My name is Rebecca Sergio, and I have been a Quality Engineer of some type since the 80’s. I am a CSQE, CMQ/OE and have been a member of ASQ for over 25 years. My degree is in Business Administration, with a concentration in computer science. I am currently consulting as a Systems Analyst. I have had many different titles over the years including Business Analyst, Software Test Engineer, Quality Analyst and System Analyst. Two of my natural talents include analytical skills and always being able to figure things out. While retirement is a possibility, AI has my interest.
I have been asked repeatedly to write this stuff down. I usually roll my eyes, but at a recent ANSI conference, I realized that my experience can help the next generation. My story is not a traditional story of four years in college and off to a great career. I fell into quality. My story is a story of a woman navigating her way into a great career.
My story starts in high school. My high school had two paths to follow. A “college path” and a “business path” I was officially on the “college path”, but every elective or free period I took a few business classes. My Aunt Alice, worked in Insurance in Hartford CT, told me that every woman had to take a typing test during their interview. Typewriters, ancient machines before the PC arrived. I took two years of typing and could type sixty works a minute without error. I learned that making errors leads to re-typing a page.
Lesson Learned - Accuracy counts!
This typing skill has allowed me to sit in meetings to take notes and learn! As a consultant at a new company, I offer to take notes during meetings. While some meetings are recorded, time is needed to go through a recording. I can key, new word for type, as fast as people can talk. A great method of learning about a company’s business.
Lesson Learned - don’t be afraid to use what you know in different areas.
My first professional job was at an insurance company in Hartford. I had a friend that new somebody that left the “Region” department and knew that they had two openings. Yes, I was given a typing test as part of my interview. I landed my first job in the region. The department had only one male, for a while, and then he took another position.
Lesson Learned - Networking is key!
The region was set up into three sections, small policies – A, medium policies – B, and large policies – C. I was put into section B quickly because of my typing skills. The computer system, mainframe, was not designed correctly. Many documents were different based on the region, determined by zip code. That little fact was not part of the design, and many documents had to be typed using the computer-generated document as reference and inserting the correct language.
Lesson Learned – when designing a computer system, talk to the individuals doing the work. They know about these differences.
When I was looking for that first job, working in the region was not on my list. There was a recession going on and I was lucky to have a job. If you asked me at that time, I would have told you finance or actuarial. I was great in my computer classes, but my ex was a programmer and joining the same field would have added stress in the relationship. Did I mention he is my Ex? My time in the region did give me some guidance. It was here that I got my break into software testing.
The manager of the region was a professor at a local college and decided to teach anybody willing at the region, and other departments rating. I eagerly attended the class, noticing that I was one of two women in the class. The only person from the region. Once a week, I left my typewriter and attended rating class for six weeks. I “aced” the class.
Lesson Learned – don’t be afraid to stand out, even if you are a minority in the room. Show them what you can bring to the table. Share your knowledge and help others get to where they want to go.
The manager had a special project testing a reinsurance automation computer system. The project was named RATS – Reinsurance Automation Team System. I learned to work with developers and over the years I have been called a developer whisperer. I have been able to move to different departments building a team mentality with a developer. Let’s create a great product together. It was a developer, formerly called programmers, who first introduced me to a test plan. He introduced me to the concept of test cases.
Lesson Learned – Work and learn from everybody.