Testimonial: Sonata Steraite

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About Sonata

Position at Takeaway: QA Front-end Engineer 

Location: 
Enschede, Netherlands 

When did you join the company?
 I started here in February 2019.


What does your position involve?

I’m the “cake point” master! Okay, that’s not my main job. But you get a cake point if you’re late for a meeting. Collect three points and you have to buy a cake for the next meeting.

I’m actually a QA Engineer in the front-end team. That means I’m responsible for quality control and quality assurance on our website. I execute tests for our applications, system architecture and workflows to detect anything any issues before and during deployment for the production.

However, it’s not just about finding bugs and ‘broken stuff’. I also attend many meetings at different SDLC (Software Development Life Cycle) phases, to define business requirements, provide feedback and more.

We code, fix and deploy every day which means a lot of testing for us QA Engineers. Sounds dull? It’s not! We use complex tools to automate tests, communicate a lot, and do our best to make UI (User Interface) and UX (User Experience) as smooth as possible.

What characteristics are needed for this role, and why?

Technical knowledge and IT experience are essential for a QA Engineer.However, the most important thing is the right mindset. A good QA Engineer is someone who can “think outside the box” and has a test-to-break attitude. But you also need to be a good communicator who can relate to people and collaborate. 

What do you like about your role?

My team really is the best! I’m not afraid to make a mistake, as nobody would point fingers at me. Instead, we support each other and learn together.

I enjoy a challenge and I like to work under pressure. Knowledge-sharing is very common in our team, and thanks to that I’ve learned a huge amount of new things from my colleagues. We’re also a sociable bunch. We spend a lot of time together outside of work, doing sports like football and skiing.

What are your KPIs?

There are sometimes still bugs in our website, which can cause issues for customer orders. By analysing business requirements, setting up quality assurance metrics and improving our SDLC processes, we want to resolve those errors.

My goal, and that of the whole front-end team, is to deliver a reliable, top-quality product for food-lovers and become the best food delivery platform in the world.

Which tools do you use for work?

Our most used tool for defect management and SDLC tracking is Jira. Meanwhile, Confluence is our Wikipedia for collecting knowledge and storing useful information. For communication, it all happens via Slack, Google Hangouts and Outlook.

For test automation, continuous development and monitoring, we employ CodeceptJS, Selenium, PhpStorm, GitLab and more. As for test cases and scenarios, we work with TestRail.

What would you tell someone who is considering joining us?

When I got an offer from Takeaway.com, I hesitated at first as it was a huge decision to leave my home country of Lithuania for a new career challenge.

In the end, it turned out to be the best decision of my life so far! This company has given me more than I could ever ask for. I’ve improved so much during the first year as both a professional and a person.

It’s not all been hard work, either. We had an epic snow event in the Swiss Mountains and an amazing summer event, with the chance to meet our international colleagues. If you have the chance to join Takeaway.com, do it!

What are your personal goals for the future?

My aim is to expand my knowledge every day, and become an expert in quality assurance and testing. I also want to improve my management skills to become a QA team leader at some point in the future. I want to empower my team, to help them achieve the best results in product quality and testing processes.

The first thing you do when you arrive at the office is…
I say “Goedemorgen!” or sometimes “¡Hola, amigos!” – as everyone knows I love speaking Spanish. I also won’t start work before getting my coffee and grabbing some fruit.

Your favourite spot in the office is…

Our lunch corner. Lunch is great, because we can take a break from work to talk with our teammates about life, our hobbies and interests, and get to know each other better.

What can we find at your desk?

Pictures from our ski and summer events, my beautiful plant, some hand creams and various personal things. This makes me feel right at home. Oh, and there’s my screens and Macbook, of course!

What do you usually order for lunch?

Caesar salad (my favorite) and other healthy meals. I reckon I’ve already tried most of Enschede’s salads!

Hobbies outside of work?

I love traveling! My colleagues are always making fun of me when I let them know that I need a day or two off again to visit somewhere. Apart from that, I like exercising in the gym or going for a run in the woods. In the evenings, you’ll often find me reading a book.

Anything else you’d like to add? 

My - very ambitious - life dream is to go on a space trip to the ISS (International Space Station)!