Few days back I was talking to one of my students who had learnt software testing from me a couple of years ago. Recently few organizations have fired software testers who were in bench workforce. Lots of organizations are moving to new locations to reduce cost of operations. This makes people look out for another job available in the market. Since too many people are applying for the same job, there is tremendous competition. So having a better skill always made advantage.

My student had two months before she had to look for a new job. She asked me which skill she should learn in the next two months so that her chances of getting recruited by another firm increases.
This is the problem. We start preparing only when we are in problem. And that is difficult. I remember reading a story in a book. I am trying to reproduce the story here – In a monastery, the disciples were instructed to clean toilets as the first thing every morning.

One disciple asked the monk, “I understand discipline, but why do we clean the toilets every day? They don’t get very dirty.”
The monk replies, “How difficult is it to clean a clean toilet?”
It is not hard to clean a clean toilet. A dirty toilet is incredibly difficult to clean and incredibly unpleasant. But in life, if you get into the habit of doing mildly unpleasant things early, they don’t become massively unpleasant things later.

I tell this story to every student of mine to remind them that if they want to build up on a skill, they should do it every day and should start it early, not when you are about to be fired in next two months. Remember “How difficult is it to clean a clean toilet?”

This month we lost Ola Hyltén. This is a sad month. We are reprinting his choices of books this month in WoBo’s column. RIP Ola. We will miss you.

– Ajoy Kumar Singha

 

Ajoy Kumar SinghaAjoy's EditorialsFew days back I was talking to one of my students who had learnt software testing from me a couple of years ago. Recently few organizations have fired software testers who were in bench workforce. Lots of organizations are moving to new locations to reduce cost of operations. This...