Weinberg on more than writing - the Fieldstone method

11th March, 2012 in Bangalore was a beautiful Sunday. Now that it is almost over, I can use the past tense "was". Just the weather making it beautiful is one part but what about the weather within me? I decided to make it beautiful within. Everybody has a pile of books that they bought but never paid its due attention. Weinberg on Writing ( WoW as I want to call now) - The Fieldstone Method was one of the books that hadn't got my time yet. So, I read the first chapter at home, closed the book, went to my wife and asked her if she had any plans for the afternoon. As I had taken her out yesterday, she excused herself out of any plans. Whenever a husband asks "What's your plan?" to his wife, it means, "I have a plan and want to be sure if your plan doesn't disturb mine" :). I took my backpack and scooted to a coffee shop nearby. Coffee, book reading and relaxing was my plan.

About 2 PM, I was all set. I wanted to start with Camomile Tea. I had told my wife that I'd be back only when I am finished with the book, so I was hoping there would be a couple of beverages. I realize now that there is nothing like "finishing the book" because The Fieldstone Method provides an experiential learning to those who want to work with it. Not just that.

I have had the great opportunity to meet with Jerry and spend a couple of days, attending his workshop, being a part of a peer conference that had Jerry, a conference and much more in 2008. I have been a reviewer of Jerry Weinberg's book "The Perfect Software and Other Illusions About Testing". I have read a couple of other Jerry's books that have changed me from time to time. With this book, I felt Jerry sitting next to me and coaching me on the Fieldstone Method. This is no hallucination. I am sure the emotions he had while turning the stones that he used to build this book has rubbed on me and has caused some very good emotions within me. Jerry intends that happens with the experiencers of the book. / OK there is no such word as experiencers in any dictionary /

I haven't published a book yet. If you are thinking I haven't written one yet, you are mistaken. I just haven't published it. I see the light now that will lead me to publishing. That's what I seem to be getting out of The Fieldstone Method because I am going to build my books not write it.

So, why am I telling you all this? To get you buy the book and experience it? To write a review of the book?    You will discover why I am writing about it, if you were to continue reading.

It is all about me. I recognized that I had almost stopped note taking. In other words, I had stopped collecting fieldstones. I guess I was just processing whatever my imperfect memory could store. Isn't it amazing that I stopped doing something that I advocate to other testers - note taking. When I realized this while experiencing the book, I picked my backpack and searched for my Indian version Moleskine and a pen. I must have missed observing a trillion stones but thankfully I have now saved myself from my ignorance that would have led to missing trillion power trillion stones in the future.

Here are some of the stones I collected today that I am pulling from my notebook (and typing it for you):

• Thought: When you are alone in a coffee shop, you hear people and their conversation you usually wouldn't bother to hear if you were not alone.
• Retrospective as I read the book: I was probably smart all this while but not happy because I always wanted to be more smart but never wanted to be happy.
• I shook the coffee table accidentally and a glass of water placed on it started to get its vibration and then I wondered: Pradeep, when was the last time you observed water settle down after being disturbed with a vibration. Your 9 month old kid now would watch it with curiosity. Relation to testing: The first time an information looks interesting and everybody pays attention to it. Once they learn how it happens, they lose interest to observe things that they were once curious about and if there was a different behavior? They would continue to assume they know something. Software is volatile, just like the water. 
• I was asking myself a question: Does it matter if something takes a long time to learn? What determines "long"?
• I saw cold coffee on some table and decided to order it. I wrote a note : How did my choice alter after seeing something that caused my brain to demand it.
• Project Gutenberg quoted in Jerry's book - Awesome

  A friend of mine, Nandan Pujar wanted to meet with me for a consultation and I felt, "What a great time for a good friend to come in. Some of the exercises I want to practice requires such an occasion and a trust worthy friend". I took notes as I was consulting for him:

• I was reminded of Warren Buffet interview of why he didn't come and invest in India prior to last year. His response was, "Nobody invited me to do so". 1.2 billion people didn't think of knocking that door that way. I felt sad for myself.
• My friend Nandan said, "Being with mediocre people helps you identify your delta with them and being with intellects helps you fix the delta". I thought it was a cool thing.
• Made note of words he used "Feudal" and "Artificial scarcity"

 I came back home and made other note of stones I saw, heard, observed, felt, experienced...

