Monday Vlogging - General Update (Vlog 2018-30)

Not much to talk about this week. Oldest two kids were at camp, I'm almost to my half-marathon distance, and things are ticking along.



Some interesting things in the pipes right now, but nothing I can talk about yet. Stay tuned!

Let's Play Star Wars: X-Wing Alliance - Battle 5, Mission 4 - Retreat!

It turns out that rescuing Emon in the last mission was only the beginning. The Imperials tracked our rescue to Dunari's casino, and now they're going to make Dunari pay for his insolence.



Fortunately, the Alliance has Dunari's back this time, and instead of a court-marshal for bringing an Imperial fleet down on everyone's heads, you're jumping back in an X-Wing to cover Dunari's retreat. Good luck!

A Professional Readme - An Aid For Joining New Teams

 I recently changed teams at work. Inspired by the manager.readme posts I've seen by Alan Page on The Tooth of the Weasel and other sites, I figured I'd do my own readme for my new team. It seems like a pretty useful thing for folks to do, especially when they're changing teams or jobs, so I figured I'd reproduce it here.

 

Hi, I’m Aaron

I’m looking forward to meeting and working with you. This document is not intended to override or replace anything official, but to give you an idea of how I think and work.

My Role as a Test Engineer

Test Engineer, Software Test Engineer, Software Development Engineer in Test, whatever you want to call it, they all mean the same thing. I like to think of my role as a developer whose only client is the rest of the team. That means that when you run into some process that you hate, and you have to do it multiple times, and it’s highly repetitive, it’s time to call in an Aaronstrike! I don’t believe that automation is the answer to every problem, but I do believe that it is incredibly useful in freeing up humans to do creative human things, while computers do the boring repetitive things.

Most often, I will be working closely with my Test Analyst(s) who identify test criteria, write test plans, and create test cases that I can turn into automation. However, I very much enjoy writing one-off tools as well. Sometimes I’m kind of like a dog with a big bone – give me a big problem to chew on, and I’m happy!

If you’re looking for some more specifics than that, here’s a few examples of past work that I’ve done.

• ·[WORK SPECIFIC ITEMS REDACTED] 
• There was also the time I had to learn Unity to develop the BVT for RoboRaid, and received a crash course in asynchronous programming.

I’m also a big proponent of SpecFlow for automated testing where possible.

Feedback

Is the tool I wrote missing something? Do you have an idea that could make it better? Do you feel I need to speak up more in meetings? Whatever it is, if you’ve got feedback or suggestions for me, please let me know, preferably in an IM, text, email, or phone call.

Schedule

I’m located in Sioux Falls, so I’m generally in the office from 8am – 5pm, Central time, with lunch between noon and 1pm. I do have five children, so sometimes I end up working from home. Usually that’s because my wife needs to be somewhere with one or more of the kids during work hours, but my four-year-old daughter is alarmingly persuasive when she gets up early, gets a sad puppy look in her big, blue eyes, and says “Daddy, I want you to work from home today so I can be in your office with you.”

I’m also a big proponent of Bullet Journaling, and translating Agile development principles into other areas of my life. This means I tend to work one task to completion, but jump from topic to topic as needed throughout the course of the day.

If you have an idea

Let me know! The best used tools that I’ve ever developed have all come from someone telling me they had a problem, and asking me if I could build a solution.

My interests (or The Fun Part With Pictures!)

Having a big family means I spend a lot of time at sporting events, and other kid-centric functions.

(Seriously, how do you turn down the opportunity to share an office with a princess?)

When I’m not doing child-related things though, I like to ride my motorcycle. Fun fact, if you happen to see one lonely motorcycle sitting in the office parking lot on a day with crummy weather, it’s probably mine.

 I also do a bit of writing as a side hobby, wherein I’ve written for a gaming website, an aviation website, a motorcycle enthusiast site, and occasionally manage to get a short story published somewhere.

Oh, and I run distances. Because I had to work this in somewhere.

Caveat

Take this document with a grain of salt: I wrote it! I have never had the experience of working with me, (although my oldest son seems to take after me to an alarming degree). If I’m your team’s TE and something seems off, bring it up to me over coffee or on Skype.

Let's Play Ash of Gods: Redemption - It's Not Easy Being Hopper

Chapter 4a - Hopper

We rejoin Hopper as he tries to chase down Thorn's party. Hopper's not having much luck, but he is learning more about the Reaping.

 

Why not win a copy of your own?
Follower Goal Giveaway! - Ash of Gods: Redemption

Around the Web 7/24 - WoW!!!

Over at Marooners' Rock, I've been doing a retrospective of sorts on my time playing World of Warcraft. Well, I've got the past and present ones done, the future, though, is going to require some further playing.

Azeroth Arrival - Part One - The Good Times 

Azeroth Arrival - Part Two - WoW at PAX East 2018

Oh, and did I mention I'm giving away a copy of Ash of Gods: Redemption?

Game Giveaway! Follower Goal Achieved! Vlog 2018-29

We did it! It took three years to hit seventy-five followers, but when the time finally came, we blew by that goal like it wasn't even there. On to 100!

Follower Goal Giveaway! - Ash of Gods: Redemption
 


I'd say I wonder what I"m going to do when I hit 100 followers, but I guess I already announced it in the video.

Let's Play Star Wars: X-Wing Alliance - B5M3 - Surprise Delivery

Another family business mission, this time to rescue Ace's brother Emon from Imperial imprisonment!



The mission isn't especially difficult, provided you can have some patience, and keep the Assault Gunboats away from the rescue ship.