Welcome to the next feature of our Leaders in Tech editorial series. Speaking to leaders in the industry to capture their stories, career highs and lows, their trials and successes, their current company and their role, most recent projects, advice to others, and the individuals who they most look up to in the industry.
Today, we talked to Mohamed Touré, Test Leader at Bouygues Telecom, to find out more about why he joined the tech industry, what his role entails, what are the challenges he faces, and his advice to aspiring engineers and testers.
What is your current role and responsibilities?
I am the Test leader at Bouygues Telecom company.
What inspired you to get involved in the IT industry?
Since my teenage years, I have always been passionate about the field of software. I looked for my way for a long time before falling into the world of software testing.
Can you tell me about your journey and how you got where you are now?
I did a master’s degree in software development. I then did software development internships and during these internships, I discovered the test automation world. It made me want to do a software quality master’s degree. After that, I held positions as a test engineer before becoming a test leader about 3 years ago.
Who do you look up to for inspiration or mentorship?
I follow some people who talk a lot about test automation or tests strategies like Angie Jones or Marc Hage Chahine.
How do you keep your team motivated despite conflicts and obstacles?
We have a chance to work in the IT world where you can always build something to make your work easier. I sometimes find myself saying that without challenges our work would be boring.
What are your current goals?
My current goal is to help another team improve their test automation strategy.
What are you the proudest of in your career so far?
There are many. I often feel proud when I make a beginner in the testing world discover and enjoy test automation.
What has been your greatest challenge?
Making one of my old companies believing in the value of test automation.
What is the favorite part of your job?
Finding a way to automate complex manual test processes.
What have you learned from your experience so far?
You can always learn new things. Even an internship can teach you new things.
Do you have a memorable story or an anecdote from your experience you’d like to tell?
We had tests running on continuous integration every night. Many of these tests failed and we knew the reason for these failures. When we had finished validating our version we did not look at our CI since we would assume that the results were not reliable. We have therefore given our validation for a go in production. To our surprise, some of these tests that we had not looked at because we considered them unreliable had actually detected a serious anomaly, which we sent into production.
The moral of the story, never give your go for production if you have failed tests. Otherwise, make 100% sure that the failed tests that you ignore will not backfire on you.
Finally, do you have any advice for aspiring engineers and testers who want to grow in the tech industry?
If you work in software testing, you should always ask yourself what can I do better, even if you think your way of doing things is great.