I am Madalina, I am a Tester, I am FDM

My name is Madalina Avram and I am a Software Test Analyst at Smith & Williamson in Glasgow. I’m originally from Romania but moved to the UK for university.

I graduated in 2015 with a MA Computing from the University of Aberdeen.  While nearing the end of my degree I had little idea of what to expect after graduation. I think what really made me join FDM was the number of possibilities and clients you have access to, which would be virtually impossible to join just as a graduate with no real-life experience. The programme offered a number of strong career paths relevant to my background and introduced me to the Testing career which I honestly didn’t even know was a plausible career choice.

I trained at the Glasgow Academy in Software Testing. The training period was a very good introduction into the professional lifestyle and gave me confidence in my technical skills.

I was initially placed as a Test Analyst for a year at large financial organisation in Leeds. During this time I was involved in testing Mortgages, Loans & Savings applications with a focus on making sure that financial regulations were well implemented.

Having completed my first placement I have been working on several projects here in the Academy with the Trainees as well as delving into a bit of Business Intelligence training.

I am soon to start as a Software Test Analyst for an investment and accountancy company here in Glasgow – Smith & Williamson. Similar to my previous placement, I will mainly be focusing on making sure that financial legislation is correctly implemented.

I am very excited to start my placement for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I will get a chance to consolidate my financial experience in an investment environment, rather than mortgages and loans. Secondly, I will only be working with two other FDM Consultants, as opposed to the 40+ community of FDMers we had on site at the building society; it’s very exciting to know that we will be playing a very important role of consolidating FDM’s image on site.

My favourite part about being a Tester is the fact that it is a perfect combination of technical knowledge and business communication. In my experience so far, my testing team and I were vital for the good communication between the business side of a project and the software developing process. It’s an amazing feeling to know once a project is finished, you facilitated every step of it.

I would absolutely recommend FDM to others – the fact that just after a year after graduating I am already on track for a promising career is an amazing feeling.

Are you looking to kick-start your career in tech? Apply to our award-winning graduate programme today.

Updated 30 May, 2017