When I first started at SQE (soon to be TechWell), I thought I knew nothing about the software industry. My first day on the job was flying to San Diego for our world-renowned STARWEST conference. I was overwhelmed, to say the least.
One of my initial responsibilities on the events team was to learn and manage the hybrid event—the virtual component to our physical conference. As I sat in the general session room, listening to keynotes and industry technical presentations, I heard keywords like quality assurance, testing, and agile. I thought to myself, “Hey, I know those terms!”
I got so excited at the thought of actually knowing something other than how to plan an event for an audience who I thought I knew nothing about. However, the more I listened, the more I realized I still didn’t know much. I couldn’t even carry on an intelligent conversation with someone in the industry.
Another responsibility I had was to help with our web seminars, including editing descriptions. What? How was I supposed to edit a description on a topic I knew nothing about? I found this to be extremely challenging.
As time has gone on and I’ve been with SQE for four years now, I’ve gradually learned more and more about the software industry. I’ve learned new keywords like DevOps, Scrum, and test automation. I’ve met delegates, speakers, and vendors who are all part of our conferences. I’ve hosted web seminars; I’ve mastered our virtual conferences; and now I’m part of the marketing team, helping design and promote all our conferences I used to run. I’ve taken the terms that I’ve learned and applied them to my everyday tasks.
I’ve learned that I’ve come to be part of a tightknit software community. To that, I say thank you! Thank you for welcoming someone into the community who didn’t know much at all. Thank you for participating, interacting, and providing feedback. And thank you for teaching me and giving me the ability to have an intelligent conversation. I hope to see you all at our future conferences!
