What makes the DRACOON QA team tick?

  It is the lives we encounter that make life worth living."
(Guy de Maupassant)

DRACOON is an agile software company with almost 90 employees. What makes us special as a company are clearly the people with their different personalities and skills, who work day after day for the company and our product.

But especially when teams grow and - due to the fact that not all colleagues are located in the same place - do not see each other in person every day, it is highly important that people do not become an replaceable component. One team within our large team is our Quality Assurance department (abbreviated as QA), which ensures that every new feature or extension reaches the customer as error-free as possible. 

Today we take a look behind the scenes and talk to our colleagues from QA about how they experience the cooperation in their team. 

Sonja is Head of Quality Assurance at DRACOON. She describes the vision and mission the QA team has defined for themselves and how they also implement it in their daily lives.

  Data is now being used and processed at every corner. This offers great opportunities, but at the same time implies many risks in case the information falls into the wrong hands. It is our vision to give the world back control over its data.. In our QA department, we want to ensure that everyone in the world can take control of their own data with our error-free and user-friendly DRACOON platform. To do this, we work with cutting-edge technology, define and automate meaningful regression tests, and create a great team spirit. We are an open-minded team with diverse professional backgrounds and work with passion, strength and courage to help each other improve our product and ourselves."
Sonja, Head of QA

How we manage to maintain a good team dynamic, even though the team is constantly growing

The key to a good team dynamic is good recruiting. Usually, one has the chance to get to know a potential new employee in a 60 minute conversation . After such an interview, a statement can certainly be made as to whether the applicant is professionally suitable and should be proposed for employment. Whether the person also fits into the team on a personal level is a question that the team answers together. For this reason, each team member always has the opportunity to veto the decision regarding hiring the candidate. 

In a further interview, the entire team gets to know the candidate. Afterwards, a short meeting is held to decide whether everyone can imagine a potential collaboration. This is probably the first important step towards pleasant and transparent teamwork. Regardless of whether it's a working student, a full-time employee or a manager, all members of the team are equally involved in the decision-making process, which means that everyone is on an equal level with each other. The fact of being on equal footing and knowing that each individual contributes in the best possible way to the shared mission creates an incredible potential for innovation, a fact which Patrick sums up:

  There is an extraordinary passion for our profession in all of us.“
Patrick, QA Engineer

How do you create a sense of unity even in times of a pandemic?

Especially since the the pandemic started, it is not always easy to replace casual exchanges at the coffee machine or during lunch break. This leads to the risk of losing sight of our team identity. To counteract this, QA organizes various activities that take place both inside and outside the work context. During working hours, weekly meetings are held that create space for discussions, joint reflection and the development of new ideas and approaches to solutions. But QA also strives to spend time together outside of professional interactions. The team organizes events like online game nights, but also barbecues, playing laser tag or mini golf.

Why do colleagues enjoy working in the QA team so much? 

To put it in Peter's words:

 As a QA Engineer, I have the chance to venture into uncharted waters again and again without the fear of having to master everything at once. I learn new perspectives on the diversity of testing every day and it still excites me how broad and multi-layered my area of responsibility is. Working at DRACOON has turned my job into my passion. This is also due to the motivation and joy that I get from working with my colleagues.“
Peter, Senior QA Engineer 

In addition to the colleagues, QA dog Penny is also a true enhancement to the team. In Patrick's words:

  I enjoy spending time with our department dog, Penny is a bundle of joy. Sometimes I can hardly pull myself away from her.“
Patrick, QA Engineer

The QA team encourages each other through constructive feedback, joint workshops and lively exchanges.

 We want to encourage and inspire each other. In addition, everyone should have the opportunity to try new things, to develop themselves further, and to pursue their own skills and passions. That's why a large part of our team consists of working students and interns, because we want to offer young talents a platform to try out new things and grow beyond themselves."
Marlis, Manager QA

 

  Even as an intern and working student, I'm was not responsible for the coffee here, but for enriching the team with my ideas."
Elias, QA Engineer 

Working student Jonas has the same opinion: 

  Instead of prescribed tools and rigid processes, our focus is on finding the right tool for the job. In doing so, we get to know a wide variety of technologies and how to use them properly. Today I'm learning about Behavior-Driven-Development, tomorrow I'm setting up a CI/CD pipeline and much more."
Jonas, Working Student

Quality Assurance is incredibly multifaceted, whether as a QA Engineer in a wide variety of areas, as a Test Manager or a Test Administrator. Every day offers new challenges and opportunities.

Has our vision caught you?

Then take the chance and become part of our team! In case you are interested in working for DRACOON, take a look at our career page.

We are looking forward to getting to know you.