• My 9 month old daughter had to poo. After cleaning the poo, I wrote in my note: As a kid I must have not known this is called "poo" and why people clean it off. Now that I know, I clean the mess I do. I am wondering if testers who recognize the "poo" of their work will ever clean the mess they do. Some of them are stuck with it and they seem to think as though it is a newly grown part of their system. Some who come new to the system see people stuck with the "poo" of their work and assume that, to be experienced, they also need to be stuck to "poo"

It is fantastic. I love it.  Thank you Jerry. You helped me recognize the "poo" I was carrying all this while and I am not going to be one of those who will not clean it. I will clean it. I will not just clean the "poo" I have been carrying for a while but identify with the help of trillions of stones I can see, to not carry any type of "poo" of my life. I also recognize the idea of heuristics and they are fallible.

Till yesterday, I was thinking, "Now that I have accomplished all this in life, how do I change myself?", Weinberg on Writing (or WOW) - The Fieldstone Method is a change catalyst. 11th March, 2012 was a beautiful Sunday in Bangalore. So can everyday be if I were to collect the stones.

BPO / Support / Call Center / Homemaker to Software Testing

Over the last few years, I have received at least about 40 emails and a couple of phone calls from people working in tech support, BPO, call center, homemakers asking for my advice to get a job in software testing or to make a career in it. I am tired responding to the same set of queries from different people. Now, that doesn't mean I wouldn't be interested to talk to people. I just hope they read this and have a different question or a situation they'd like me to address. 


However, this post is not just for those who want to change their career from BPO or Tech support to software testing but also to those who are hiring managers, interviewing testers and to all those who are aware that they are a part of the future of software testing.

1: Chasing dream versus chasing a day job

A friend of mine gave my number to his friend who works in a Technical Support job at a reputed organization and wants to move into software testing. So he called me to seek my help. I asked him, "Why software testing and not something else?" and he didn't have an answer. That is perfectly fine. He then said he wanted a day job and found software testing as an easy possibility.

I started to probe his dream of what he wanted to be before he landed up in Tech Support. His dream was to be something else. I then explained that moving to software testing might not help him feel any better than starting to chase the dream. He agreed and is now chasing his dream of photography.

2: Turning lemon to lemonade than faking it as orange

Some people have asked me if it would help to fake their experience of a tester of the product they were providing technical support just to get interview calls. I have helped them understand that there is a lot of value in presenting the truth than trying to show it as something else, get caught someday and be blacklisted by NASSCOM and a whole lot of companies spoiling future growth chances.

Having worked in several product organizations, I realize the importance of interacting and collaborating with support teams. If I were to hire a few testers for my team, I would definitely be interested to talk to a support team member. We did that in one of the product organizations I worked. I have talked to hiring managers of large and small product organizations who have done that. I think most of them are internal hiring and some rare cases of external hiring.


To all those who are considering to hire testers, stop doing what you have been doing all this while - hiring those who have been in testing only. Where were you before you started to do testing?


3: Learning software testing in 10 days OR Crash course about how to crash


With many folks wanting to learn software testing, lots of people are making money out of it. For all those in the world of software testing, do you know how many institutes are there per square inch of Ameerpet in Hyderabad who can teach testing in 5 hours if you'd like so and have enough cash? 


Not just Ameerpet, there are lots of chota Ameerpets that I have come across. These kind of training centers are a huge contribution factor for spoiling young minds in India. If God makes me rich, I shall wipe out each one of them.  These training centers run weekend batches for Tech Support folks and spoil their ability to learn testing. 


So, when folks who work in Tech Support and have attended such draining programs (yes, that was intentional) get in touch with me for seeking advice on job search, I have helped them to pick up two books: Testing Computer Software & Lessons Learned in Software Testing. For the most recent ones, I have also suggested Perfect Software & Other Illusions about Testing.


