DevExperience: What did you want to become when you were a child?

An automobile designer. I wanted to shape the exterior of the cars and make them futuristic looking.

DevExperience: What is the story of your begining in this field? How did you start working in this industry?

I had just graduated from the Technical University, with a mindset that I would become a developer. However, due to the lack of experience and not that much knowledge gained from my time at the university, I was not able to get the job I would have expected. One day I saw an add for a QA role in a company that seemed very interesting to me, and I thought, why not try. Two days before the interview I started reading a book about testing, and i managed to read it entirely during that day. I was hooked. I knew my personal skills were a perfect match to all the topics I had read in the book, and that was when I knew I want to become a tester. Been doing this job since.

DevExperience: How do you see the IT industry in Romania compared to other countries? Have you ever consider moving out of Romania? Why?

The IT industry here is huge. IT has developed enormously in the past years, and there are so many companies working on software and hardware for a wide range of domains. There is also a very good pool of candidates to be hired by these companies, and we have the capacity to deliver high quality products to be used across the world.
Many companies are also very much up to date with the latest trends and technologies used in other countries. Maybe not everything that is hype outside of Romania reaches us in time, but we have strong knowledge and skills that allow us to deliver any kind of products. Also the costs for a person working in Romania are much lower than in many parts of the world, and for that reason I think it's quite nice to work here, and take occasional holidays to wherever we want to go.

DevExperience: What are the main mistakes that you noticed that people in this field are making a lot?

If we are talking about automation testing, there is one thing I noticed many people do. That is: they stop learning at one point and don't progress much beyond that point. What I mean is: sometimes, the goal for them is to just be able to write some test code, when in fact the real goal would be to learn to write good code, to use best practices, not just settle for the first huge chunk of code that seems to solve their problem, but that could be improved.
Many people settle for learning just basics instead of learning more approaches, getting deeper knowledge into the frameworks they are using, understanding how code can be improved. I would advise them to keep learning as there are so many awesome things you can do if you just take the time to learn more about the frameworks. That will open a lot of possibilities for them to build great things. Another advice would be for testers not to keep to themselves, but interact more with their developers, who can help improve their automation skills and who can share a lot of knowledge with them. Even testers can build cool stuff, we just need to do some research and off we go.

DevExperience: How do you see the future of IT industry 10 years from now?

Hard to say. With all this talk of AI and machine learning going on lately, who knows? But IT will still be a defining domain in the world.

DevExperience: What is your main advice for a junior who wants to develop a career in IT?

Learn, learn, learn. There are so many things to learn when you are a junior, and that might be overwhelming. But the rewards are great, so it's totally worth the effort. I would suggest for them to read about the domain they are working on, so that they understand what the environment is all about. Also to learn from the official documentation of every tool they are using, to make sure they are using them properly, and to get some ideas on how certain tasks can be fulfilled by using those tools. Keep a ear open to the technical discussions going on in the team, and stick around the more experienced colleagues to obtain some knowledge from them too.
Also, keep informed, by reading articles, blogs, or attending IT conferences, where there is a lot of knowledge sharing going around.

DevExperience: What do you do for your both personal and professional development? Also how do you make time for your passions?

I probably have a ton of hobbies. My biggest passions I would say are travelling and taking photos with my DSLRs. Lately some of the travelling coincided with me speaking at different testing conferences, so I managed to overlap both my love of seeing new things and my professional growth, by learning from my peers at these events. Making time for these passions is not always easy, but I imposed a rule for myself that my spare time is dedicated to relaxing, and I make sure I do. It takes a bit of self-management, but you get there.

DevExperience: What is the greatest part of your job? What is the not so great part of it?

The greatest part is building things. Specifically, I write test code, and it pleases me a lot to see it "blossom" from an idea to a fully working "product". Also I enjoy learning about new technologies, tools and frameworks. I am very "technical" oriented so I enjoy learning how to create new things. The not so great part is usually not having clear enough requirements for my work, so when that happens it is a lot of hassle to sort things out.

DevExperience: How would you explain to an old lady who knows nothing about technology what is it exactly that you do? :)

Well there is that saying with helping an old lady cross the street. I would tell her to look at the traffic lights. I am one of these people who makes sure those lights work properly so that she can safely cross the intersection.

DevExperience: Tell us more about the main ideas of your talk at DevExperience! Why should people register and attend the event?

People should come to my talk because I will share my experience in writing reliable Selenium tests, by using waits and by designing all the page interactions from a wait perspective, instead of applying a bunch of assertions. It is going to be a great event, with great speakers, so I am looking forward to meeting them.

Well, if you want to meet Corina in person, you know what to do: register here and come join the QA track!