May Spartan of the Month: Manit Shah

Congratulations for being named Spartan of the month!

It was a great feeling to find out! I felt very happy to know my hard work is coming across and being recognised. It’s only made me want to work even harder to achieve even bigger goals.

 

You joined Sparta Global – completing your training and looking for your first role – in 2020 when the pandemic was impacting early careers. How did you come across the opportunity at Sparta?

I received a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and Software Engineering from Royal Holloway University of London.

 

Sparta actually contacted me about their Java Development roles, and I then applied. I read about what sort of training was offered and the opportunities, but I immediately decided it was the right path for me.

 

My group in training was one of the first to complete their Spartan training online - and it was great! I started off the journey with Sparta by doing a course in Java Development, but I then joined a bolt on course for Java SDET and then eventually DevOps too! I learned a lot.

 

 

How did you find your training? Did it prepare you for your client assignment?

The training I received was awesome! I loved every part of it. The trainers were exceptionally helpful and always took the time to talk one-on-one with trainees, just in case anything wasn’t clear or - in some cases - just to check in. The team projects we did during the training are what helped prepare me most for my current role. Learning about how to work and communicate with a team to deliver projects on time was a really invaluable experience.

 

Please tell us a little more about the role you are currently working in.

I am currently working as a manual and automation tester within a big four consulting firm. Recently, I have even had the opportunity to work alongside the lead tester every few weeks, for a full week, in performance testing and release testing. However, largely I assist across three to four different teams depending on the workload and deadlines.

 

Wow – it sounds very varied! What does a typical day look like?

My day to day usually involves a daily stand up where our team get together the discuss the events from the previous day (blockers and progress). We have a random nominated team member to lead these meetings and throw random questions at each other too!

We then dive into the work by picking up a ticket from our board or being assigned one if something has a higher priority. Tickets are different across the teams, so sometimes it can be manual testing, automation testing or both. During the weeks where I am leading performance or release testing, I work on team tickets simultaneously. Each testing requires a different tool or a framework to test, this usually includes Jenkins, IntelliJ, Gatify, AWS etc. It’s busy!

 

How have you found your first tech role?

I am absolutely loving my first role as I have been given the opportunity to be exposed to a variety of different tasks, people, and teams. It was all a bit overwhelming at first, but once I got the hang of it, there hasn’t been anything to stop me from reaching my goals! Everyone I work with has been very supportive and patient. They are always there to help me out of a tough situation and upskill me in different skills depending on the task at hand.

 

What are you looking forward to doing in your new role?

I am very excited to learn new skills and gain new knowledge in performance testing as I have joined the select few testers to be doing this type of testing!

 

Do you feel you now have the passion and skill to carve a long-serving career in technology?

Yes! With all the things I get to experience on a daily basis, and continuously finding out there is a lot more I can do to better myself in every way, I am excited to be on this journey in tech.  

 

Would you recommend Sparta to other graduates and if so – why?

I would most definitely recommend Sparta to other graduates because the way the training has been designed to get the most of each trainee personally, just cannot be matched elsewhere.