I also have suggested them to hook up with a tester every weekend and try some hands on testing or participate in open source projects for a while. For just one I have helped by doing a paired exploratory testing. One of my student in the Hands on Software Testing Training - India's first true hands on only testing training I delivered for Edista in 2008 & 2009 was in Support and he demonstrated his testing skills to his employer to be moved to testing.


4: Test Report instead of Resume / Profile


When my father started his first job after his Diploma in Electrical Engineering, he applied to the job with a CV / Resume. So, using a CV / Resume is that old an approach which hasn't changed much, except that he used a typewriter and we use MS Word and a Laserjet Printer. Lets try to change.


In the last 3 months, I have 4 emails from hiring managers in Bangalore, Chennai and a country outside India seeking help to hire skilled testers. One of the things I have suggested to them is to not ask people to send their resume unless it is accompanied with a test report. For hiring managers, it would be easy to see what kind of tester they want by looking at the test report. If the person says, "I am skilled at automating checks", so be it, demonstrate it and attach the scripts along with the resume. Needless to say without violating any Non Disclosure Agreement. Open Source software testing suits best. The interviews are actually discussion around the test report rather than "What is the difference between this and that?"


I am writing a whole big book on software testing interviews. A publisher just rejected the book but that's OK.


BTW, don't send me your resume and ask me to refer to those hiring managers.


5: Why some developer guys from India suck big time?


Nothing about their programming skills. I have done career counselling almost all through my career for others and myself. Hey, its a skill with which we are born, at least that's how we behave when someone approaches us for advice :)


So, having worked with some testing institutes, I volunteered to take up any work I could that would let me to speak with testers and potential testers for my own learning purpose. My blog, as you know, has brought me a lot of people with varied kinds of queries. So, I have some experience dealing with those developer guys who walk in months after their marriage, looking for a job for their wife.


These great developer guys come and ask, "I want my wife to take up a software testing job, do you offer job guarantee courses?". So, to the question, "Why software testing?", they'd without any bit of shame, answer, "I want her to earn and come home on time so that she takes care of office work and home work in a balanced way". 


One guy tried interviewing me to see if I know enough testing to teach his wife and help her learn testing. Not just me, one of my student, Arindam, was inspired to coach testers and works for an institute in Bangalore part time. That institute runs a special batch for home makers. Arindam shared his experience with me about the batch. He too said what I had already experienced. My advice to all housewife / homemakers whoever you want to call yourselves as is to read Parimala Shankaraiah's blog & Meeta's blog. Hey wait, there are quite a few others in India. Read their blogs to understand how passionate they are, how difficult it actually is to be good in testing and how they manage home and office work.


6: A break / sabbatical in career is just fine


Some women testers who take a break or sabbatical, try getting back to the industry but the industry treats them bad. Most hiring managers are blind in noticing people with break. They think they would be at loss of value if they hire them. 


I think stopping someone who is passionate in testing but had no other option than to take a sabbatical or break not getting a job is a big hindrance to the entire software testing industry. If I were Parimala Shankaraiah's employer and she needed a sabbatical, I would welcome her anytime she wants to come back. Not hiring her is like fooling myself and my company HR policies.


7. The actual meaning of "Our company is an equal opportunity employer"


There is a VERY BIG company who has an office even close to my home who has this statement, "We are an equal opportunity employer" in their website but didnt allow me to even apply to an opening just because I didn't have an ISEB/ISTQB certification. Let me tell this to you: I felt blessed by God to be not eligible to even apply to such companies because such company environments wouldn't have made my career strong.


The company which actually is an equal opportunity provider is one that selects its employees based on skills and not if they purchased a certificate. So, if you dont get jobs in such places, feel blessed, you really are. Keep demonstrating your skills and jobs will come to you. 


Santhosh Tuppad, my student with just one year of testing experience (and tons of experience in finding and reporting bugs) got an offer to be a Test Lead for one of the top companies in Asia. Although he couldn't take it up then but I just wonder if he had to be a Test Lead at some of those fake equal opportunity providers, how many white hair he should have had.


