Starting your first job can be challenging, exciting and intimidating all at the same time, however, there's something new and intriguing about being in the office, surrounded by your team every day and knowing that your contributions are meaningful to the company. This, as well as walking away from the office every afternoon having gained more knowledge and understanding for something you love and all the while, enjoying the projects you’ve been working on. This is how Livhuwani felt when she joined the DNS team on in March 2019 as a Software Analysis Intern, and how she still feels now, 5 months into her first job.
Although shy when growing up, she’s always had an urge to try new things and has grown into an extrovert who enjoys the outdoors, particularly activities such as hiking and travelling and going out with friends to explore new places. In her spare time you’ll find Livhuwani cooking and trying new recipes, or playing chess and computer games, therefore it didn’t come as a surprise when her brother recommended she study Computer Science.
This led her to complete her BSc in Computer Science at the University of Venda. During her time there she was active in Student IT Support and used the opportunity to learn more about Systems Administration.
As a Software Analyst intern her main duty is to test the software systems that are being produced and make sure they are fit to be deployed to everyday users, free from bugs and any other technical issues that may have arisen during the creation process. Livhuwani has learnt to adapt quickly to the fast-paced environment of DevOps.
She’s currently working on testing the WebRAR functions on RyCE, Panel 3 and Gateway which help users register their domain names quicker. Additionally, she tests the financial figures which will be implemented on both RyCE and Gateway. Along with these tasks, she works on testing ZACR OTE EPP password reset functions where users can reset their password and download documents as well as on 2FA (Factor Authentication) for security purposes on the portal.
WebRAR on GatewayEvery job has its challenges and she’s had her fair share of these during her internship. Livhuwani admits that being the only quality assurance tester in the company means more responsibilities, such as making sure that unit, integration and acceptance testing are all done. However, she sees this as an opportunity to learn and grow her testing skills and allows her to interact and engage with the technical team. Before you know it, ''I’ll be an expert at this!'', she comments with a smile.
Livhuwani finds the most fascinating aspects of software testing, apart from the usual stuff you hear of, such as critical bugs and determining what gets deployed and what doesn’t, to be that one can have a multi dimensional view of the product/s that he/she is working on.
As software is constantly evolving and advancing to become even more complex, testing too must grow and evolve to adapt to these changes. Therefore, for testers, new challenges emerge everyday, and new platforms, products and operating system advancements come into play for them to use.
Livhuwani has always been intrigued by gadgets and technology and her journey as a software analysis intern at DNS has certainly confirmed this. Learning never stops for her and so far she’s learnt manual testing on unit, integration, systems and acceptance testing and she’s looking forward to taking on automation testing in the future which will allow her to write and develop test cases easier. This will help to produce a good quality product in order to satisfy end-users and hence, live up to what we at DNS strive for.
In the future, Livhuwani intends to further her studies and obtain her honours degree, specialising in Automated Testing and possibly explore the field of Development too.
Posted by Kilana Chohan
