As this year is coming to an end, I have my eyes set firmly on things I want to do next year. Earlier this year I was trying to figure out what is my next career progress theme. Earlier I wanted to:
- Become a keynote speaker ✅
- Get a page of me on wikipedia ✅
I can still become a better speaker, and a more frequent and more awesome keynote speaker. No one is ever ready, speaking is continuous analysis of themes you would choose to invest time on, and keynote speaking is about choosing some talks you really finetune. I choose new experiences and attempt of learning something new, and don't see keynoting now as a goal I would want to pursue actively, just continue.
I can still get people to collect more of my legacy on wikipedia, and move from Finnish wikipedia to English one, but I am happy how my local community fulfilled my aspiration - and how I don't really know the people who wrote my page. I couldn't value what I have now more than if it was bigger and more visible. Again, not a goal I would want to pursue actively, just continue.
I can't dream of a raise in salary, I have a director level salary as a tester. And I don't want to become a director or VP. I could become a consultant, but I have reserved that goal a few years later, connected with an idea of making money to buy apartments for my two kids before they move out.
I love hands-on work, and improving real results. The theories and words to explain what great testing looks like are just words if we can't turn them into action. And I want to be better, still, at turning my words into actions.
So I chose what is new for 2022:
- Upskilling as board member
- Building up Finnish community of testing
I applied and got accepted to TIVIA board, and I'm now actively learning what boardroom work would look like. I will seek opportunities in this space beyond non-profits in due time.
I resurrected from hibernation the Finnish testing non-profit I have been leading: Software Testing Finland (Ohjelmistotestaus ry) will see a steady monthly session investment from me in 2022. Because I pair up with Ru Cindrea, the language we use is English / Finnish mix.
So I will run sessions with four "entities":
- inside Vaisala: broadcasts (anyone can hear me inside the company if they opt into it), test automation demos and test experiences discussions.
- Ohjelmistotestaus ry: monthly sessions to build up local testing community, my primary place to try out sharing new talks that aren't internal
- Ëxploratory Testing Academy: free sessions on hands-on activities I am turning into creative commons training materials. I'm adding a theme trio later today with unit, api and UI exercises.
- General Conferences, Meetups: I try to say yes to being invited within what my schedules allow as I did this year, creating new talks and repeating what I had already created.
I have my own company (maaretp) on the side, through which I do open and company-specific trainings occasionally, invoicing for the teaching work. I have limited availability to this, as I *want* to invest my regular work weeks in making testing and quality even better at Vaisala, in scale.
