Faisal Humayun
Principal QA Engineer
STRAX Intelligence Group, LLC
Faisal Humayun is a persistent, results-driven, and process-centric Quality Assurance Engineer with over ten years of experience in the analysis, design, development, implementation and management of highly visible, complex projects with aggressive timelines. He evaluates and improves legacy business systems with ATDD/BDD QA processes using LEAN/AGILE methodologies, leading QA teams locally and overseas, and provides technical expertise in mission-critical IT projects, DEVOPS, and logistics.
Faisal was an early adoptor of our product and, we provided him with a demo of our premium Quality Assurance product, QA touch, long before it became popular. As he explored and learned, he recorded his feedback on video and continued to share his insights with us. This has been a great help to our team, and it has allowed us to enhance the product and make it even better. Faisal has won the Golden Feedback of the Week, Product Enthusiast of the Quarter, and Product Enthusiast of the Year in our QA touch Community. He is also a regular reviewer of our product’s new features.
One thing we love about Faisal at QA touch is his love for the QA community. He is always willing to help. In order to understand more about his background and gain some insight into his passion for the work he does in Quality Assurance, we decided to ask him some questions about his experiences, personal development, and advice for those looking to advance their QA careers.
How did you get into QA and can you share insights on your early days in your career?
As a child, I was always “breaking” things just to figure out how to put them back together again. Very early on, I also “tested” my parents’ patience quite a bit to understand various scopes of “requirements” as well as their “acceptance criteria” to “pass” through various gates, and this allowed me to learn how to deliver “good quality” results. These formative ideas continued to percolate throughout my career as my testing skills were honed by opportunities in technical support services and a variety of commercial software “beta” testing groups.
What does your typical day look like as a Quality Assurance Leader?
Each morning, our daily standups reflect what the team has in-progress or completed from the previous workday. Team members also communicate their agenda for the day and make known any blocks which may prevent any QA signoff.
We break for planning each morning and chart out our missions before lunch and after lunch. Mornings are generally set aside for “clean up” and “catch up” with our JIRA project deliverables, and the afternoons are dedicated to “Field Test Exercises”, when we grab the latest build of our m2m cloud platform and perform end-to-end tests with a variety of hardware devices. We also set aside a few hours each day for building up our test automation suite, when we update or create newly discovered exploratory tests in our test management tool.
How do you handle conflicts with developers?
By adhering to an agreed-upon STLC process, ideally, in which QA can “Shift Left” and employ BDD tools to outline and define testable acceptance criteria helps ensure a proper synchronization in testing and delivery expectations with developers. In addition, through a set of practices I refer to as “continuous refinement”, I work on developing written and speaking skills that promote neutral, evidence-based indicators in defect writing, while also keeping a jovial and empathetic demeanor that reinforces our joint mission to produce the most positive emotional reception of our product delivery.
Things are changing rapidly in Quality Assurance. Who are some people you follow/look up to?
I definitely look up to pioneers in the QA space – these are innovators of new methodologies (such as the members of the https://cucumber.io/team). I also follow the social sites and blogospheres of various “Test Management Tools”, since these folks are constantly tracking the changing needs of QA functions in disparate ecosystems.
What is your advice to budding quality assurance professionals?
Be excited about your career prospects! Companies that value their QA staff are the most likely to succeed in the marketplace because they are the ones that are truly listening to the customer. And, depending on your personality and competencies, you can elect to lead QA teams and/or become a test automation specialist, as these aren’t mutually exclusive paths. It’s a really good idea to pick up a programming language – here, Javascript and/or Python are highly recommended, and there are plenty of great teaching materials that will be sure to get you skilled with UI / API test writing. Bring your passion, dedication, and discipline each day by ensuring you have a clear view of all your near and long-term goals in your portfolio of key accomplishments.
What products/apps/services do you use on a regular basis?
- Agile Project Management with JIRA and Aha!
- Team Communication and Automation/Logging Notification with Slack
- Impact Mapping and Customer Journey Maps and Persona Development with uxpressia
- UML modeling with websequencediagrams
- CI/CD Pipeline with Jenkins
- API automation with JavaScript/Chai BDD and Mocha Awesome Reporting
- Selenium automation with Robot framework and Allure Reporting
- Test Management Tools such as PractiTest and more recently QA touch
Anything else you would like to share with the QA Community/want them to know?
Feel free to link up with me at LinkedIn. I enjoy paying forward all the fantastic advice and encouragement that I received when I was a Junior QA tester, and I delight in fostering relationships that span entire careers!
Thanks very much for this opportunity to present myself as a member of a community that has always embraced its members with a genuine desire to spread prosperity and positive work acclaim!!
