Otar Phrodiashvili, Junior Software Tester

Today, Otar Phrodiashvili, Junior Software Tester at Exactpro, will share the story of discovering software testing through his development project, and talk about the team that helped him adjust to the new work environment and the “fascinating” challenges he gets to tackle daily.

I started working at Exactpro in October 2021. At the time, I was a 2nd-year undergraduate student at Business and Technology University, mostly working on some personal IT-related projects. Randomly, while working on one of these, I decided to google “software testing” to see if it could help make a better, more stable final product. After reviewing some results, seeing the “seven testing principles'' and various methods of testing all explained in great detail, I realised – “Oh, so this is actually a thing!” Then one thing led to another and there I was, going through the ISTQB crash course and, soon after – sending my CV here!

I remember the first day of work vividly. It was packed full of anxiety and confusion, as it was my first job. Luckily, I was assigned to a Non-Functional Testing team which consisted of very friendly, sociable and helpful individuals. Thanks to them, my tensions dissipated in a few days.

At first, my main job was to study and understand the system and various different tools that I would later work with. After soaking up theoretical knowledge, I soon started applying it in practice. My tasks usually included  testing various non-functional aspects of the system using different tools, as well as checking our available testing scripts and helping update them accordingly, if need be. However, all of this wasn’t mundane because things were always changing, therefore, I always had new things to learn, which kept things interesting and sometimes even presented a fascinating challenge. This is still the case to this day, and it is the quality I love about Exactpro the most – a sense of progress and satisfaction from continuous improvement.

Outside of work and uni, I like spending time playing video games, going out with friends, or usually just chilling and spending time staring at my garden snails (I adore them even though they munch all the plants).