Playing app on mobile devices as a career path.
Today, we live and breathe in the tech. All sorts of info and stuff are available on mobile apps, from marketplace for shopping through online therapy sessions and other thousand of things we never had thought it would be presented on our palms. They are the wonder of this generation.
However, it does not come with consequences too. People spend too much on mobile device screens than interact with each other. I am not gonna talk about the downside of this new tech as for me; this dark is the new light.
I have the benefit of witnessing the evolution of mobile phones from AMPS generation through the latest version of iOS or Android OS. This tech had always amazed me since the very beginning. I love to know and to master the tips and tricks of using the devices and maximize its function. Smartphone is for smart people as the ad says. Upgrading and jailbreaking are one of those bits of knowledge I crave upon.
Let’s start with my addiction to phones.
iPhone was just still a new thing back then in 2013, I had iPhone 3Gs and 4 when I saw “Test our iPhone App in Indonesia” job post. The title itself was blowing my mind at the time. What kind of job is this? Reading the requirement was only to have the necessary devices, located in the region and had time to use the app for a certain time a week. Whoa, this was dope. Instead of wasting time on social media, this is a time well-spent. Instantly, I took the chance. For the record, iPhone was and is still an expensive device so having it would a huge benefit. The most interesting part of this app was I was paid to complain. It was an app to accommodate people to complain or just simply throwing a rant of pretty much anything, literally anything in the world. It was a revelation. This job opened my eyes and widened my horizon toward the meaning of working.
English mastery open doors you never knew existed.
Ever heard the bed tester job post? People are paid to test the bed and give a review of how it feels to the producer. Or wine tester? All you need to do is to taste and to tell the taste itself. I emphasize the word review and tell here. Aside of having the necessary devices needed for testing, my line of work needs a special skill to deliver the result. The skill is writing in English as the clients are mostly (if not all) international. English serves as the lingua franca of the world set the standard communication for the international team. The team may scatter around across the planet with different cultural backgrounds, countries and time zone for certain. English unites all when it comes to working. Back to me as a tester, I have to be able to give a comprehensive report that would be easily understood by all team members. I have to build a report with easy and clear steps to cover all audiences as the team consist of top-level managerial such as CEO or CTO at least and goes down to the developer team. So English master is a must.
Curiosity can kill a horse.
Using the app to its maximal capabilities is something that I love. Finding a new trips or tricks on the app is kind of driving me into adrenalin rush mode. The “side effect” of this activity is finding bug(s) or it may crash the app when certain user logic is not met by the app’s algorithm. As a user, this will be frustrating as the app does not function as user’s desire. This is where my role come to light. My boss told me to do black box testing. “What the hell is that?” It is a test without knowing the code or the design, just use the app as a “normal” app user. However, I am not just a normal user, I am determined to crash the app. I always try to find a way so that the app stop working. This is when my curiosity does the magic. During my work, I would be very happy when I find many bugs but my clients will be frustrating as the app will not fit for release. On the contrary, I will be stressful when I don’t find anything but most clients will be happy, lol.
Enjoying the remote work gigs.
Frankly, I don’t like the work “gig” as it feels as one time hit wonder. I imagine something like a steady stream of work and security. I work fulltime for a Canadian company as well as partime from New Zealand and USA companies. During weekend, I also takes some work from Estonian QA platform for 2–4 horus of work just for fun. Why I put myself in such working load? The keyword is security. Btw, I have never talked to my clients or meet the eyes, we communicate via Slack or Skype or email. How scary is that? For me, this not comforting in term of working security, therefore, I manage to keep some clients on a single time frame instead of rellying on a single client. I’ve never imagined when I had only a single full time client and then of all a sudden, the contract were terminated; the transition would be harsh. No, this is not something I want to deal with. I would rather working 50–60 hours / week just to keep my fear at bay than trying to comfort with a fulltime. Well, this is just me and my insecurity.
Time management is key.
Working at home is something challenging. Distraction may come in the form of laugh and love. Imagine you are in the zen mode of working when out of nowhere, your children come and ask for a hide and seek game. Or your loved one throws a flirty smile. What would you do? There are so many other forms of distraction that may come along the way. The solution is time management. I keep my self busy in the morning till mid day. Most of the time I start at 5am and aim for 4–5 hours of work before 12pm and the rest will be easily to complete during the end of the day.
How many hours have you played with your mobile devices?
I have played productively 11.111 hours strong.
