Sam Bryan

In this week’s post, I will be discussing the apprenticeship pattern “Nurture Your Passion,” as presented by Adewale Oshineye and Dave Hoover. I chose this chapter because I think I have felt like I’ve been just getting by for a while now. The  problem it identifies as, “You work in an environment that stifles your passion for the craft.” I don’t think that’s quite fair to my school or professors. I think that in any discipline, if someone is only studying for the tests or working on the assigned projects and calling it a day when they have passed them in, they are not truly adopting the apprenticeship mindset. Without a constant push forward, I will stagnate. I may get an “A” on the exam or project, but if I forget the material the next day, there is no point. The pattern suggests finding something that sparks interest and pouring myself into it. I have been wanting to do this for a while, but I have made excuse after excuse of not having enough time. The next sentence i...

I decided to take a somewhat different tack for this week’s post for software quality assurance and testing. Instead of focusing on testing itself, and all there is to it, I found a video from a tester in the field, Alan Richardson, on his advice for someone who is interested in getting into the field. He strongly urged someone getting started not to think of a position in quality assurance as a “stepping stone” to being a software developer. If you do, you will inevitably find yourself in a dead end because you really aren’t interested in the field. “If you want to be a software developer, start as a software developer.”  He encourages the viewer to read everything they can on the subject. A lot of it is free, so there is no reason to necessarily buy anything. However, he gives some book recommendations. He gives a good insight why books can be so valuable to learning. “An expert in the field took a year to concentrate everything they know into those pages,” (paraphrased...