Amazed
Just a few days ago, I finally got the actual piece of glass art, the Award. It is an amazingly large glass vase, fittingly so, as the recognition of getting the EuroSTAR Testing Excellence Award is a large event in one’s life too. The vase will now take a special place on my desk, reminding me of the amazing honour I’ve been granted.
Humbled
It was so humbling to learn that so many of my peers thought my efforts for software testing profession and the field were worthy of recognition. Hearing the praise, now in social media, still makes me feel humble. Especially so, coming from Finland where we are culturally not that used to giving or receiving praise, or even a simple thank you. You know, we just must endure, through whatever hardship that may fall on our way.
Grateful
Having just pushed through several challenges in the publishing process of my book Dragons Out!, I feel really gratified to get this level of response. While there are lots of small successes in any book project there are also small challenges. And somehow those challenges sometimes overwhelm you. To overcome them, a proportionally larger success is needed. I’m so gratified this award is now here – it feels it made the book project worth it.
Unreal
When lots of things nowadays happen online, disconnected, out of sync, things start feeling unreal. Yes, there’s this great EuroSTAR award. But I wasn’t even there in the EuroSTAR due to schedule conflict! I was at an ISTQB General Assembly in Belgrade. How come I receive this recognition like that? One minute I don’t have it, and next moment I have it. Unreal. Yes, we recorded the thank you speech earlier and that felt similar to receiving the award live, but that’s not the same as standing in front of a thousand-person crowd at live EuroSTAR. Then again, the offline nature of the EuroSTAR made the thank you speech recording possible.
Tired
So many online conference speeches. Where’s the feedback loop? Where’s the applause? Where are the smiles? Where is that intriguing discussion with fellow learners? I feel a bit tired of the online routine but at the same time I’m really satisfied that these opportunities exist. I wouldn’t have the time and money to go to nearly as many places physically. Still, getting some more personal contact would feel good. We are getting there of course, as so many of us are now fully vaccinated and conferences start going back to physical locations.
Happy
Mostly though, I’m really happy at being recognized for my 25 years of work for the software testing field, and especially for my Dragons Out book project. I’m happy to have done it. I’m happy people are buying the books and like them. I’m happy to hear fantastic praise from readers, children and adult alike. I’m happy to start thinking about the next steps to educate children in software testing.
Determined
I’m more than determined to keep explaining about the fun of software testing to children. I’m determined to keep preaching about the need to add software testing education to all levels are our educational institutions, starting from elementary schools. I’m determined that my approach of coupling fantasy storytelling to software testing exercises works well and can change the world.
Convinced
I feel that software testing can indeed be a lifetime profession. I’m convinced that there are so many angles and opportunities in the testing field that even the most change-prone person can find the variety they look for. I’m convinced the world needs more and more testing even though testing is more and more integrated into rest of the software development work.
Thankful
Getting all this great feedback, through the award, through the book, through the social media makes me very thankful to have all these fantastic people around me. That passionate colleague who keeps finding new ways to educate management about importance of testing. That interested listener at one of my speeches who thanks for an eye-opening approach to software testing. That 10-year-old girl who at the book fair chooses my book over all the hundreds of books on display and continues to talk about the coding classes she now has at her school. That true friend who trusts that I will do fantastic things no matter what.
Open
I am open to any ideas to take the software testing matters further. There are many approaches. There are many people. There are many super ideas. All of these have a role to play in getting some more testing done, in getting yet more appreciation for our industry, in making the world a little bit better place. It’s great to hear of all the opinions and ideas. Maybe some of those will make it to my next book.
Positive
I feel we can make it happen. We can make better software, and better products, that can help create a more sustainable world for us to live in. We can prevent disasters, we can make those awesome experiences that create faithful customers, we can find solutions we all need, we can learn. Through better testing, through better quality. I am positive about it.
