Meet The Clouders – Dog Lovers' Special

Welcome to our ‘Meet The Clouders’ series. Today, we’ll be talking to our Quality Assurance Engineer, Michał Guzowski.

In his professional life, Michał spends his time hunting for bugs and ensuring that the products that we deliver for clients are of the highest quality. But outside of work, he’s also a dog parent to Baklawa who was adopted from the Celestynów Animal Shelter.

Today we’ll be having a chat about both of these important roles.

So let’s start with Quality Assurance. It's a vital role that many end users are not aware of. Could you tell us a bit about what it involves?

I would say that in general the role of a QA Engineer is to make sure that the final product meets the standards expected by the client and their end users. To break this down further, it involves activities such as preparing and conducting product tests as well as setting quality standards. By identifying and addressing defects early in the development process, QA engineers can even help to reduce development costs. They can also suggest ways to improve the product.

What might a typical day look like for you?

Currently I’m working on a community-based crypto platform and marketplace. My typical tasks consist of testing new features, performing regression tests before releasing new versions as well documenting the important elements of the platform. This also includes meetings with other developers to work on a specific task as well a daily team meeting the whole teams status.

And how do you collaborate with other teams across the business?

As a QA Engineer, you work with many different team members. You need to liaise closely with the development team to understand how given features work and help the product owner understand the severity of given bugs. I would say that in a way you are a bridge between the developers and the end user. Moreover I think being a QA Engineer requires good soft skills, as very often you’re bearer of bad news. For example you have to be able to approach the development team and inform them that a feature that they have been working on for days is still not working properly. You should be able to deliver this news in a professional and objective way.

How does working at 10Clouds enable you to make time for your dog?

As 10Clouds is a remote first company, it offers great flexibility when it comes to looking after a pet.

Very often I feel that it’s my dog, Baclava, taking me out for a walk after lunch so I can have a quick break and relax.

Also I don’t have to worry that taking her to the vet midday will be an issue – I just have to let the team know in advance.

Would you tell us more specifically about your journey towards adopting Baclava?

I’ve always enjoyed the company of animals. When I was little, I begged my parents to get me a hamster, later a cat and then a dog. We ended up having a hamster and a cat, but sadly not a dog – so I had to wait for that until I moved out.

Initially I was thinking whether to buy a specific breed or adopt one. But I realized that the amount of dogs waiting for adoption is huge, so I knew this was the right choice for me.

I ended up adopting Baklava together with my girlfriend. She was still a puppy when we got her. Luckily, she was too young when we got her to have any major traumas, but the hard part was teaching her that our kitchen floor is not a toilet. I’d like to give a shout out to the Celestynów Animal Shelter where we got her from – you guys are doing a great job!

What advice would you give to anyone who is looking to adopt a pet?

To be honest at the beginning I was a little scared of responsibility. It felt a little like joining a project in a new field. You read the documentation but you are doing these procedures for the first time and you can have a lot of questions in your head.

One thing you can’t go wrong with is to surround the pet with love. If you do that you’ll be rewarded – I guarantee you that! But remember that animals speak a slightly different language to us, and sometimes they need a little bit of extra patience.

To make the communication part a little easier I highly recommend taking your dog to dog training. When Baklava was 5 months old we took her to a so-called ‘Dog kindergarten’ where we would learn some basic obedience commands like sit, stay or recall which make common walks more enjoyable and safer. On top of that there was a big emphasis on understanding the dog’s language to know how to interact with it.

The biggest animal shelter in Warsaw is Paluch. There’s also one in Józefów and of course Celestynów. But wherever you’re from, have a search for the nearest shelter to you online. You’ll be surprised by how many there are.

The adoption process is usually formalized and consists of a pre-adoption questionnaire about you and your living situation, and a walk with the chosen dog so you get to know each other before making a final decision. You’ll also have the opportunity to ask some important questions such as:

• What is the dog’s history?
• What is its temperament like?
• Has it been spayed or neutered?
• Does it have any medical conditions?
• What kind of training has it received?

But it’s also important to go with your intuition – often you’ll know from the very first meeting whether a particular dog is right for you. Good luck in finding your perfect companion!

Thank you Michał.

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