Tech Talks With Aparna A Gopalakrishnan

The digital landscape is expanding and that too at a very quick pace. Especially, the need for catering the ever-growing requirements of the tech users have made it extremely important to create new technologies or amend the existing solutions with necessary updates.  

Though the growth in demand has been matched with the rapid development empowered through AI and ML solutions, the only thing that has restricted IT solution providers is the limited approach towards testing. And even if it somehow captured the attention of tech giants, the limited access to resources and process workflow has made it a tough subject to adopt.  

Here comes the role of brands like BugRaptors! 

We at BugRaptors constantly aim at introducing Quality Assurance Services to digital players, giving them a unique perspective on software testing. The process involves new and effective testing practices, the use of advanced test automation frameworks, plus constantly communicating with the testing community to address the existing and upcoming challenges.  

Taking forward the approach, our in-house expert, Sandeep Vashisht, VP, Quality Assurance, interacted with Aparna A Gopalakrishnan. Aparna is a QE Consultant, a Trainer, a Speaker, a Blogger, and a Career Coach.  

Aparna is presently working as a Senior QA Engineer at Trainline, London, United Kingdom. She has experience of more than 9 years, and holds proven expertise as a Solutions Consultant with a demonstrated history of working in the information technology and services industry. She is a highly skilled testing expert having proficiency in Test Automation, Software Development, Java, NodeJs, Requirements Analysis, PL/SQL, and BDD tools such as Jbehave, Cucumber, etc. Above all, she is a strong consulting professional in Test Automation and BDD with a Master's degree focused in Software Engineering from BITS Pilani.  

During the interview, Aparna shared a thorough vision of hers, being a woman in tech while talking about everything associated with QA automation, right from tools to the future of QA automation.  

With all that profile detail, let us quickly dive into the interview to check what insights are hidden in the interview.  

Sandeep: What is it like to be a woman in tech? 

Aparna: I feel really proud to be a woman in tech. In the past, during my early years of career, I never really bothered about the gender differences. But I do remember some of the incidents where I felt uncomfortable in some of the situations where people use certain words or pass biased comments without thinking women are also part of that group.  

From then to now, things have changed and I can really see a clear conscious effort at the workplace to have inclusion. And I strongly believe that going forward, everything will be a lot better and there will be a time when we don't differentiate “men” or “women” in tech but just “people” in tech. 

Sandeep: What’s the biggest challenge you’re facing in your role right now and how are you tackling it? 

Aparna: In most parts of my career, my role has been as a consultant. So that involved working with different people/teams most of the time. Nothing is constant in such roles. So, communication and collaboration are very important.  

As much as it is important, it is also challenging. It is an everyday challenge.  I believe there is no shortcut to it. There will be setbacks and mind blocks. But whatever the situation, having an attitude to “get things done” would help to overcome those. It is not hard as we say, but I believe that's what we have to train ourselves - no matter how/what the situation is, just get things done. 

Sandeep: What are the primary features of a good automation tool? 

Aparna: I believe there is no good or bad tool. It's all up to our use cases and business demands. 

Having said that, we cannot use every tool for every purpose. The tool is needed to address a problem. So, I would first understand the problem - what problem are we going to solve? 

Then assess the tools based on certain parameters. Some of the parameters I would use for comparison are: 

• Does the tool solve the problem? 

• Tech stack 

• How efficient the tool is (speed, performance, effort, user/dev experience, etc. can be measured). 

• Cost, maintenance, etc. 

These parameters change based on the problem that we are trying to solve. 

Sandeep: Which scenario is suitable for automation? 

Aparna: It depends. I do not think it is possible to define that. It really depends on the use cases. 

Sandeep: Can you share the ways to improve your test automation? 

Aparna: Most common challenge in automation is data and environment stability issues. So having an approach to fix data problems (mocking the data) is the foundation of the stable and reliable automation scripts. 

Sandeep: What does the future hold for QA automation? 

Aparna: In my opinion, QA Automation is the step toward continuous quality culture. Especially, when we talk about the era of evolution and growth, QA Automation has the potential to bring a change that will be quicker and more efficient.  

Besides, I believe QA Automation exercised with effective use of technologies like AI, ML, and Data-driven DevOps will make way for the advancement of keyword-driven and NLP frameworks. Therefore, the future of QA Automation is likely to call for more prominent test suite optimization and strengthened RTM (Requirements Traceability Matrix).  

Sandeep: What's the best way for readers to reach out or learn more about you? 

Aparna: I am reachable on Linkedin (https://www.linkedin.com/in/aparna-a-gopalakrishnan-8088765a/), and twitter (@aparna2019) 

 
For more such interesting updates and insights on Quality assurance & software testing, stay connected with us.  

And just in case you need any assistance or QA consulting services, reach us through info@bugraptors.com