05 Oct 2015 Spotlight on PQA Testing

In this week’s spotlight, we are highlighting a company that brings thought leadership and innovation to client organizations, while effectively integrating scalable expert resources with their project team to deliver value-add testing results each step of the way.

Describe your company and your primary product(s) and/or service(s).

Founded in 1997, PQA Testing is Canada’s leading independent provider of quality assurance (QA) and software testing solutions. For nearly twenty years, PQA has been helping clients build confidence in their applications and drive financial benefits to their project teams and across their organizations. By providing comprehensive and integrated software testing solutions, we have built long standing relationships and experience in industry sectors that include Healthcare, Finance, Gaming, Telecommunications, Government, eLearning and more.

PQA Testing establishes the foundation for successful test projects by getting involved early. We are able to participate in all aspects of project start-up and monitoring by engaging in strategy planning, effort estimation, scheduling, resource gap analysis, risk identification, release planning, environment configuration and definition of process fundamentals emphasizing efficiency and communication visibility. Through early project involvement, we can help introduce rapid, creative and flexible testing without sacrificing monitoring, traceability or accountability – allowing testing to be fast, adaptable and immediately add value to the team.

PQA Testing is always at the frontline of developing and designing new software testing approaches, techniques and tools. We challenge testing standards and explore new ideas.

What makes your services unique?

At PQA, we believe that testing is an inherent part of the software development lifecycle. We see testing as a challenging and rewarding career, and an essential skill for all software professionals. Testing provides knowledge, and knowledge provides value.

Our mission is to help organizations produce high quality software solutions with greater efficiency and less risk while simultaneously improving the user experience. We are not in this business simply for the bottom line. Since the company started, our vision has always focused on helping the client deliver a high quality software product, and that’s still the leadership’s top priority. We believe that by maintaining the focus of the company on testing, and delivering smart testing through smart testers, we can create significant business benefits for the client.

We also believe that we have a social responsibility to support and promote testing as a skilled profession, and we support the testing community through our involvement in conferences, discussion groups and external mentoring.

Within PQA, we encourage learning, growth and curiosity. We seek to inspire new testing evangelists, who will go out into the world and make it work better.

How many employees currently work at your company?

PQA has a dedicated team of almost 100 testing professionals located at our five offices in three different time zones throughout Canada.

Where are you located?

Our services are delivered on-site or managed remotely from our offices located in:

Describe the culture at your company.

We are a diverse mix of IT professionals working in an environment focused on collaboration and continuous learning. Although many of our staff have one, you don’t need a degree in computer science to be a fantastic software tester, and that is proven by our team members whose backgrounds range from particle physics to carpentry. Our environment is highly inclusive, and we are working towards a flatter hierarchy where everyone feels a shared ownership and responsibility. We are in this business because we think testing is fun. We enjoy what we do and we want that to be reflected in our culture.

What does your leadership team (and company as a whole) do to support/grow that culture?

Our leadership team contributes to supporting and growing our culture by being actively engaged, and providing individually adapted opportunities for training and growth to allow each employee to realize their potential. Collaboration is at the core of everything we do, and we use social media platforms extensively to ensure fast and efficient communication and knowledge sharing even when we are not co-located.

Our view is: it’s not just about you — or me, or anyone else in particular. It’s about all of us.

When your employees talk about your company, what do they brag about?

We only do one thing – software testing – but we do it really well, and we are always trying to do it even better by encouraging and supporting personal growth and professional development. We have a fantastic team of incredibly smart and dedicated testers that work together to help our clients excel and exceed their own expectations.

Describe your most recent achievement, milestone, or reason for bragging rights.

Our proudest moments are when our team members step outside of their comfort zones and achieve something they didn’t think they could do, whether it is taking on a new role on a project, speaking at an international conference or completing a tough training course. Contributing to people’s growth will always be our biggest achievements.

PQA’s drive to promote and advance the field of software testing, combined with our commitment to our local communities, is also why we created the Aboriginal Software Tester Training Course. This training program is a PQA Testing initiative, funded jointly by PQA and the Joint Economic Development Initiative that provides aboriginal people with recognized qualifications in the IT industry as Software Testers. The mission of the program is to inform, guide and support participants in learning the appropriate skills and knowledge to meet their goals for a career in this field.

What kinds of roles are you hiring for?

We have staff all over Canada within our offices or on client sites. The testing community is growing and so are we. We currently have multiple positions available for Intermediate Software Testers, Senior Software Testers, Automation Specialists and Performance Test Specialists. Supportive roles such as administrative positions are also available and we are accepting resumes now. If anyone is interested, take a look at our open careers page on our website.

What kinds of people are you looking for?

We are looking for software explorers; people who are naturally curious and passionate about technology. We are continuously developing new techniques, learning and growing, which means we want to work with people who want to grow and learn with us. People that have the drive to help us make the world a better place, one software application at the time.

At PQA, we live and breathe testing, and we hire people with that same passion. We seek out leaders in the industry – those who are moving testing forward, as well as those new to the career showing exceptional potential.

What is your company goal for the coming year?

We have been growing quickly and our focus right now is on sustained growth, which means looking at scalability. In the coming year, we want to keep growing, and also increase our involvement within our geographical and professional communities.

To learn more about PQA Testing, visit them online at www.pqatesting.com.

If you’d like us to shine the spotlight on your company, email hello@wearebctech.com today!