Quality assurance at maxcluster

My name is Udo, I am 66 years old, married and have a grown-up child. I am originally from Lower Saxony, but I moved to Paderborn when I was 30 and have stayed here ever since.

Maybe in preparation for retirement, I started getting involved in politics a while back. I didn't just want to complain, I wanted to get involved, to roll up my sleeves and actively change things. That's why I consciously decided against joining an established party, because I was concerned that I would have to water down my convictions too much as a result of the compromises that have to be made there. Politically, I particularly like the European idea, as I have been abroad a lot myself – but in my opinion, there is a lot that can be done better in implementing the “European idea”. To quote Humboldt: “The most dangerous of all world views is the world view of those who have never looked at the world.”

Despite my commitment, you won't see me in the front row at campaign events or citizen information events. I don't like to impose myself and since I'm rather introverted, I don't actively approach passers-by either. But I have a lot of patience to explain and discuss information in detail in a direct conversation.

Patience is certainly one of my strengths and also helps me in my passion for learning. For example, before maxcluster I had no contact with web shops or hosting, and Node.js and Javascript were not yet on my skill list. I have acquired all of this in the last few months in order to be able to support the team even better.

As a counterbalance to so much theory, I have been playing table tennis in a club for many years. And since I don't shy away from responsibility there either, I am team captain and also active in the players' council.

Playing is also the keyword for another hobby of mine: we love playing board and card games with friends. Our current favorite is Paleo, a cooperative board game that takes players back to the Stone Age and lets them fight together as a tribe for survival.

How did you come to maxcluster?

It was actually pure coincidence. I was already in semi-retirement at my previous employer, but I still had some time before my official retirement date. However, this also means that you have to register as unemployed and the employment agency asks you to apply for possible jobs. One of them was “Quality Assurance” at maxcluster. And what can I say? Both the telephone interview with Julia (HR manager at maxcluster) and the subsequent conversation with her and Patrick, the head of technology, went so well that I said “It's a match”.

maxcluster recognized quite early on that quality assurance is important in an IT company. “Quite early” because companies usually only recognize this importance when the number of employees reaches triple digits. If there is no quality assurance, at some point far too much time is invested in solving bugs and this time can no longer be put into developing new features. Of course, it takes a while to implement a sustainable and functioning quality assurance system, so it's all the better that its necessity was an early topic at maxcluster.

Since I support this importance and I like it here so much, retirement – although now possible – is just no longer an issue for me.

What is special about your work?

The special thing is that I do something at maxcluster that no one has done before. As mentioned above, however, this is quite normal for a start-up, because quality assurance usually only becomes relevant as the number of employees increases.

So I'm introducing processes that have never existed before and that should be beneficial for everyone once they're up and running. Personally, I'm annoyed by mistakes and I always strive for perfection, but of course I have to make sure that the processes are applicable and optimal for everyone. To do this, I create concepts and coordinate them with Patrick, as some of my ideas will significantly impact our daily work. Some people may find it strange that I'm working on this alone and don't have a “sparring partner”, but I'm already familiar with quality assurance from my previous job, and the goal of creating transparency is independent of the company in which it is introduced.

Despite this fairly self-sufficient position, I see myself as part of the development team and try to support it in other areas as well.

What has been the most exciting project so far?

We have just introduced a tool for static code analysis, and we are currently in a phase where we are “tightening the reins”.

The goal is to reduce the number of errors. In addition, we will establish a continuous improvement process. To do this, test cases are created and continuously checked to see if these tests find errors. A feature coverage of 100% and a defect leakage of 0% would be desirable when using it – that's wishful thinking, of course, because the pendulum always swings in one direction or the other, but the course should be clear to everyone.

What would your perfect working day look like?

I usually arrive at around 8:00 a.m. and get my gluten-free roll from our restaurant on my way to the office on the 4th floor. With coffee and rolls, I then look at open tickets that I could take on. Bugs have priority, although I also do a lot of refactoring at the moment.

But at the moment there are not enough tickets for my liking, as I always like to have something to do. So I usually approach the lead developers directly to see how I can support them. I just love programming and it's a real sense of achievement when you develop a feature that gets used. Of course, I don't get bored just processing a few tickets, because the quality assurance is gradually increasing and requires more time.

What I particularly appreciate is the exchange with other employees. I enjoy coming to the office and am not a fan of home office. Even though we have the option of working from home, I only go there for work if I have to.

How does it feel to be part of the maxcluster team?

I can answer that very briefly: it feels very good. I think we have an excellent working atmosphere and I really enjoy working here.

How satisfied are you with the technology and equipment?

Again, I can't really say much more than that everything is fine and there's nothing to complain about. In fact, my home office looks almost exactly like the office here – including the Linux computer, which is a must. I think that says it all 🙂.

What can't you do without anymore?

In addition to the points already mentioned, I also appreciate the great catering and the sports courses offered. With 32 hours spent mainly sitting at the computer, the back fitness course is really a good thing.

And even if it may sound a little weird, I actually want to end my working life here at maxcluster – and maybe even continue to support it in retirement.

Published on 11/28/2024 | Quality Assurance Interview | NM