Talent Tuesday: Irfan Rafik Mattikop - QA Engineer

Emerging from the fallacies of the pandemic, we at Skuad are welcoming new talent with open arms! To kickstart our weekly welcome of fresh recruits, we have super enthusiastic and consistently high energy Irfan Rafik Mattikop. A QA savvy with seven years of experience, Irfan shares his first impression about us!

What made you choose to work at Skuad?

So I got to know about Skuad via LinkedIn. A remote hiring recruiter guided me through the whole process, and here I am now! What excited me about this opportunity was the remote working model. All of us world over got pushed to remote working dynamics because of the pandemic, but I like it so much that I have decided to become a remote worker for years to come. I was more productive (and saved some overhead expenses, Phew!). So getting to work remotely full-time is a dream come true. To add to this excitement, Skuad offered me work in the mobile application development domain, which is something I haven’t done before. As an advocate of innovative and challenging work, this new opportunity, mixed with the thrill of working with a startup (again, a first for me), drew me to Skuad.

How do you like to spend time outside work?

So I am someone who constantly needs a task at hand. I am always excited about new and challenging things, so I spend my time gaining tech knowledge or solving HackerEarth challenges. I aspire to be a go-to person for all my peers when it comes to technology hurdles. I try to read and learn about new technologies and developments in the tech domain in my spare time. During my tenure at Skuad, I wish to learn more about Java, DevOps, Big Data, Machine Learning, etc. But of course, apart from expanding my knowledge pool, I take an interest in traveling, socializing, and going to my second home: my gym!

Who is a source of inspiration for you? In this light, how would you want the world to remember you?

There are two! Ratan Tata, an Indian industrialist & philanthropist, known for his contributions to the automobile and the IT industry. He is a down-to-earth personality who stood "steel" with the nation in good and bad times. The other is Mark Zuckerberg. I adore him for his innovative ideas and the multi-tech approach to app upgrades and refinement that he has brought.

For the second question, umm, I would want to be remembered for my professionalism, kindness, and honesty. Oh, and I also want to contribute something big and meaningful to the world so that years down the line, people idolize me like I idolize the personalities mentioned above.

What was your first impression of Skuad? How is your team treating you so far?

As I mentioned before, this is my first time working with a remote development team. It is also my first experience in a startup. My first impression was that the team here is very helpful. The administration so far has tried its best to make me comfortable even in a remote setup, which I appreciate. So far, I being introduced to new opportunities and technologies each day.

Name one professional trait you are proud of?

Am I allowed to brag? Okay, my previous managers have always dealt with a zealous Irfan, the one who is an exceptional bug hunter and is a pro at dealing with product deadlines. Be it a business giant Tech Mahindra, GS Lab, Syntel Inc., "Pat on Back" awards have always traveled home with me!

How do you see yourself in the future?

Umm…am I still stuck in some interview round of Skuad! JK

If there ever exists a programming language to code our future, I would write a clean code which would go as follows:

{
Profession= Senior Architect;
System.output("Yay! You are one");
}

My future self is probably not a QA Automation Engineer. I have literally spent 45379231+ hours in complex testing methodologies so far. While I know I can pull it off, I want to expand my horizons. I have a strong inclination for DevOps Engineering, and I am constantly striving to ace the same. The aim is to get my hands on every technology to deliver robust solutions to the most demanding businesses in the future.

Welcome aboard, Irfan!

Thanks for choosing to be part of Skuad. We are sure that a talented, enthusiastic workaholic AKA anti-Netflix employee like you, will be a great asset to us (wink)! Skuad can't wait to celebrate their next big success with you. Cheers!