So, here are some points to ponder:

• If you choose to be misguided by what others say then you deserve it.
• If you have some other passion and want to be a software tester because you think its an easy job, you are spoiling an opportunity to help your children see you as their inspiration to pursue what they want to be.
• If you are OK to live others dream, don't question, just follow. Never crib / complain in life.
• If you want to test out testing, do so with open source projects and by collaborating with some good testers around you.
• No job is easy but all jobs can be done in an easy way.
• Fakers will get caught.
• Build your testing skills and demonstrate them.
• Attract employers don't always get attracted.
• Build your own brand. Get organizations proud about hiring you and not the other way.
• Many services companies count heads - not brains. Target tech start ups.
• If nothing works out and still you dream to be a tester, start your own testing services.
• Its OK to fail.
• Its important you succeed chasing your dream irrespective of whether your chase was successful or not.
• Chasing your dream is the only way you can know if you can really be successful

As and when I encounter more points or more different questions, I shall update this post.

Tour of being an independent test consultant

Hiya! Hope you are doing very well. I am Pradeep Soundararajan, your tour guide for the next few minutes. I am glad you chose to take this tour of being an independent test consultant.





Here are some questions you might have: How does it feel to be an independent test consultant? What is it like to be one such in India? Will I be able to survive? Will I make enough money to run my family? Will I make as much money as the organization I am employed is paying me? Will I get enough paid work? What if I don't get paid work for a long time? Will people want my kind of skills? How do I know someone needs a consultant? How do I get clients? How will my family take this? What do I explain to my spouse? What kind of a pressure does society add when I am not in any paid work for a while? How does it feel to work from home not just for a day but for an entire month, or maybe a year or more? Will I have enough money to pay my home loan EMI?



These are some common questions that have popped up from those who have wanted to take the tour. So, if you have these questions or maybe even more, you won't be disappointed with this tour.




Some people ask me, "Hey, can you give me a few clients of yours and help a fellow Indian to also be an independent consultant?" I want to help people be independent consultants in India. By that, of course, I mean, I'd like to see them do stuff that helps them get credibility, reputation, paid work and clients for themselves.



I'd like to take you through the journey of having been an independent consultant. A journey that is not so often written or spoken about



Tour Point 1: Knowing enough about enough



If you want to be an independent test consultant, there are some prerequisites that you need to fulfill. You need to be bold enough, skilled enough, curious enough, pleasing enough and willing to talk to people or do some work good enough to get good enough people to talk to you.



That's a magical formula right? No one knows what "enough" means and hence it is a problem and an opportunity in disguise. If you knew what "enough" meant, you are kinda through to anything you want to achieve. I think, not knowing how much is "enough" makes you to work hard and get close enough. Oops, close enough?



I have been able to survive so far. I have no clue if my current skills are enough for me to survive for the next year and I am on a constant upgrade of skills and knowledge. I invest money on learning and my investment for July 2010 is on a few books, Ethical Hacking Guide to Corporate Security by Ankit Fadia & Job Interviews - Walter Vierera. Time is a much more important investment than money for me. So, just by spending money on those books wouldn't mean much unless I make a further investment of time on it.



Tour point 2: Love for failures



Many projects today suffer because people working on it aren't willing to try new ideas. They are special people on earth who know things would fail even before trying them out. However, as a consultant, if you try to be like them, you'd be expensive for your clients. You would do what their employees are doing for a price much higher than the employee cost.



Its important to not fail at a client's location but should that stop me and you from loving failures? I have a lab where I can experiment ideas whose results I don't know yet and that lab is the world of my colleagues, community and my gurus.



It's OK to fail, once in a while, at a client's location because even if you do great stuff, there could be things beyond your control that might make it look very bad. However, if you can get that client to call you back for more paid work in future, it boosts your confidence a great deal.



It happened to me. I was black listed in an organization and now they not just white listed me but want to work with me closer. Their CEO is in direct touch with me. If I feared failing, I would have done more mediocre stuff than what they thought I actually did.



Tour point 3: Excellence instead of money



India is a great place for some inspiring movies. I strongly recommend that you watch the movie "3 idiots". No, don't Google and read the story, just watch it. There are several good messages in it and one of them is, "Excellence instead of money". This movie is a super duper hit in India. I just wish people not just like such movies but also bring in necessary changes to their lives.



