Slalom Build QE Academy — Experience and Advice
Hi everyone! My name is Alice Zhu and I’m a senior quality engineer at Slalom Build. I was previously a developer but realized I was not working on as many projects nor with as many different technologies as I wanted. I wanted to be involved in more stages of the development life cycle, and realized I value the importance of quality. I happen to come across Slalom Build’s Quality Engineering Academy through a connection and decided to apply to the program. I was accepted into the 2021 class in Vancouver, BC. The below article describes my experience in the QE Academy.
You may have heard about a program called the Slalom Build Quality Engineering (QE) Academy and wondered what this is. I’ll explain how this program works and how it has helped me in my QE Journey.
The QE Academy is a 4.5 week training and onboarding program that prepares early career engineers for a role in quality engineering. It’s rare to have an opportunity to spend 4.5 weeks onboarding and learning when joining a new team and company — most of the time in the past when I joined a new company, I was thrown into a project within a couple days and had to get setup, onboarded and working right away. The QE Academy program involves going through different QE topics and how they can be applied to our work, as well as the expectations at Slalom Build.
As a QE Academy participant, I was joining Slalom Build as a regular full-time employee where I could learn and sharpen my skills before jumping right into client work. It’s a safe space to learn and grow with industry professionals and other participants who are going through the same process together. It was more fun to be in a group onboarding, as opposed to onboarding by myself or with only one or two other new hires. It also made it easier to connect with my new colleagues.
The academy was run by quality engineering facilitators who covered QE topics and how Slalom Build works. The delivery consists of online live sessions with the presenters; we were always welcome to ask questions and share ideas. During my cohort it was 4 weeks of content and labs and then 2 weeks for the final sample project. There were 12 people in my cohort, and this small group size gives us more opportunities to interact and ask questions to get the most out of the experience.
It did feel like an Academy where I was going through content and then working through labs and exercises. However, we did not get marks for the work, and there was no homework other than setting up the computer, getting access and preparing for labs. Basically, we were paid to learn. We could study on our own time; it was suggested and up to us, not forced. The pressure was more on us or the group of what needed to be done or covered. The presenters did provide extra links and resources if we were interested in learning more.
Even if I may not be working with the same people in the future, when I do work with them it feels great because it’s another person I already know and have interacted with instead of being the only new person on a project.
What I liked about the QE Academy is it was an extended separate onboarding process. This separation from working on a client project right away helped create a better foundation of quality engineering, how the company works, and how to adapt to different projects. I could also focus on the learning topics better and wasn’t distracted by client work or deliverables right away. Also, the people sharing their knowledge were very enthusiastic and passionate about the content, and very welcoming. I was introduced to a variety of professionals in the industry because of the broad range of topics. I learned something new every day, even if some of the topics were familiar.
The final project was interesting and taught us skills that will be applicable to future projects. During the labs and workshops, we received baseline code showing how certain tools are structured and how they should be used. This felt like a sneak peek into what QE testing tools there are, and it provided another skill to add to our skill set.
However, if you enjoy jumping into a project right away, you’ll need to wait for a while before that happens. It may feel like school again, going through lessons and workshops and a final project at the end. The Academy had long days with constant meetings, and lunch breaks were scheduled but the schedule was sometimes changed the day of depending on the group. Not every topic covered would directly map to your project.
Some advice for future participants: ask questions in the chat, speak up in the sessions, or use Slack. If it feels like you didn’t have time to ask the question, write a note to ask this later or as a reminder to do so. Questions are welcomed and can be asked anytime. Even though some of the workshops are recorded, and you might not want to be recorded asking questions, it’s more beneficial to ask them early so you don’t forget about it.
Also, if the lesson has proceeded too far, it will be difficult to go back to the slide where the topic was first brought up. Not many people re-watch the recordings so don’t stress about worrying if you’re asking a dumb question or how you may be perceived. Messaging the question in the chat helps if you’re concerned about interrupting the speaker.
More advice: keep in touch with your peers, they are in the same situation as you and people are curious and receptive to chats. Stay engaged and focused on the topics and try not to be distracted and put your phone on silent. It may feel like a long time, but there are breaks in between topics and it’s much better to stay focused in the moment, than thinking you’ll just go back and re-watch the recording. Most likely you would not search for the specific moment you missed unless you wrote down the timestamp or note down the specific moment to rewind to.
Don’t worry if it feels like some of the exercises are paced quickly, or if you have to miss a session — there are opportunities to catch up, and people are happy to answer questions. If you find yourself constantly referring to certain vocabulary, create a separate document for frequently used terms or a quick note to review them. Take notes of what you think would be helpful for future reference, filter out the most important and applicable topics.
The Academy was also a good time for me to learn about and familiarize myself with my new employer Slalom Build. We reviewed the organization’s typical process, training, and administrative work needed for my role.
I found that after attending the QE Academy, I felt more confident jumping into a project and having a sense of what tasks I would encounter, and what questions I needed to ask because of the examples I had been given. The final QE Academy project with mock roles and scenarios helped illustrate what the process is like for a typical project. This was used as a baseline of what other projects may be like and what to expect.
This exposure to different types of testing and communication with different groups of people helped me better understand what works well and how long certain tasks are expected to take. This also helped with understanding different people’s communication styles and what to look out for when deadlines are tight.
Overall, the QE Academy was a valuable experience, and I would definitely recommend this program!
