This is an article on how “The Pursuit of Right Education” made a better tester out of me.
Coming from a country where the right to education is the fundamental right of every citizen, the only question that always popped up is whether the Right to Education gives the Right Education or not.
Well, many of you would be wondering, what is this Right Education?
The Right Education is not merely a collection of facts, formulas, tricks, results, marks, or certifications. On the contrary, it is the process of knowing, learning, and understanding the deeper truths, correct logic, core concepts, and the process to approach learning correctly.
Since childhood, I always used to ponder if rote learning and just knowing how to solve the problem without knowing the “why” behind it would help us in life.
Being a critical thinker, I always had the urge to search for in-depth information rather than just restricting myself to the surface details. Also, being a software tester, it is crucial to look at things more deeply and critically to help evolve a quality product.
However, one may get overwhelmed by the buzzwords, an unending list of evolving technologies, and the need to keep oneself in a continuous learning mode. Yet, the hunger to stay relevant makes us undertake various courses on Udemy, YouTube, etc. All this could get very challenging and complex as most people do not know about the concept of Right Education.
My mentor Vimal Daga once said,
“No technology is challenging or difficult or complex as the world says to us or approaches to us since it is MAN-MADE. You only need the right education or approach to understand the technology and take it further as per one’s requirement.”
Vimal Daga
The above thought transformed my perspective towards technology, change, and adaptability. With information bombardment by online course providers and social media platforms, there is always a confusion between what to learn and what not to. Most of these courses rarely have any material on unearthing the fundamentals or core concepts.
Many times, we use technology and tools as a user without diving much into details. Such an approach towards acquiring knowledge can help us to resolve problems in the short-run but may not solve complex problems in the long-run.
Here are some ways from my learning journey and experience that can aid you kick start your journey towards the Right Education:
- Find the authentic source:
- Who created it?
- Why someone created it?
- Who uses it?
- What are the use cases, applications, and problems it solves?
- How to use it?
- Read the official documentation (readme, website, blogs, etc.) as it helps in:
- Understanding the purpose, knowing the possibilities, and prevents getting restricted to a specific use case.
- Aligning our technical goals with the product goals.
- A clear understanding of the third-party dependencies and the importance of those layers.
- Knowing what are the “Known issues” eventually helps in avoiding pitfalls.
- Officially reporting issues faced while using any tool or technology:
- Testers are natural explorers and could provide valuable feedback to the product team.
- The above practice gives a chance to connect with the creators, network, and discuss with them, and therefore learn better.
- Reporting problems is the only direct way to get issues resolved.
- Looking for known issues/open issues first and then going through the comments helps to get useful workarounds for various cases.
- Document your learnings via:
- Word notes
- Mind mapping
- Blogging
- Creating sample POC projects on Git
- Writing summaries, etc.
- Follow official social media handles of technologies, tools, and creators to stay updated:
- Chat Groups
- Practice, Practice, Practice:
- Neuroplasticity is the ability of neural networks in the brain towards growth and reorganization. Practice is a scientific way to master skills using Neuroplasticity.
- For more information on Neuroplasticity, refer to bit.ly/SRNeuroplasticity
- Collaborate:
- To teach is to learn twice! Collaboration with others doubles our learning and skill set.
In my brief stint with the testing industry, I have observed that professionals with good years of experience in popular tools and technologies are unaware of the core concepts and their applicability or advanced use-cases.
I am highly impressed to see the usage of Selenium by Sudharsan Selvaraj (Channel ‘TestNinja’ on YouTube) for playing piano, automating docking simulator, drawing images, etc. It is one classic example of how the right education and approach towards something as ordinary as Selenium can create something extraordinary.
With the pursuit of the right education, I approach technology, tools, and new concepts with unwavering confidence, a balanced approach, and complete involvement. Further, I no longer feel overwhelmed by the buzzwords, new technologies, etc. Moreover, it has helped me overcome obliviousness, intimidation, and incoherence. I have now become more open to research, modeling, experimentation, and learning.
In a nutshell, Right Education expanded my gamut of knowledge and eased my adaptability to change. Testing is a lot about learning, exploration, and experimentation, and coupling it with the Right Education has helped me master and amplify my skill sets in my professional arena.
Know our Super Writer:
Rahul Parwal
Hi Friends! I am Rahul Parwal from India. I am a Software Engineer by education, Software Tester by trade, Programmer by practice, and a Mythology lover by heart.
- Twitter Handle: twitter.com/parwalrahul
- Testing Blog: testingtitbits.blogspot.com
