Aries Systems Corporation

Tell us a little about yourself – how long have you been working for Aries? What did you do before joining Aries?

Prior to joining Aries in March 2021, I spent time in the financial, media, and e-commerce industries as a software quality engineer. I enjoy my career working as Quality Engineer and eagerly seek out any new tool or knowledge to help me improve my skill set. I have recently joined a Java Spring Boot accelerated training program to help me upskill in my career, while also keeping myself up to date with online learning.

How have your previous roles helped you in your current position?

My previous roles in automating testing, including an array of bug fixes with my knowledge in Java and C# with Selenium, was a positive plus in helping me get in the loop at Aries as quickly as possible.

Tell me about your department and the people you work most closely with.

Under the Engineering department here at Aries, I am a team member of the Code Warriors development squad. As we follow the Agile ceremonies, our squad collaborates efficiently and effectively through during daily stand-ups, sprint reviews, and through emails/Slack messages. Everyone is approachable and we can reach out whenever we need assistance, have any questions, or need to raise a blocker that requires attention from another team member. Our squad is involved in a lot of different areas and projects within Aries, but most recently we are primarily focused on developing the Inclusionary Data Collection (IDC) project and migrating the mailing system and FTP system into the cloud using SES and SFTP.

How do you collaborate with other departments within Aries?

Our squad meets with the Aries Project Management team when needed to pass down information and share knowledge of new features and enhancements on the product that meet customer needs.

Describe your typical workday.

My day-to-day routine varies depending on sprint and release cycles. My primary focus is on what our squad needs to get done during the sprint. I spend majority of my time writing test cases for the new features and testing those features during the sprint cycle. I am also involved in release and regression testing.

What do you most enjoy about your job? What do you enjoy most about working for Aries?

What I enjoy most about my job is the analytical thinking that I have acquired from automating bug fixes and new features. I really enjoy brainstorming on different scenarios – positive and negative ones.

I enjoy the environment and the people that I work with. Everyone in my squad and within Aries is very helpful when you go to them with questions. I enjoy working in an Agile environment and the transition to the AWS cloud led to a lot of improvements and lessons learned along the way – making it an experience to remember in my career. I have been very lucky with my team members at Aries because I am surrounded by very knowledgeable people.

What are you currently reading, listening to, or watching?

I am currently reading Atomic Habits. I enjoy listening to podcasts on self-development and technology, and lately I have been watching sports and Formula I documentaries on Netflix. 

Tell me about some of your hobbies/interests outside of work.

My main hobby outside of work is cycling. I like going on long walks listening to podcasts and I enjoy a good hike with a group of friends. I have always enjoyed photography, and my newest hobby is cooking. I’ve been enjoying learning to re-creating recipes from scratch.