If you believed in the old saying “Jack of all trades, master of none” and thought you would rather be a master of one trade, Lijo Chacko wants you to rethink. And why wouldn’t he? Name a technology or a unique skill, and you’re likely to find it within Lijo’s arsenal of trades.
A Network Environment Manager with one of our major telecom clients, Lijo describes himself as a “Jack of all trades” who is motivated by his curiosity.
“Passion is what excites you, and the things that excite me are creating music, motorbikes/cars, sketching and learning something new,” says Lijo, who is currently learning to play the synthesizer.
As far as technical skills are concerned, Lijo has gathered experience in a diverse list of technologies throughout his career.
“My career has been associated with a blend of different technologies and expertise, namely IPT (Voice, CCNA), Telecom (Transmission), Wintel, Service Delivery, Project Transitions and so on,” he says.
However, his expertise lies in the areas of the incident, problem, change management and service delivery, or management.
“Service delivery is the area which I feel most connected to, as I feel, it helps to bring out the best in me” he says.
“Although I have been in IT, I never had a software background and only a little telecom experience before this,” Lijo says.
From VoIP to networking to service delivery and telecom, Lijo has shuffled across several technologies, before choosing Qualitest.
“Software testing is a new skill that I wanted to explore, and Qualitest being a
pure-play software quality assurance company, I foresaw ample opportunities to upskill and grow here,” says Lijo, who believes this new expertise will definitely widen the range of his varied skills.
At Qualitest, Lijo looks forward to enhancing his leadership and managerial skills, his primary responsibilities as a network environment manager being managing people, processes, and projects.
“My journey at Qualitest so far has been quite thrilling, with new technologies and business processes to learn every day”, Lijo says. “It is exciting to handle a team of software testers, which again is a first for me. Above all, the opportunity to handle multiple projects simultaneously is something that will definitely enhance my existing skill set.”
For students who aspire for a career in QA, Lijo says, “Master your programming languages well, and then you are ready to enjoy the life of being in a software testing company.”
“There can’t be a straight line, where your work and personal life never meets. I try to strike a balance by continuing to practice my hobbies even in my workplace whenever I get that opportunity, while ensuring that my work is not impacted,” he says.