I want to be rich but I want to be rich while I am excellent. I wouldn't mind money coming on my way but money wouldn't necessarily make me feel rich. I want to be rich in testing skills and knowledge. I want to be rich in knowing many testers and how they work. In the process, if money follows, I am super happy.



Tour point 4: Don't expect people around you to understand what you are trying to do



When an article about me appeared on a few national news papers, my article was published on a few magazines, I was interviewed by CNBC TV18, I was on news for a local TV channel, my parents were so proud of me that I can bet they were flying high. However, whenever they see me sitting in home for more than a week without any paid work, they start to ask me, "Why don't you join some company like Infosys?"



If you expect your parents or spouse to completely understand what independent test consulting means then you'd be inviting disappointment. I was expecting them to understand what I was trying to do but experience teaches that I shouldn't. This has nothing to do with the respect we have for them but a learning of what we can't help them understand.



While at home, I am glued to the computer, trying to learn something, practice testing or support my clients post my onsite engagement or reply to emails. Some people around me take it for granted that I am jobless. Someone calls me and say, "Hey, you are at home only na, so why don't you come pick our luggage and keep it there?" It irritates a lot. I am at home but not jobless. I am trying to generate a paid work, which is a part of my work. People don't understand that. So, be ready for all that.



Tour point 5: No promotions and no designation change



If you were used to being an employee for long and then chose to be a consultant, you must know that there is no one who is going to give you a promotion. It is what you call yourself that matters. I am calling myself a Consulting Tester or just an Independent Test Consultant. If I am bored of it in 2012, I may call myself a Senior Consulting Tester. I give myself fancy title sometimes. I was calling myself a Test Magician and then I am now calling myself a Brainual Tester.




Tour point 6: Being an independent consultant doesn't mean you are the expert



Without saying much, I am not an expert and I am an independent consultant. James Bach, Michael Bolton, Elizabeth Hendrickson, Jerry Weinberg, Scott Barber, Matt Heusser, Jonathan Kohl, Karen Johnson are experts who are independent consultants. People like Ben Simo, Jon Bach, Cem Kaner, Vipul Kocher, Ashok are experts who are employees. There are some good thinkers and future experts like Meeta Prakash, Parimala, Lanette Creamer, Ajay, Santhosh Tuppad, Sajjadul Hakim, Ramit Manohar, Sharath Byregowda, Shmuel Gershon, Issi Hassan, Markus Gartner, who are employees, too.



So, independent consultants don't necessarily mean an expert. Employee don't necessarily mean a non expert. If I had to be an independent consultant only after becoming an expert, I wouldn't have been one till now. If I don't be an independent consultant, I don't know if I would ever get close enough to an expert while being an employee.



So, if you are waiting to be an expert and then be an independent consultant because you thought there was a strong relationship between them, you could be wrong.



Tour point 7: Tackling loneliness



Even in 2nd most populous country in the world, there are a lot of people I have seen who feel lonely. So, loneliness is not about people not being around you but about people whom you want to be around you not being around you. For me, my first wife is my laptop, just like many others I guess. So, despite having two wives (laptop and the one to whom I am married), I get lots of situations where I feel lonely. Loneliness is not always a problem; its a blessing in disguise. Ask our fellow bloggers, they'd tell you that they churned out a cool post during such situations.



However, being an independent consultant and working from home means, I have no colleagues that I meet on a daily basis. I meet a lot of new people every year but meet the same people very few times. Having no colleagues to meet on a daily basis means frustration at times.



When I go through Facebook or Orkut and see some people posting photos of their team member's birthday party celebrations, team outing to a hill station, team lunch, going to movie as a team... it hurts me a lot. I just take it as though I am in a penance of becoming a good tester and I have to bear with all of it. Recently, I was pissed off when I found no one to join me for a movie that I wanted to go. Even if I did find, their timing and my timing was off. Hey, employees are pissed off too. So, I am still fine.



Tour point 8: Getting clients is like sowing seeds and waiting for them to sprout



We think clients come from a specific place or set of places and we are wrong. When I was a rookie consultant looking for opportunities, Michael Bolton, told me that finding business is like sowing seeds. He also told; you never know when the seeds sprout.



