In terms of background, I attended the National Engineering School of Tunis, specializing in computer engineering, and began my career as a solutions integration consultant in a startup.

I truly began my career in software quality assurance in early 2010. Today, testing and its automation are integral parts of all projects, whether in the V-model or Agile methodology. However, back then, it was still quite rare. Therefore, I had to start by training myself to acquire all the necessary skills… and convincing my company at the time was another challenge! I took it upon myself and led a test automation project under the radar, and my efforts quickly paid off! The top management soon realized that automating certain repetitive and time-consuming tests not only relieved the testing teams but also accelerated the time-to-market of the developed applications.

After several years of experience, in January 2020, I joined Harington as a Software Test Engineer through the referral program. It was clearly the HR policy and the quality of team management that attracted me. Since then, I have loved the assignments I have been given!

Ichrak
Test Automation

First, I worked on a new version of an application that I developed for Android and then iOS, including app automation, tool migration, etc. I am fortunate to be able to work with the development team on several topics in parallel. The technological challenges are numerous, and since I am quite versatile and enjoy diversity – just like our client – it’s perfect for me! There’s no time to fall into a routine!

The key to my success in increasingly shorter timeframes is trust, mutual support, and constant collaboration between the developers, testers, and functional (business) teams.

Today, it works perfectly. To the extent that the client provides us with projects without even asking for a “highlight” or preview of the final deliverable! I must admit, this is a great professional pride for me 😉

However, working in this profession is not always smooth sailing. Pressures and uncertainties are part of our daily routine. In the case of Sephora, and often in all client contexts, I had to quickly master a programming language I wasn’t very familiar with, Java. In this field, we need to master several programming languages, and there are many of them!

 

Les qualités pour exercer mon métier ? Il faut être curieux, avoir un bon esprit d’écoute et parfois un vrai self-control car on travaille avec des profils très différents au quotidien. Il faut savoir faire confiance mais aussi s’imposer dans certaines situations pour faire avancer les projets. Et si vous avez en plus une petite dose d’audace, vous serez parfait pour ce type de missions !

 

Qualities needed for my job? You need to be curious, have good listening skills, and sometimes a real sense of self-control because we work with very different profiles every day. You need to know how to trust others but also assert yourself in certain situations to move projects forward. And if you also have a bit of daring, you’ll be perfect for these types of missions!

And how does the Covid crisis change things?

Since March 2020, communication with colleagues is now 100% remote. Everything is done via remote work. It may seem strange, but since we’ve all been working from home, it’s been much easier to organize meetings with all participants than when we were in the office…

Remote work has unanimous support at Sephora. We are just as productive as if we were spending our days in the office.

However, this unprecedented crisis has economic and human impacts, making it a difficult period to navigate personally.

Outside of work, I have another passion: theatre. Unfortunately, I had to stop pursuing it since the beginning of this crisis 🙁