Charles Freestone

Alas, I still didn’t know what field I actually wanted to go into. The realisation came though when I found myself working on university coding projects as ‘the troubleshooter’. This saw me breaking down code and offering suggestions on how to make it work better.

People said I was so good that I should become a tester. To be honest, I had no idea such a job role even existed but the more I thought about it, the more I realised testing would be a great fit, especially as I’ve always loved helping people.

So, after uni, I started looking for testing opportunities and came across a series of blogs on the Scott Logic website that really resonated with me; not only in terms of the role itself but also with the company because, unlike other IT company blogs, it offered so much info about testing’s true nature.

After going through the interview process, I was thrilled to be hired and was enrolled on the Graduate Programme. We were all teamed up with a graduate ‘buddy’ and given individual projects to work on depending on our role. The great thing was all the graduates were located in the same open area of the office, so you could get feedback from someone who was coming to the end of the scheme or reach out for help from employees.

Then the pandemic hit and I was furloughed for a few months. Scott Logic didn’t ‘forget’ me, though; instead it supported me throughout, checking in on me as well as assisting me financially with home learning, which I didn’t expect and really appreciated. Once I was officially back on board, I started work on my first client project as a junior tester and was given a month’s crash course on what was expected of me. While I was nervous, it was clear Scott Logic trusted and believed in me and my abilities.

I learnt an awful lot really quickly with the team always on hand to coach me about different aspects of the job. And that takes us up to the present day; I am still working on the project and it feels great to know how much I have progressed, my confidence and voice growing all the time. While I don’t know what my future holds, what I do know is that I am in the right place for my career to thrive.