Time for another post in our Meet a Making Senser series. It’s our pleasure to highlight a different team member with each post, offering a glimpse into what goes on behind the scenes at our company. A lot goes into making a great company, but it’s the people who form the foundation of it all.
Today we introduce Mariano Jurich, a QC Analyst here at Making Sense. Mariano works at our main Argentina Development Center, in Mar Del Plata. He started working at MS in 2012 and recently sat down to answer a few questions about his time here at Making Sense.
What is your academic background?
When I started university, I studied Industrial Engineering for 3 years. In my third year I had programming classes, and I suddenly realized that’s where my true passion really lies. That’s when I changed careers and started Programming Engineering at the Universidad Tecnologica Nacional.
How did you start working at Making Sense?
While studying, I was working for another company in the network and servers department. That’s how I found out about a similar opening at MS and applied. My first project at MS was to redo the whole network infrastructure of the new office Making Sense opened in 2013. I worked in that area for some months but realized that I very much enjoyed working as part of a team, interacting with clients and being close to the development processes.
I also needed a new challenge in my career. I applied for a new testing position at MS, and prepared myself by learning and paying close attention to my colleagues. I am and have always been a really detailed person, which is a great characteristic, but at the same time sometimes not that great :P
The testing department was for sure the right choice and the right next step for me. I noticed a lot of developers pass through testing but as a step in their career ladder. For me, it was the finish line, a profession. I am not that interested in developing now that I am in Testing and Project Management. I am grateful Making Sense listened to me and gave me the chance to do what I love best! The change was risky since I was giving up my seniority, but it was worth it!
Tell me about your challenges in MS
Well, actually my challenges are related to the changes in my job position at MS. I knew that to become a tester, I had to learn more, progress. That’s when I realized I could be internationally certified, I chose the ISTQB international software testing qualification board. I decided to take the chance and ask my PM if Making Sense supported me in this project. They did, in fact, and in 2014 I got certified as an International Tester. It’s quite interesting because I am not just a software tester.
Another interesting experience was when the Doppler team redid from scratch the app’s editor. Doppler is Making Sense’s email marketing app and it’s top 5 in Latin America. I was offered to take on the testing job from scratch, writing the documentation. I was super excited to do that and one month later, my tester job started.
What do you do right now at MS?
Right now I am involved in 3 projects at work. Two of them involve mobile apps, which is the area of testing I particularly enjoy. One project gives me the chance to do team management, and the client also asked me to do Project Management. I’m happy with that!
What are your hobbies?
I love to run and play paddle tennis. I also love music. I play drums and guitar, but I enjoy learning to play new instruments and I have two Dachshund dogs.
Community-wise, I am involved in two organizations that support development initiatives in Mar del Plata. I am part of the IT meetups team “By the Sea” with some colleagues at MS. Its main objective is to bring new generations to the development world, increas interdisciplinary interaction, making visible the Mar del Plata software industry locally. Last, but not least, I help in a scholarship program of our city, Mar del Plata, where we seek to get more people studying software development careers after finishing high school. As a result, we hope to make the community bigger and help to develop the local industry.
What do you like best at MS?
What I like best about Making Sense is primarily that I am not a number. This is really important for me because I care about the human factor and human relationships. We share many moments outside of work, such as soccer matches (even our CEO joins in!). I believe that Making Sense has a young spirit that definitely makes me feel comfortable.
I’m working in Services, so I’m in touch with US people, which is something that I really enjoy too.
People at MS are really collaborative, so we all work as a whole team together to reach our common goals, which are to keep growing and delivering high quality products .