Things I done did in May
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In a bid to keep track of the shenanigans I get up to I’m going to start doing summary posts at the end of the month.
So here’s what I got up to in May…
I passed my ISTQB Foundation Exam!
At the end of May I sat my first exam in 14 years and passed my International Software Testing Qualification Board Foundation Exam with a mark of 34/40.
Passing the exam means I can now claim to be a ISTQB certified tester at the foundation level, something that my employer asks every tester to gain within their first year if they don’t already have it.
Aside from meeting my objectives at work it validates me as a tester which for me is a big deal as it keeps the imposter syndrome at bay.
The ISTQB have many other certificates for more advanced levels which are now opened up to me such as Test Automation Engineer which I’m eyeing up as my next qualification to gain.
I gave my first talk at Leeds Ministry of Testing
Since moving over to test one of the main goals has been to try and get myself out there, my reasoning being that if people see me talking about the work I’m doing, they’ll challenge the points I’ve missed and I’ll learn from it.
I’ve covered my thoughts on how the talk went in my post — Ministry of Testing Leeds May Meetup — I did a talk
I’ll also be delivering the Kafka talk at LeedsJs in June where I’m hoping to have improved it based on the feedback I got from the Ministry of Testing crowd.
I saw Detective Pikachu
If you’re around my age (31) you’ll have been about 11/12 around the peak of the original Pokemon craze and most likely went to see the first Pokemon movie in the cinema on release.
If those conditions apply to you like they do for me then watching Detective Pikachu will just involve getting hit by wave upon wave of nostalgic feelings and suddenly remembering as a kid your own ideas of how the world of Pokemon and real life would have worked.
I absolutely loved the movie, it had the right mix of child and adult humour and I was really happy to see Pokemon from more than generation 1 on the screen.
The best scene for me has to be the conversation between Detective Pikachu and Psyduck in the car where Detective Pikachu reluctantly gives Psyduck a foot massage to keep it calm — This really sold the integration of Pokemon lore into the real life setting.
I played a lot of Pokemon Go (of course!)
May has been a big month for me in terms of Pokemon Go. Tickets for two of the big summer events were released and I managed to secure tickets for both which has meant some last minute journey planning but it’ll be worth it in the long run.
In June I’ll be going over to Chicago in the USA to attend the Go Fest there on the Saturday with two friends, it’ll be my first time in Chicago and my first Go Fest event so I’m looking forward to exploring the city as well as getting the full Go Fest experience.
Then in July the missus and myself just so happen to have a holiday in Dortmund booked that coincides with Go Fest Dortmund which we also have tickets for, it’s my girlfriend’s first proper Pokemon event so I’m hoping she’ll understand why I’ve been travelling to them with the Pokemon lot in Leeds for the past two years.
In the actual game itself I also hit a self-set milestone of getting gold on all the PvP medals which just leaves me with getting gold on the raiding medals and the Go Snapshot medal — I’m hoping in my July round up I’ll be able to say I’ve completed these.
I signed up to Monzo Plus
With the trips abroad on the horizon and the fact that my girlfriend is also covered on the policy I decided to sign up to Monzo Plus as they offer travel insurance for £4 a month (on top of the £3 fee for Monzo Plus).
There is also the added benefit of having a special Monzo card colour but in all honesty I’ve had so many Monzo cards at this point I’m happy to just stay with my most recent one cos of the effort involved in updating payment details everywhere (although there is functionality to do this automatically in Monzo Labs, so I might try that soon).
I’m looking forward to seeing how Monzo Plus grows in the next year, I have a lot of faith in Monzo’s ability to grow a successful product so I’m sure they’ll make it really useful and worth the money.
