I was approved for my apartment in Renton. I am pretty sure I'm going to move in. It's the best move in deal, and I am pretty sure things will work out fine. My only concern now is just getting everything packed this weekend and ready for James to help me move next weekend.
I have been working a bit lately. I have been averaging 10 hour days, and we have a deadline tomorrow for the pre-beta which we won't make, however we are will be ready for the internal beta launch. I finally understand what my test cases are, my machines are almost completely configured, and I am finally familiar with the team. I have 3 weekly meetings that I go to: Social team, Marketplace team, and All Test team. I really feel like the work I do is actually accomplishing a lot; I have had my hand in making sure several key features will be implemented by out RTW (Release To World) deadline at the end of April or Beginning of May.
I like this position a lot. I get to actually code some automation scripts and have even submitted several scripts for the devs (Developers) to use to minimize the test cases I am adding to my own plate. My scope of influence on the project is much larger now then it was as a Test Associate. Not only do I organize test cases, but I also organize meetings, write test cases, co-ordinate between the two test teams I'm a member of, and I have direct interaction with the devs on a daily basis.
If I can push the new features into the beta with a high enough pass/fail ratio, then I will definitely have a shot at getting hired as an FTE in August/September. I am the first one there every day, and the last one to leave; which I'm only happy about because that means I do enough to justify working the hours. (I suppose I only have crunch time to worry about.) My manager said that I might even get a team of minions to co-ordinate once we hit crunch time. I love it!
Other than that... in the words of Dad: Work work work work work work work.
On the plus side, I found out today that there is a really good chance that I will get a week of paid vacation in July. I was thinking I might leave the Saturday before Susie's wedding and come back the Monday after the wedding. That would give me almost a week before the wedding to hang around, and then only miss one meeting for each team (not that I won't be able to stay in touch via email.)
Anyway... more later. sleep now. good night every body.
Later,
SteveO
