Selena Salustri – Dedicated, passionate, cheerful and has ingenious ideas!
June 22, 2017
Selena, please tell us how did you join OTGS.
I was doing some work for a client and my boyfriend suggested using WPML for translations. I was very new to WordPress and so I decided to buy WPML. Everyone said it was the best so I went for it. Sometime after I purchased the plugin, I received an email that OnTheGoSystems was looking for new people to join the company. As at that time I was searching for a real job, I decided to try and I applied for the positions of supporter and tester. Laura told me they were not looking for supporters but they did need testers. I then met Andrea Sciamanna, my interviewer. I was inexperienced and although I found the interview challenging, it was not difficult. I must admit though that I was extremely anxious especially for the theory and practical aspects of testing. I finally joined OTGS in December 2014.
You have been with OTGS for quite a while, what are you working on now?
As you have gathered, my main task is testing. This involves not only testing and checking the functionalities of new/old implementations after every update, but it also includes investigating reported problems and escalating the issues properly whenever this is needed.
Just recently, I’ve started to handle the setup of a testing site in a multisite environment and quick local set-up, whenever I am asked to. So I’m also supporting other teams by providing them with sites access to the testing environment.
Together with my testing tasks, I maintain an internal site with information about the roles and role assignments of each employee of the OnTheGoSystems family. This site needs to be up to date as our employees may like to apply for new role assignments as they become available.
A few months ago, I temporarily helped with the training of Supporters. I was, in fact, giving my contribution by explaining the specific functionalities of our system that were little known or which were not clear enough. Now we have all this readily available in our documentation. This task was really and out of the ordinary for me and I really enjoyed doing it.
In your opinion, what quality in your personality is absolutely necessary to be successful at your job?
After 2 years and a half covering the testing position, I have come to understand that the key is ‘organization’. I must admit that being organized is something that often escapes me!
Being organized is both mental and practical. When the issue is clear in the mind the next steps follow easily. Actually, this helps when communicating with other teams to escalate issues faster and avoid wasting time. Trying to be practically organized helps to me to work smoothly with others and reduces stress. It shows at each stage of the tests. At times there are failures and I need to start over again. But I am willing to learn. Of course, my university studies have helped me understand and handle more efficiently the tasks I have been given, but I want to say that I’m learning much more as I work daily with amazing and talented people.
Which teams and employees do you work closely with?
I’m working daily with Ana, our System Team Leader, Abdallah and, mostly, with Emerson along with Kasia from the Front-End team. Because of my testing position and being part of the Systems Team, I am in contact with several teams. During the last release, I worked closely with the Toolset Team, and right now I’m working with the Marketing Team for our Reference sites and Training sites. In addition, for the management of the internal Role site, I’m in contact with every team.
How do you manage to work with people who live in a different time zone?
This is something that I really like doing!
It’s important that when I organize my day I focus on the time-zone of my co-workers. For example:
I am mostly in contact with Emerson from the Philippines so I need to combine my tests with his work. Basically, I try to cover the most urgent things in my morning (his afternoon), and I catch up with the tests in my afternoon (his evening) so that any new issue that I report can be handled in his morning (my evening/night). Hopefully, most of the cases will be ready for tests the following day, on my next morning. :D
How do you communicate?
All communications take place by email, Skype and Slack. Meetings are conducted on Hangouts or Skype group call (but mainly on Hangouts).
Funnily enough, and this is in very sporadic cases, I receive calls also with Whatsapp. In fact, WhatsApp is very practical for direct and quick calls when I or the other party, are not in front of the PC. There is no extra charge on the call and everyone has WhatsApp. ;)
What happens if there is a power cut?
Power cuts are notorious for occurring at the worst times! When I experience a power cut, I’m already prepared to work with my laptop using my smartphone or a TP-Link.
Tell us about your team – do you get along well? Are there occasions when there are misunderstandings or personality clashes? How do you handle such situations?
In our team, we have a special key person who handles high-stress situations without ‘stress’. Ana is the one who steps in before a situation degenerates. From my point of view, this helps all of us to maintain a very positive and fresh approach to work. Of course, we do sometimes have a few misunderstandings but when this happens, Ana recognizes the potential jeopardy before we do and moderates the situation to clear the air and put us all back on track, focusing on the task in hand. But these disputes are only because of our passionate approach to our work. So far, I have never had any clashes with anyone even though we are all from different countries and have different personalities and backgrounds.
At OTGS are there opportunities to expand and enrich your life?
Definitely! I’m happy to say that I’ve become more involved in the Italian WP Community. I’ve attended the 3 most recent WordCamp events in Italy as a volunteer and I was able to attend the last 2 WordCamp conferences in Europe. These were great opportunities to meet my colleagues from other countries – at least a few of them. I’ll also be a volunteer at the next WCEU in Paris. I can’t wait to be there!
My current aim is to stabilize the local WordPress Meetup I started in Avezzano. So far, though, I haven’t been able to turn it into a growing event. My plan is to review my approach and find a different angle to attract more people to share their interest and experience with WP.
Are there a few words of encouragement you would like to share with us?
Working remotely can be very challenging if the work does not come up to our expectations. OTGS is a great company to work for! All the time, there are new ways to grow and to look further than you ever imagined. I never thought I would have come so far when I first started to work for OnTheGoSystems.
Seize the challenge and you’ll never regret it. I can’t wait to see what new challenges will come my way in the future.
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