How I met Pradeep Soundararajan

When my friend +Tirtharaja Dasa and I started testing software, back in 2008, we started by doing what the previous two testers did before us. But since they got fired ( yeah, the same day we became testers ) we soon realized that we needed to do better... if we wanted to keep the job.

So we started researching what software testing was about and at some point we got to Alan Page and James Whittaker, who lead us to Cem Kaner, and then to James Bach and Michael Bolton.
We purchased and read books written by all of them, mainly because our company did have a budget for books and a pool of time to read those books, you know, it was like the Google 20% time, just in another context.

And then, we got to this blog, testertested and started reading the posts, of a tester from somewhere in India, who not only did talk about testing, but he also was telling 'Hey, if I can do this, it only means that you can do this too!". I remember spending nights reading back his posts, looking one more article just before I go to bed.

He was explaining why testers should blog, why they should get better testing skills, better writing skills, why they should have a social media presence, why the world should know about them... and not only talking about it, he was leading the way with his own example... And then, tired of working for other people, he decided to found his own company, moolya.com

 That was enough for us. We needed to do something, so Tirtha started a blog in spanish and gave me access to write stuff too. This is how this journey started for us.

Some months ago, the people from SQS that are running the QA & Test conference in Bilbao did a competition to win a free ticket. All I had to do was to say why I should win this ticket, and if you have been reading so far, I hope you'll understand my reply:

 And :) they gave me the ticket!

I was amazed, I was going to attend a conference with Pradeep as a speaker, so then I decided to do the walk, and I asked if I could invite him to dinner the only night I knew I was staying in the city, and he accepted!

So we went out for a Beer at the Bar Muga and a nice dinner at the Restaurante Kasko, we talked, we shared stories, we had fun, we spent a great evening!

So that's how I met Pradeep Soundararajan.

I am a software tester, and I like the work I do. I know I can do better and there are lots of things I don't know about, or I don't understand. Some people write books or give talks that help me understand and know better. Some others lead by example, doing things that they think that can be done and explaining about it.

Good testers think that things can be different, and I had the chance of spending one evening with a great tester and a greater person.

Thank you Pradeep, It has been an honor for me.