It's been Quite the Whirlwind, but I'm in the beautiful city of Portland, and my delayed belongings are actually supposed to arrive (3 weeks late) tomorrow.
A woman can become quite Evil without her shoes. That's all I have to say. I've had exactly 4 things to wear and have alternated them every day for 3 weeks, cleaning them repeatedly. And yes, one measly pair of shoes. No PC. No TV. One air mattress and a very confused dog. After two and a half weeks in a hotel, I decided I was moving to my new place no matter what, and just packed up little Elvis in his crate and did it.
I MISSED THE PITTSBURGH GAME.
Talk about sacrifice...
But the job, my dears, THE JOB. It has been worth all the trials and tribulations, the sun is shining, I can see Mt. Hood from my window, and I'm going to love Portland. It's funky, it's beautiful, and I work within walking distance of some really great Thai food. Life is good.
So I've met all the players, and my first priority is hiring. I'll be looking for a team lead for the testing efforts, 6 senior and/or leads in the testing area, and a manager for the test engineering group (automation, load, stress, and performance testing). That's just the start; we're staffing from the top down. If you're the best of the best and you're looking, drop me a line via this blog. I won't publish it, but I'll send you the particulars. I'm also going to see if I can get my requisitions on the Software Testing Club site. We're building the entire IT organization from scratch, so the Quality Services Department will be able to make decisions and recommendations for EVERYTHING; tools are the next item on my list after staffing. I start discussions about test environments shortly. The freedom and the authority to do and purchase what makes most business sense, rather than being bound by old agreements or technologies, is both a big responsibility and a total joy. The environment will definitely be agile; I almost wept openly. Usually I've been in the position of gradually turning structured environments into more um, adaptable organizations. This one is being built to be flexible from the get-go. It will be hard work, it will be fun, and I'm looking forward to building a team that can help make it happen!
I'll certainly post about my activities and the lessons I learn along the way when my own equipment arrives; in the meantime, my best to everyone and a special "thank you" to my former staff for all of their support and good wishes; once you all get sick of that weather and get a craving for some really killer crab phad thai, drop me a line!
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6 comments:
Yay, sounds exciting :)
It would be interesting to hear stories of starting a team from scratch.
Do let me know if we can help in any way. STC Job Board might be a good place to start - http://jobs.softwaretestingclub.com
Thanks, Rosie; I'm going to ask if we can post all testing opportunities on STC. The readership already "gets" it and are professionals in the field; it's a bit different than throwing things out to a vendor or a generic job board...
- Linda
Good to hear the job is working out so well and also great to hear that you might be making use of the STC. What does Portland have to offer ?
Hi Linda,
This sounds like a really fantastic time for you and good luck with the hiring and team building.
Great place, great company, great opportunity, great weather(?) - sounds fab.
As Rosie says - let us know how The Software Testing Club can help you achieve your testing goals.
Rob..
Compared to the 17 degrees and half a foot of snow I left, I'd say sunny and in the low 50s suits me just fine :).
I was thinking about Portland and what it has to offer; I really don't know where to start. It has a West Coast vibe at a reasonable cost. If you're looking for a hip, urban lifestyle, it's here. If you're looking for an outdoor lifestyle, it's here. If you're looking for a quiet, beautiful place to decompress, it's here. I tend to work long hours and like to be away from frenetic activity when I'm home, so I fall into the "decompress" category. My (temporary) place is tucked back in pine trees and has walking paths along the Williamette River. It smells good. It's beautiful. Just looking out the window is relaxing. Portland itself is quirky. They love animals. They love the environment. They're friendly without getting in your face and believe in helping others. I could dye my hair green and wear a tutu and moonboots around town and barely get a glance. The art scene is awesome, and if you're a foodie, you'll end up looking like Jabba the Hut. I guess what I'm saying is that Portland seems to be accepting of pretty much every type of lifestyle.
As far as the work goes, Portland is called "The Silicon Forest", so there are a lot of IT shops headquartered here, including Intel. The work I've got available involves being part of a team responsible for establishing a quality services organization for a 3B global company. So the sky is the limit, as they say; I've barely started to scratch the surface and I need some people to help me make it happen. It's way bigger than one person. I've never had any particular demographics on any of my teams; a sincere dedication to the field and personal excellence are the only common factors. Eventually I'll be hiring at all levels, but it will only be the lead/management staff to start with; they, in turn, will help hire THEIR staff. My team is going to be quite large and it truly will be global; we can't foresee how and where at the moment, but the company truly DOES do business world-wide, and it's unlikely all of our testing talent, resources, or equipment will be solely in one location. We'll end up being the "central" and largest location, however...
So other than the trials and tribulations involved in getting my stuff moved from Ohio, I'm feeling pretty excited about Portland, but it is, after all, just a 3-week impression. We'll see how I feel after 3 years!
Linda
Welcome to Portlandia Linda! An account rep at a technical staffing firm seeking candidates for the test automation management position on your new team recently told me that a renowned SQA expert from Columbus, Ohio had moved here to be the Queen of Software Quality. I remembered an exchange of information about ROI on a test automation thread on SQA Forums a few years ago and wondered if it might be you, and the account rep confirmed that it was indeed.
So welcome to the great culinary and cultural diversity that is the Pacific Northwest. I'll be sure to stop and say "hi" in person if I should run into you and Elvis on the river walk. I'll keep an eye out for someone with green hair wearing a tutu and moon boots!
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