April 26, 2005

On The Lighter Side

Testers have a life too. Oh yeah, we pretty much do. Its usually the developer who spends sleepless nights. Dont believe me? I have someone to back me up.

I have been asked what else do I do besides testing stuff. First off, let me tell you that testing is more of a hobby right now. Its something I am passionate about but its not what I am into full-time. Where I presently work, I am not into full time testing. As a matter of fact we work on clinical trials. Work on creating programs which would generate certain statistics for a particular drug being developed. Yes, its very different from the normal software world. Why am I doing it? Just because its something new I am getting to learn. It gives me scope to draw an analogy of the pros and cons of the software/IT world compared to the pharmaceutical world. And it throws light on some different aspects of design and testing.

What else do I do normally? Well, most of the time you could find me behind my laptop. Either its some new thing I am trying out (you can spend a whole day trying to figure out inheritance even after you thought you knew it well - I'll see if I could post some examples later). Sometime I am looking up whats happening on
Mozilla. Lately I am trying to look deeper into algorithms and data structures. Make my brain work that little bit more.

Then there is walking/jogging. It sort of depends on my mood. When there is a lot of thought process going on, I prefer long walks. It helps you clear out things in your head and get fresh in no time. Else I'd rather run on the treadmill. You'll probably find me at Bally's every alternate evening.

Cooking. yeah. I enjoy cooking. But I wont go more into that. But the day I open my own chain of cuisine, everyone shall be invited ;-) And then, there is music. I do play the key board but its been years since I touched one!

Why is this post a little off topic? Just to let you know its important to strike a balance. Companies love people who are dedicated and code-slaves but if you are at it for long, sooner or later, you will suffer a burn out. Too much of anything is bad. Good companies always look for well-balanced individuals. Its good to indulge in different things. You never know what links to what. Sometimes when I am walking, a solution to some problem strikes me out of the blue. At this point I do a U-turn and jog back to my laptop. But its change which brings out the solution.

Every person needs fresh air. Whatever profession you may be!

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