Highlights of my first year at ASOS as a woman in tech.
It’s annual review time here at ASOS. So, as a treat for my hard-working line manager (who is also my Agile Delivery Manager), I thought I would share with him a list of my personal highlights in visual form.
So, as a ‘woman in tech’ and a software tester for around a decade (I started testing when I was 12 — honest!), it’s been exciting to see the number of women taking an active interest in tech increase over the last 10 years.
The reason for the infographic is that I want to show a simple example of what you could potentially experience in just one year. I have done so many different things in a short space of time here — it has been amazing. I consider myself a pretty experienced tester, but this year has shown that taking on a new platform and a new company was a very rewarding risk.
There’s so much more I want to achieve in the next year. Like many of you, I have worked in companies where it has not been easy — or indeed an option — to develop yourself as much as you would like.
I’m lucky to work in an environment that supports development as a whole to such great lengths. The fact that we want to open our arms and support the community, encourage the next generation of tech by funding scholarships, encouraging more women to study STEM topics in universities, (expanding the work we already do with schools and organisations like Stemettes and Girls Who Code), well….just makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside.
Whatever route you take, a career in technology is a fulfilling and fascinating one. Technology is the ultimate portable career, from data forensics to app development, cyber security to web design, the range of job roles and industries that fall under the technology umbrella is enormous and permeates every part of our economy.
And in case you wondered what my fave infographic is, click or tap here .
AJ does all of her own stunts and is a QA at ASOS. She believes in the value of human, manual and exploratory testing. She’s not looking to slot in as ‘yet another tester’, but someone whose value is greater than just passing or failing tests.
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