eTestware’s Margery Peusa: Meet the team

Today, in the first of what will become a regular series of articles, we sit with a member of the team. We start with eTestware’s Margery Peusa. Our discussion will look into her software testing background as well as outlining some of the challenges she and her colleagues face. Margery is one of the original team members. Hailing from Estonia, she has worked in the world of IT and software testing for 8 years. Her experience is considerable and she is very much a key part of what makes eTestware what it is today.

Can you please tell us a little about yourself and what you do?

I’ve been with eTestware since the very beginning and I have performed numerous roles for the company. As well as testing, for example, I have also been involved in Project Management.

What is it about software testing that you enjoy?

I’m very passionate about manual testing in particular. Exploratory testing, where you can really use your imagination, is particularly interesting. I love putting myself into the different personas involved. I also love detecting errors. It is a fact that no software is bug-free, so the sooner you find the issues the better all around.

What are the biggest challenges you face?

I’d say one of the biggest is having to give feedback to developers on the errors found. That interaction can be fairly difficult because they tend to see the software as their ‘baby’.

I actually enjoy those conversations because once the emotion passes, they can be very constructive.

Why do you think that so many companies hesitate when it comes to software testing?

I personally don’t understand why that is because I know the value of testing and QA. I’ll give you an example of one company that didn’t just hesitate, they actually seemed to skip testing altogether. A few years ago there was a bank in Estonia, which shall remain unnamed.

They decided at a certain point to change their website. That is a fairly standard practice but it looked as if they chose to do it without any testing whatsoever. So when the new website went live, there were lots of issues. They lost quite a few customers over that, including us, so they might have saved money at first but they certainly did not in the longer term.

What does the future hold for software testing?

Lots of people talk about test automation being the future. I would disagree with that however, because I truly believe that software testing will always require the human touch.

There will always be a need for manual testing then, which suits me just fine because I love it.

eTestware’s Margery Peusa is clearly passionate about software testing. She also has a passion for the cruise industry:

I absolutely love cruising, there is nothing quite like it. That’s another fantastic thing about working for eTestware. We are part of theICEway and so we get to work alongside cruise lines all the time.

Our conversation then moved onto another passion of hers, sustainable development:

Embracing sustainability is absolutely vital for our world and for our future. I do as much as I can now and going forwards, it is my ultimate goal to merge cruising with sustainability.