Qxf2 often brands our type of testing as technical testing. We do not care about “manual testing” or “automated testing”. We struggle to explain what that means to other folks who are stuck in the “manual vs automation” mindset. Technical testing is one of those terms that is easier to experience than to explain. Given how often we need to […]
Technical testing at Qxf2: Q1 of 2022
How to conduct ‘Round 2’ interviews at Qxf2
Qxf2 reserves Round 2 of our three-round job interview solely to evaluate if the candidate can learn and apply new concepts quickly. During this round we use one of approximately fifteen exercises. This post goes into great detail on how an interviewer is supposed to conduct Round 2 when using the ‘Fork a repository and fix an error’ exercise. Interviewers […]
Early employees and company growth
Early employees – here is what your founder might not tell you. This post outlines some thoughts I had shared with my early employees on what to expect as we grow. There are several ideas (e.g.: employees should not be loyal to a company) that many founders cannot talk openly about. I understand that some things listed are not applicable […]
Peer-checkins to combat loneliness in a fully remote company
In this post, I am sharing the concept of ‘peer-checkins’ that Qxf2 (a fully remote company) has been using to combat the loneliness that comes from working fully-remote. A ‘peer-checkin’ is a 15-30 minute/week talk with a group of colleagues that is completely non-technical. It is similar to a water-cooler conversation at a co-located office. I am outlining the rules […]
Banning 1:1 technical communication
I banned 1:1 communication for anything technical within Qxf2. This post outlines a) the motivation behind the decision b) new rules for technical communication c) the fallout of the decision d) adjustments we made since introducing the ban Motivation Qxf2 is a fully remote company that offers software testing services to startups. We have been a small company for many […]
Do we have a helpful culture at work?
This post is to help folks measure if they have a helpful culture in their teams. We are sharing something we do to try and keep Qxf2 a fair place. In this post, we outline a metric called ‘help symmetry score’ that Qxf2 (a fully remote company) uses to figure out if we are nurturing a supportive environment. You might […]
The pros and cons of running a remote-first company
Remote work comes with its own set of trade-offs that need to be managed. This post is about the positives and negatives of running a remote-first company along with some of the tools we use and the adjustments that have worked for me. About me I am Arun and I run Qxf2 Services. Qxf2 provides testing services for startups. […]
Technical interviews at Qxf2
This post is to help candidates get a clear picture of what to expect in their final set of interviews with Qxf2. The interview process The final set of interviews takes between 3 and 4 hours. Depending on the candidate’s preference, we conduct the interview onsite or via Skype. There will be three rounds. Round 1: A senior Qxf2 employee […]
August lunch and learn
I am a big fan of Fog Creek and their philosophy towards building a business. As luck would have it, I stumbled into starting a company that provides testing services. Inspired by this Spolsky article from 2005,I want Qxf2 to be a place with fantastic working conditions for testers. As a group, we have been taking active steps towards that […]