfuscation. How would you even explain this when asked "What do you do?". Do kids nowadays needs to consider themselves experts in everything inside package.json to land a job? When will the industry move beyond this fixation on specific languages? I get it, it's an important consideration, but asking for Typescript Engineers...it's not going to help you find the devs you actually need.

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As a startup or small business, when should you hire your first QA? I see plenty of businesses hiring QAs early on in their journey, but see others waiting years (or not at all), before considering it. There's probably not a right or wrong answer as every company is different. 🤷‍♂️ Buttttt, are those that wait typically doing it to save money, or is there other factors to consider? 💰 #QA

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Communicating clearly is the most important skill for getting what you want from your workplace. If you want to lead projects, build your reputation and get promoted — I've got a workshop for you. From a Ruby developer to a manager leading over 100 engineers in a fully remote, international company, I can say that consistently improving my communication skills is what enabled my career. I've packaged all my knowledge from 10 years of experience in a practical 90-minute session. The link to the workshop is in the comments section.

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Great reminder and pointers for a healthy (automated) testing strategy and cost/benefit analysis! Overall, my takeaway is that automated testing is a product and as such we should follow common practices such as cost/benefit analysis, design, POCs, MVPs, incremental deliverables, deprecation and maintenance among other aspects in software product development.

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How important is domain/industry knowledge within QA? Lots of companies see it as a big bonus when they’re hiring, with some even having it as mandatory - but do they really need it? Or are they just assuming it’ll bring them more value + less time spent on mentoring and getting someone up to scratch in those specific areas. There’s certain industries that I can see the argument for, whether that’s a specific financial platform, or companies that have to adhere to specific regulations (as an example) - but does the new ideas and skills that someone can bring in from a completely different industry, potentially outweigh that? Also, are these skills that difficult that no one pick them up - everyone has to start somewhere, right? Like anything, there’s pros/cons and this is just a generic overview - but being narrow minded and not considering an ‘outsiders view’ maybe isn’t always the best option.

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I wrote a blog post about a problem of other project team members telling you what or how to test. Of course as software testing professionals we want feedback and engagement - although not to the level where your role and what you're here to do is not understood or even not respected. Have you ever come across this problem? I'd be interested to hear from you. Blog post in comments. #softwaretesting

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"We'll solve your issue asap" - they said. Have you ever tried to communicate support for services? I see a lot of dark UX patterns there which make support services inaccessible for users and forces users to make titanic efforts to solve the issues. Therefore, I had systematic issues with payment method profiles which were not solved even after my contact with support teams, and it seems like a feature. One of the last issues I have with GoDaddy. 1 year ago I bought a domain name, and it was an error when I tried to switch off autorenewal for this one. 2 weeks ago I got an email that Godaddy can't charge it from my card, and I was ok with it. But on Jan 4 I got the notification from Paypal they're charged for 2-year renewal. I have written a couple of letters to support and billing depts, and got emails about those emails doesn't work anymore. Then I called to their support by phone. Actually, it was also kind of quest to get through. And it's still nothing solved. Cancellation via PayPal is also problematic (have you ever seen their payment cancellation form?). What's going on and what is this impunity? I want to cancel the payment for something I don't need and I just don't have this opportunity! This already looks like a global fraud.

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🎓 Getting the most out of your Learning Budget As we approach the end of the year, many engineers and engineering managers find themselves asking the same question: “How can I best utilize the remaining learning budget?”(if they have left any) Learning budgets are an important investment in both individual growth and organizational success. However, not all companies approach them in the same way. 💡 Common Approaches to Learning Budgets in Tech: 1️⃣ Use-it-or-lose-it: Budgets reset annually, encouraging employees to leverage them before the deadline(like end of year). 2️⃣ Flexible Rollovers: Some companies allow unused funds to carry over, promoting thoughtful planning and long-term development goals. 3️⃣ Pre-approved Tracks: Structured offerings(like Coursera / Udemy access ) aligned with organizational priorities (e.g., certifications, courses on leadership, or domain-specific training). 4️⃣ Employee-Led Initiatives: Empowering team members to choose learning paths that resonate with their professional aspirations. Each approach has its pros and cons, but the impact ultimately depends on how strategically the budget is spent. So, how do you choose where to invest your remaining budget? For senior engineers transitioning to staff engineering or other leadership roles, or experienced engineering managers looking to improve their technical design skills, investing in a well-rounded course can yield transformative results. 👉 That’s why I’ve designed the Business Oriented System Design Course—a program tailored for middle/senior engineers and EMs to bridge the gap between technical depth and organizational strategy. In this 10 week course, you’ll learn how to: • How to understand what to build in a first place. • How to address various functional and non functional requirements. • How to make architecture decisions. • How to document software architecture and convey it to team members. If you’re considering how to spend your learning budget wisely, this course could be the perfect way to prepare for the challenges ahead in 2024. 💼 Tturn your remaining budget into a career-defining investment, enroll now: https://lnkd.in/d5-tFF_W Let’s make your growth the most impactful thing you take into the new year!

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📢TOP TIP for AWS focused DevOps/Platform/Site Reliability Engineers looking for a new position📢 I have spoken to 3 Engineering Directors this week, and they all told me they are getting so many applications for their mid-senior level roles. They openly admit that they have less time than ever to read profiles thoroughly and need the resume to stand out to them EASILY & QUICKLY. Here is what was on their watchlist when reviewing a profile👀 🎯AWS, Terraform, Kubernetes & CI/CD experience 🎯Software Development skills 🎯Evidence of the key technologies used per role (spell it out for them) 🎯Where you have made an impact on the business/the project ("I" not "us") 🎯How you have saved time and/or money 🎯Evidence of strong communication skills If you'd like to know what the industry leaders in Cloud & Platform Engineering are looking for feel free to reach out to me📩 #tethr #devops #sre #platform #resume

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BDD unlocks so much goodness You discover ideas you should throw away earlier You have testable specs that transform coding from exploration to implementation. You can easily decompose work to the point where you know things will take a day to complete. It’s the first skill I had to learn to unlock CI.

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