I sowed a seed by answering a question in a forum without knowing I was sowing it. The one who asked the question was impressed and help the seed sprout by giving me a business worth thousand dollars.



When I didn't have a public reputation for speaking, I offered 2 hour talk called "Mirchi Test Masala" for free. This attracted at least seven organizations to have my talk at their office. I was gaining experience of speaking to testers and engaging them for at least 2 hours. I was also testing my own testing exercise on them. This was in 2007. One among the 250 people I might have spoken to during my Mirchi Test Masala tour was impressed with my talk. In 2010, he asked his current employer to have my workshop for his team. It happened. As you see the seed sowed in 2007 sprouted in 2010.



So, if you want to be an independent consultant next year, you should have started sowing at least 2 years back unless clients are just waiting for you to becoming a consultant. Also note that there are other consultants sowing seeds in the same place. If you are skilled enough you don't need to be too bothered.



Tour point 9: Freedom at its best



If you are my blog reader then, "Some birds aren't meant to be caged, their feathers are just too bright" isn't a new thing to you. If it is, please note that the quote is from the movie Shawshank Redemption. I struggled for freedom to test. I saw that I could test a lot better when there is freedom. I also see that many testers can perform a lot better with a lot of freedom and responsibility bestowed on them. The only way I could win freedom to test in India was by being an independent consultant. These days, I am coming across a few managers who want to provide freedom to test but they don't have the curious people in place.



Tour point 10: Managing the tough situation of low bank balance



During August 2009 to Dec 2009 there was no paid work. There were enquiries but nothing turning to work. My bank account went low enough that the bank thought it was expensive to send me an SMS about my bank balance. At that moment, everyone around me urged me to look for a job. It isn't a bad thing to go back being an employee. At least I won freedom for a while and I can always win it back. I updated my profile and started to apply for jobs. I didn't even get a single interview opportunity in Bangalore. What? Yeah, so, no matter how much reputed you are, nature teaches you humility at such times. I dropped my plan to look for a job and look for some consulting opportunities. Again, a seed sowed in 2008 sprouted and I found 2 back to back consulting opportunities. Today, as I write, I have certain things lined up, clients asking and competing for my dates. I have no visibility beyond a certain month in this year. I have no problem with that. I am just hoping that some seeds will sprout.



Tour point 11: Live your dream



3 weeks back, my school classmate died in an accident. It just reminded me that death is not certain of a time or situation. Any day it might strike. I was shocked by his death and asked myself; what if I die today? Also, if you have listened to the famous speech of Steve Jobs, he talks about death and suggests that we work as though today is our last day.



Living your dream is very important. So important that you may not have another life to live your dream. My dream is to be a good tester and if possible help others with similar dreams to get there. I know I am living my dream today, at least to some good extent, so I am not afraid of death.



Tour point 12: Earning money is tough but not impossible



Some of my own students hesitate to coach other testers because they think teaching isn't something they want to do. Indirectly they are saying, "This demands me to learn new skills which I am not prepared to". There is money in teaching. If they continue to think that way, they would never be able to earn contacts, different learning, upgrade their skills, learn about different contexts, challenges and hence more money.



Tour point 13: Consulting is not only problem solving but jiggling the right things



I was thinking of myself as a super hero by having solved some problems for my clients. When I interacted with Michael Bolton of what I did to claim success, he helped me understand that I jiggled with things rather than solving problems. I started to learn what exactly I was doing. Although I believed I was solving problems for my clients, it was they who were solving it and I was just helping them do it. At times I did solve problems, too.



If you are serious about being a consultant or being a valuable employee and want to jiggle the right things, I strongly recommend you to read Jerry Weinberg's books on Consulting. I mean, Secrets of Consulting and More secrets of Consulting. They are my best reads.



Tour point 14: Get yourself a guru and a role model



Sachin Tendulkar who is considered to be a God for cricket in India has a guru. Suriya, a rocking Tamil actor has Kamal Hassan has his guru and inspiration. Kamal Hassan has more than just one guru. Rajinikanth has a lot of gurus and role models. Virendar Shewag has a role model (Sachin) that he wants to be like. The great Arjuna of Mahabharatha had a guru teach him archery. Ekalavya had a guru. All these successful people have a guru and a role model. In testing, as we think we are experts or good enough, we don't feel a need to have a guru and role model. We sink our own career that way. I must have avoided thousands of traps by having more than a few gurus.



