Xenia got her IT job with no previous work experience. Today she is testing software for a German insurance company
The IT tester junior job can currently do without previous work experience. Because you can learn everything you need in a company that offers such an opportunity, just like our Xenia. She joined the company while still in secondary school and has steadily progressed thanks to her personal passion for IT. Read more about working in IT without experience in msg life Slovakia
In the article you will learn:
- How long have you been with msg life Slovakia?
- What job were you recruited for?
- How did you get into IT?
- What attracted you to working at msg life Slovakia? Why did you choose us?
- How is working for us different from previous work experience?
- What does your normal working day look like?
- What is your job? What are you currently working on?
- Who all are you communicating with to solve any problems?
- What project are you working on right now?
- Do you have experience with other projects within msg life Slovakia as a tester?
- What apps do you use at work?
- What skills are important for your job as an IT tester?
- What do you like best about your IT job?
- Who are your colleagues? What qualities should your new colleague have to fit in?
- Which benefit do you like to use the most?
- Three words that come to mind when you hear msg life Slovakia?
How long have you been with msg life Slovakia?
I have been with msg life Slovakia since the beginning of 2022.
What job were you recruited for?
I started as an IT tester. At that time I didn’t know that I was going to be an automated and not a manual tester, which was really good news for me. The work on automation is much more interesting and complex.
How did you get into IT?
After high school I went to Germany for half a year to improve my language skills. Thanks to them I got a job at msg life Slovakia. I had no direct experience with IT before, other than what I had taught myself to create in a couple of programming languages. So I started as an IT tester with no experience.
What attracted you to working at msg life Slovakia? Why did you choose us?
The first thing that attracted me was the opportunity to work in IT without previous experience. Work without experience is not welcome everywhere. I was also impressed by the range and quality of company benefits, as well as the salary of the tester.
How is working for us different from previous work experience?
As this is my first permanent work experience, I can’t compare too much, but as a junior tester with no experience, I find it positive that if one wants to, one can learn a lot even in a technical field with no previous experience.
What does your normal working day look like?
I choose a test scenario from our database that I want to reproduce in an automated form. This means that in our internal tool for writing and running tests, I start writing an xml script corresponding to the instructions of the test scenario. So I write different commands and insert the necessary values. It’s not full-blown programming, but it’s far from it.
What is your job? What are you currently working on?
Testing. Tests are run at certain intervals. The point is that when a program is being developed, especially if a large team of people is working on it, it often happens that when new functionality is added, it can disrupt functionality, a process that previously worked without problems. This happens very often in larger projects. That’s why it makes sense, especially in long-term software development, to re-run such tests. Compared to manual testing, this speeds up the process a lot and ensures better bug detection. So we are currently working on this automation, writing scripts and optimizing the processes. In doing so, we often run into new problems, which I personally take as small challenges. This makes the work more varied and not monotonous. (Ed. note: In our company we are looking for a manual tester in addition to a automated tester – specialist.)
Who all are you communicating with to solve any problems?
Most of my communication is with people from a smaller team, I communicate mainly with Slovak colleagues, but when I sometimes need to solve something related to technical issues, regarding a project or development, I also turn to my German colleagues. They are also part of development, testing or management. An IT tester with no experience always welcomes help from colleagues. 
What project are you working on right now?
I’m working on the Debeka project. It is a software for employees of the insurance company that bears the same name. Debeka is therefore also the largest private health insurer in Germany, which until recently used solutions that ran on the very outdated KOBOL software. In spite of the great competition, they decided to create a new program in cooperation with msg life, which is certainly one of the company’s other achievements.
Do you have experience with other projects within msg life Slovakia as a tester?
I have only been working at msg life Slovakia for half a year, so not yet. However, I have also used advice, tips and tricks from colleagues working on other projects. Moreover, the Debeka project is still very new, so many things don’t work as well as on older projects. However, this is helped by very good communication within the team and the willingness of colleagues from other projects to help us.
What apps do you use at work?
I work mainly with SeTAK, or Selenium Test Automation Kit. It is an internal tool created by our developers. We write scripts and call tests in it. SeTak uses Eclipse, an integrated development environment that is used just as a space for writing xml files. Other programs include Git, Jira and Jenkins.
What skills are important for your job as an IT tester?
What is important is the willingness to continuously learn and improve your skills. Especially if someone is a tester with no experience. Independence is also an advantage, as is the ability to keep a cool head when things don’t go as planned. IT people know this very well. Technical knowledge is also useful.
What do you like best about your IT job?
What I love most is that I don’t see the work as monotonous. This is very important to me. Next, clearly the freedom that working remotely offers. For example, in May I went to the World Championships in Helsinki for two weeks and worked from there. Next, certainly colleagues.
Who are your colleagues? What qualities should your new colleague have to fit in?
Friendly, helpful and always accommodate requests. The whole team tries to be run in a very friendly spirit. We all chat, whether with Slovak or foreign colleagues. I don’t think it’s difficult to fit in. They all try to be very united, and as long as you share similar values, it’s not a problem for either an extrovert or an introvert. 
Which benefit do you like to use the most?
There are massages, shared lunches and breakfasts, team building events, which are organised really often, several times a month, and also two hours a week of German language courses.
Three words that come to mind when you hear msg life Slovakia?
Friendliness, growth, diversity.
- Java vs C# – comparison of programming languages (2024)
- Interview questions for the prospective employee and the employer with answers
- Generations X, Y, Z and Baby boomers in the workplace: how to work with them?
- Why soft skills are important
- Workplace bullying: bossing, mobbing. How to fight them?
- Programming is the future! Learn to code with programming courses online
