Test Engineer Review

I work as a test engineer in a product team of 8 people. I help my team with day-to-day testing tasks and get involved in mobbing/pairing sessions with developers. I advocate for the importance of the testing and quality, meet with other teams to gain more experience and bring it back to my own team.

I was totally new to testing when I started my apprenticeship. It was a great career shift for me and I had to learn a lot of new skills. I participated in a number of different courses organised by the apprenticeship provider and by the company. Booking.com has a wide range of learning tools available for everyone and they work hard to provide employees with an opportunity for self-development.

This program gave me an opportunity to start a brand new career in engineering that I've always wanted. Booking.com lifted it to another level and gave me a chance to grow both as a professional and as a person. My team is very supportive and it makes my apprenticeship journey even more enjoyable.

Company does everything they can to make sure that we have all the support we need. However, working with an apprenticeship provider sometimes can be challenging as they have many clients and might not be able to be so attentive. Communication plays a big part in the apprenticeship program and it's important that it is clear and consistent.

Company is very supportive of the apprentices. They assign every apprentice a mentor that works in the same team and is always there to help with day-to-day tasks. The apprenticeship manager in Booking.com is an absolute star helping us with any apprenticeship related matters and making sure we are doing well in our teams.

We have been assigned a development coach that comes every month to catch up on our progress. They have provided us with training for our qualification exams and functional skills exams. However, sometimes we would experience a delay in communication and the apprenticeship manager had to get involved to speed things up.

A strong foundation in testing that we got through the training provider and by taking the qualification exam definitely helps with my day-to-day work. It helps to see a bigger picture and understand how the whole product development process works. It also helps to understand the role of a tester in an agile team.

Booking.com has a very wide range of the activities that the employees can get involved during and after work. There is a volunteering program where every employee can spend a day with any volunteering program. The company also supports employees hosting meetups and giving talks inside and outside the company. There is a choir, football league, free drinks/pizza/cake days etc.

Yes

Booking.com is not trying to be diverse, they are and they absolutely embrace it! They give everyone an equal opportunity to shine and develop themselves to be the best in both - as a person and as a professional. There is a reason why they already have more than 100 apprentices and this number keeps growing.

Be yourself and show what you can bring to the company. Make sure to do your research about the company and the programme. Come with a smile and a good attitude.