Gega Kandelaki, Junior Software Tester

What do tax auditing and software testing have in common? Today, Gega Kandelaki, Junior Software Tester at Exactpro, will share the story of his professional journey and trace back the origins of his natural propensity to optimise routine tasks.

‒ I’ve been working at Exactpro as a junior software tester since April 2022. Before joining Exactpro, I had a chance to explore different fields, but, for the most part, I’d worked as a tax auditor. It is quite relatable to software testing in terms of its principles and the general views of the subject: viewing things from unconventional perspectives, searching and identifying possible risks are the areas where, in my opinion, the two specialisations cross paths.

At my previous workplaces, I saw brilliant sales people wasting their valuable time on boring daily activities, not only making their lives miserable, but also causing companies to lose profit, due to this poor resource allocation. So, I searched for how to automate the boring stuff and stumbled upon Python. I ended up using Python scripts to control and automate major daily tasks and used JavaScript to create custom Chrome extensions for the department, but nothing too fancy, just enough to get the job done.

My current project is about a real-time data dissemination service of a major financial institution, which consolidates market data from stock exchanges and reporting services. As a non-functional testing team, we focus on testing the performance of the system in terms of latency, load capacity and resilience.

The people are very nice and always helpful. The project is quite interesting and challenging, which pushes me more to develop myself as a better professional. Another aspect I appreciate here is the effort and energy spent on educating the staff. In the near future, I would like to gain deeper knowledge in communication and encryption protocols.
 
When I stumbled upon an Exactpro vacancy, I also went on and checked the webpage and social platforms. The projects Exactpro had under its resume were quite interesting, and I got curious about the whole process and the tools used in these projects. I also liked the educational courses shared on the YouTube platform, so I thought there should be more to it, and I wasn't wrong.

Most of my free time is spent on parenting, but I always try to allocate some time to yoga or swimming.