g33klady

2013 Year in Review

by Hilary

Last year I wrote up a post with my 2013 goals and resolutions. I wanted to review what I had actually done, so here we are!
Achieve a better work/life balance. This will be the most difficult of all of my goals…

  • With my new job, I think I’ve gotten this a bit more under control. It’s easy for me to work 50+ hour weeks, but I try to keep myself to 45 hours when it’s not busy time

Attend CAST, KalamazooX, IT in the D, and maybe some other conferences too

  • I attended KalamazooX on the initial list. I also went to StarWest, which wasn’t even on my radar before because it was something I couldn’t personally afford. Thanks to my new job this year, I got to go!

Submit a talk to a conference and/or user group

  • Done! 3 or 4 times, even!

Actually do above talk

  • I did the lightning talk version at the Great Lakes Area .NET User Group. I was also accepted to do the full version of the talk at QA or the Highway in February 2014 😀 I also did a series of 99 second talks on the same topic (dev vs. qa) for Software Testing Club (note – they’re horrible!)

Submit articles to QA publication

  • I was published! In the 10th issue of The Testing Planet I wrote about Leadership (actually The 10 Habits of a Highly Ineffective Leader, which pulls from my experience over the years)

Attend at least one GiveCamp; I didn’t attend any this year and I’m jonesing for it!

  • Was on the planning committee and attended the Ann Arbor GiveCamp. Huzzah!

Assist in coordination of and/or attend Detroit GiveCamp

  • I was part of this, but the whole thing got sidetracked :/

Seek out new opportunities…

  • I got a new job! At Quicken Loans! Which I LOVE!

Finally write that Android app I’ve been thinking about for a while

  • Nope, didn’t happen

Write more code in general. Ruby, Java, C, and of course my favorite, Perl.

  • A bit, in C# with Coded UI tests. And VBScript for QTP (blech)

Continue to be involved in the QA community

  • Yeah, for the most part, this is happening 😛

Hire some people that actually know WTF they’re doing

  • I left there. I hope they have good QA 😛

Actually go to the gym I have a membership for >.<

  • Yeah, I went like a few times. Still paying for it, still don’t go *shrug*

Be a better leader

  • Constant work in progress on this one

 

So 2013 has treated me pretty well in my professional career. I look forward to speaking at QA or the Highway and whatever else this year throws my way!