Our sixth guest, Balázs Pádár in our expert interview series, is a QA engineer whose path to Pro-Sharp took an unexpected turn from the basketball court to the world of software testing. After years of coaching, he decided to pursue a new challenge, completed a programming course and discovered that his meticulous nature was a perfect fit for quality assurance.
What is your exact position at Pro-Sharp, and how did you get here? What projects are you currently working on, and what do you like most about your daily work?
I am a QA engineer. I used to coach basketball, but I needed a change, so I took a programming course. There, I learned the basics of programming in Python and later, we wrote small programs in Java as a group. In the end, I chose to specialize in testing, which suited my interests and personality. My first interview was right here, and it obviously went well.
The good thing about my daily work is that there is always something interesting, whether it's complex tasks or routine work. But of course, nothing is so routine that you don't have to pay attention, or that a terrible mistake won't pop up in something that seems simple. "It was just a series of changes in the code, it can be tested quickly," they say, and then you sit in front of the computer for two days because of it.
What technological challenge or project has been the most interesting for you in this position so far, and why? What did you learn from it?
Thankfully, we always use new technologies within the company, so there is plenty of variety. Nevertheless, I am also getting to know the tools we have been using for a long time more and more deeply. It's like a matryoshka doll: even though I always get a new one, and even though I think I've explored it from every angle and know it inside out, a layer peels away and I discover new depths. In this profession, you can never know something "well enough." Everything has a soul.:)
If you weren't doing this job, what would you be doing? Do you have any hobbies or passions that help you unwind outside of work?
I would go back to my previous profession. Even now, there are people who, when they meet me, gently ask how I'm doing and offer me a job in case I want to return.
You received the Trailblazer Tester award for integrating AI tools into QA processes. How did this process begin? Was there a specific problem you were looking to solve, or was it more driven by curiosity?
It was more curiosity. I knew that this technology would eventually become a basic requirement everywhere. In the summer, I reached a deeper understanding and a broader set of possibilities, allowing me to focus specifically on our testing and our own work processes. I talked to my superiors, and it turned out that I wasn't the only one fascinated by the topic; I found kindred spirits in them. In line with the company's policy, I began integrating AI into the QA team's work.
And yes, I wrote these answers with the help of AI!:)