My experience working as a Test Analyst at PDMS

As part of our new series, we are introducing some of our team members and what they do in their day-to-day role at PDMS. 

Cameron joined our Glasgow team in 2021 as a Test Analyst.  Here he explains more about his job and how he became a Tester.

You joined PDMS during lockdown, how was the onboarding process for you?

The onboarding process was done really well. Due to PDMS being a Manx company and me being in the office in Glasgow, the onboarding process has been refined well. My team were also really supportive, Leigh and Freya were always around to help with any questions and queries that I had.

Do you visit the office often or do you prefer to work remotely?

I have been working for a while at PDMS now and I have discovered that I prefer a hybrid approach to work. Now that our office in Glasgow has reopened, I am planning to go in two days a week and work the other three days remotely.

How did you hear about the job at PDMS?

I was browsing through job roles on LinkedIn when I came across the role of Test Analyst at PDMS. I decided to apply for the role and was invited to attend an interview with Barbara from HR and Rob from the Analyst team. I heard back very quickly that I was lucky enough to get the job.

How did you become a Tester?

Once I’d graduated from university with a degree in Business Technology, one of my friends recommended me for a job as a Junior Test Analyst at the company they were working at. Through this, I worked my way up to the position that I am in now. In the future, I hope to move towards new types of testing like automation technologies.

What is the difference between a Test Analyst and a Business Analyst?

At PDMS there is not a great deal of difference between the two job roles as they take more of a dual role perspective. However, the Business Analysts in my team focus on the requirements of the client and ensuring that they are met, whereas the Test Analysts make sure that the developers have built software with the correct functionality to meet the requirements that the client has specified.

What aspect of Testing do you enjoy the most?

My favourite part of testing is finding the bugs! I like to think of myself as the last line of defence before the clients test our software. Once it gets past me the product is client-ready!

How do you collaborate with other team members?

Our team is very collaborative, and we are more than happy to help each other out and be a sounding board if someone is experiencing a problem. Every day, we have daily stand-up meetings that mainly take place on Teams – we use them as an opportunity to discuss the jobs for the day, what we have been doing the day before and any upcoming absences (now that travel is allowed again). I really hope to be having face-to-face meetings in the office soon!

Do you need any qualifications to be a Test Analyst?

I wouldn’t say that qualifications are essential to being a Test Analyst, however, they can be helpful for getting your foot in the door. I think that a big part of becoming a Test Analyst is about the drive to want to do it and having an understanding of different approaches and testing skills.

What are the personal qualities of a Test Analyst?

• Problem-solving
• An eye for detail
• Being able to understand requirements
• Understanding the workings of other websites and applications to be able to apply this to your testing

What does a typical day look like as a Test Analyst?

A typical day begins with a stand-up meeting with either our clients or internal teams. After this (and a coffee) I will then start to work through my different tasks for the day which can include:

• Planning out requirements I’ll be testing
• Test planning
• Test execution
• Finding bugs through test execution
• Making sure that bugs have been fixed and retested

My favourite type of day is when there is new functionality to test across my different projects and finding critical bugs, so they don’t reach the client's environments.

How do you think working as a Test Analyst will change in the future?

I think that there will always be a need for manual testers, although lots of companies are moving towards an automated testing route. A machine cannot replicate the human skills that people like me bring to the role. I believe that Test Analysts will always need to have a basic knowledge of coding to be able to identify any bugs and propose fixes, have the ability to constantly look at different ways to document and improve processes and checking the software works across different areas of testing like performance and security.

Visit our careers page if you'd like to join Cameron and the rest of the PDMS team