got my first actual dev-adjacent job - software tester

Date : 08-2022

so this is kinda huge for me, i got a remote gig as a software tester at a place called Suneflower. like a real thing, with real responsibilities, not just me messing around in löve at midnight. my job is to break stuff on purpose. i run tests on their web apps, both by hand and automated ones, and then i write up GUI-based reports on the API so the devs know what fell over and where

i genuinely did not expect testing to teach me this much. when you're the one building something you kind of unconsciously avoid the paths you know are broken. but when your whole job is to be the person who clicks the button nobody's supposed to click and feeds the form the input nobody's supposed to feed, you start seeing software totally differently. every app is a pile of assumptions and my job is to find the ones that aren't true. it's making me a way more paranoid (in a good way) programmer

also just, being trusted with an actual role at my age feels good. i'm still a kid on a laptop but somebody looked at what i can do and went "yeah, you can own this part". that does something for your head. it's the first time my hobby paid off as more than a hobby, and honestly it makes me want to get properly good at this, not just good-enough-for-my-own-projects good