James Bach helped me be an independent consultant and I often consulted Michael Bolton to shape myself. There are other people who have helped me too and have been my inspiration and role models. I have posters of these people on my wall. It keeps pushing me. Without gurus and role models, I would have been lost by now.



Your tour ends here unless you have a few questions to ask me. Thank you for your patience.

Progress Report 2009 : Pradeep Soundararajan

On clicking that image, the progress report should download. Hate that idea? You can download the same file by clicking on this link, too. 

Other updates: 

• There is a public workshop on Skilled Exploratory Testing planned in Chennai on Saturday, March 27th, interested testers send an e-mail to me at pradeep.srajan@gmail.com OR if you know of any testers in Chennai who want to attend this please pass them on the information. The fees are very nominal but please don't ask for Ranganthan Street rates!

• I am releasing a book this year. No, not the interviews book. Not that you have to pay for it. I am going to make it available online for free. I am tired of the process of getting it published. Maybe if it does well, some publisher would volunteer to slow down the process. Sharath Byregowda knows what book I am talking about. Hard bound printed versions shall also be available on demand. I need someone with real good English to help me copy edit the draft I have. 

Oh, don't forget to checkout 2009 Progress Report. It is a PDF file for sure. Thank you all.

Title 1: Investment plans for software testers. Title 2: Michael Bolton RST training in India

Is it a best practice that a post should have only one title? ;-)

Sharath Byregowda has won the Best Performer award at Mindtree. You know what it means to win the best performer award in an organization that has about 8000+ technical force. According to Mindtree there was a special guest who was invited to give away that award and that special person for them that day was me.

Sharath's manager, Murugan, wanted to make the award ceremony a very special one and surprised Sharath by bringing me in for the award ceremony. A manager so excited about giving away an award of Best Performer of the organization to his subordinate - made me feel wow. While traveling together to Mindtree office, I discovered that Murugan had a good diversity throughout his career and even tried doing business in the United States long ago with his friends. With all that experience, he thought, freedom plays a vital role in testing and hence provided it to Sharath who seeked it. India needs more Murugans. I think they have lot of Sharaths out there.

Freedom with responsibility made Sharath get him the award. This is the second time my student is getting an award at the organization level. Most of you might not know much about Shaham Yusuf but then he won awards for slogging important bugs and an unmatchable record of the highest number of important problems found in Deloitte India.

Approaches for interviewing in software testing - Book Kickoff & Launch of Interviews & Jobs portal

On September 1st, 2009, I decided to move away from my paying job to write this book - Approaches for interviewing in software testing. Before my bank sends an SMS "Lost your job?", I am hoping that I will finish this book and find a publisher. ( Also means: If you have any short assignments you can hire me or sponsor me for the book ). So, there you go. Now you know what I have been doing over the last 25 days.

A funny thing you should know - I had been writing another book over the last two years and then realized - writing a book is different from writing a blog or making a technical presentation at a conference. The kind of a book I was writing actually demanded a better writing skill from me that I dont possess right now. So, I have applied to be a participant at a workshop of how to write that kind of a book so that I better at least a little bit. ( let that remain a secret for a while )

Coming over to this book - you must first understand that this isn't just a book but something beyond the book. www.interviewsandjobs.com will serve as a platform to address all queries of testers related to jobs and interviews henceforth and also act as a flag bearer for the book I am writing. Santhosh Tuppad, my student at Practical Hands on Software Testing Training and a cool tester has been helping me a lot in the project.

I hope some of you will be willing to help in writing this book by contributing stories of your interview experience or other ways you will discover if you browse through www.interviewsandjobs.com

When you go to www.interviewsandjobs.com , don't miss out the teaser for the book. The teaser has the first 14 pages of the book and I hope it builds enough curiosity in you and your friends to ask for more and end up buying the book or sending the teaser to your friends through twitter, facebook, orkut or anywhere as you may like.

That's all, here. Go there and enjoy!