The only QA in Kyiv WordPress team
Kostya Nerubenko is a cheerful person, who can do acrobatic jumps (salto), loves cars and people laugh at his jokes (it’s important). And he is also our only QA in Kyiv WordPress team, meaning he tests everything you see here .
We asked Kostya a few questions and think the interview is funny (it’s important), just the right one for the foggy doom Friday.
You’ve already for a half of a year at Innocode. How has it all started?
In 2016 I was about to graduate from Kyiv Polytechnic University and decided to take QA courses. Then for a long time, I was searching for a job as QA, while working in SMM (something not related neither to my studies nor tech). Later I finally got to a very small tech company as a QA, but they didn’t have much work to do, so I kept managing content and looking further. I think that’s kind of a happy accident that I’ve got at Innocode. On the interview with Artem, he said that I was much better than anyone else he talked to and we decided to try. And look, I’m still here :)
Why QA? What made you chose this profession?
At Uni, we were working with medical equipment: x-rays and fluorographs etc., basically we tested them. It was Kyiv Polytechnic University, Specialty of Electronics and Information biomedical systems. So I have kind of a QA background.
But the true thing is that becoming QA is the easiest way to get into tech (if you are still alive after numerous unsuccessful interviews at various companies).
How did you study to get into tech?
It was a 3-months paid course, aimed to give the basic knowledge of QA. Imagine, you are an ordinary person and you decide to be QA. On your first working day, you can get crying looking to the website: “This doesn’t work. And that doesn’t work. So many things don’t work! Oh god, help me, this website is a total disaster”. And I used to have the same drastic thoughts. But on the courses, you are told from the beginning that you can’t fix everything, you got to focus on the biggest issues. Also, I think courses are really worth because you are taught how to communicate with the team, plus show the right way to log and describe issues.
Of course, you won’t find the first job right after the courses. I had around 5 interviews at different places, where they kept telling me: “You know enough for the Junior QA, but sorry, you don’t have professional experience”. Though I’m happy to be at Innocode.
Something about hobbies?
I used to do bike trial, but now I’m more into automobiles :) Meaning I want to buy a car badly and read a lot about that. I’m a big fan of the off-road cars and jeeps and… OK, I;ll stop here:) But you know there’s not that much free time after work, except for resting, and in the end, it’s a potato season now. P.S. Interview was taken in September, and if you are Ukrainian you definitely know what does the potatoes season mean. It’s when QAs, programmers and business managers ought to spend the whole weekend at their grandparents’ or parents’ dacha or countryside house and dig hectares of potatoes. Dare to anwer why? Comment below (evil smile).
What would you suggest for a QA beginner?
Every QA beginner has to have the basic knowledge of HTML, CSS, and SQL ( I read these: http://www.sql-ex.ru/, http://www.sql-tutorial.ru/). Plus, you can take any online JS courses. Also, would be nice if you could study how to cope with GitHub and Jira before the first working day.
Also, our Misha (frontend dev in Kyiv) suggested I take https://htmlacademy.ru courses and read “CSS: The Missing Manual” David McFarland. Basically, I have an idea to make a wp-plugin to automate the content filling for the websites (categories, pics, images etc). And I want to make it on my own. But to make it, I have to gain frontend skill and it’s cool that everyone here only supports you in learning new things — cheers, folks!
Thanks Kostya!
Did you like the interview? We just wanted to add a little thing — QA is not the only possibility you can get your way into tech! Our WordPress team in Kyiv needs bright heads with a good taste for good looking Scandinavian websites. Please, check this link with vacancies → https://jobs.dou.ua/companies/innocode/vacancies/ or just drop us a note at ira(at)innocode.no! See you ;)
