WORKING ON A ROMAN NUMERALS KATA USING STRONG-STYLE PAIRING AND TEST-DRIVEN DEVELOPMENT WITH THOMAS RINKE

TESTING TOUR STOP # 2 ▪ HIRZA PIMENTEL ▪ 02/22/2020

For the second stop of my testing tour, I was lucky to have had the opportunity to pair with Thomas Rinke to practice test driven development. To prepare for this session, I’ve installed Intellij and the Mob Time timer on my Mac. I also started reading Test Driven Development by Kent Beck. And watched the YouTube video by Alan Richardson, where he implemented the FizzBuzz problem using TDD. >>

EXPLORING THE TICKTICK APP WITH LISI HOCKE

TESTING TOUR STOP # 1 ▪ HIRZA PIMENTEL ▪ 01/26/2020

First stop on my testing tour was with Lisi Hocke. She did her own testing tour in 2018 and encouraged me to start my own. As I was new to pair testing, Lisi gave suggestions on how we can structure the session. Establishing how we would spend our time at the beginning was very helpful --- having a better understanding of what to expect made me less nervous about my first tour stop. We had three parts to the session: (1) quick introduction on strong-style pairing (2) exploratory pairing on the TickTick app (3) short retro. >>

NEW YEAR, NEW ADVENTURE ...

HIRZA PIMENTEL ▪ 01/04/2020

I first heard about testing tours from Lisi Hocke’s post. It seems like a great way to meet other testers and grow together. I have always believed in lifelong-learning; but have mostly focused on solo learning from online articles, tutorials, and courses. I have preferred online learning because it offers the flexibility that a mom like me could really use. Can a testing tour perfectly complement my go-to mode of learning? I have wondered about this for some time; but was unsure if it is something I can do. I have never done pairing at work, and I was worried that my introverted personality would make pairing sessions awkward (Do I really want to subject myself and other people to this level of awkwardness?) >>

WORKING ON TEACH MY TOT

HIRZA PIMENTEL ▪ 04/07/2018

For the past week, I've been working on an offline first flashcard app for teaching toddlers and preschoolers. The project was developed using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript as part of the Grow with Google Challenge Scholarship. My main goal is to be able implement Service Workers, Cache API and IndexedDB to create an offline-first mobile web app. Having 2 kids under four, I wanted to be able to create an app that would interest them. And so, the idea for Teach My Tot came about. >>

ADDING SERVICE WORKERS TO YOUR SITE

HIRZA PIMENTEL ▪ 03/21/2018

In this post, I'm going to discuss how I added service workers to this website. I worked on this to apply what I've learned as part of the the Grow with Google Challenge Scholarship. I implemented the strategy suggested by adactio.com to cache [1] the home page with its linked stylesheets, images, and scripts; [2] and the offline page, which would include an error about not having network connection and a link to the home page >>

INTRO TO SELF-DRIVING CARS SCHOLARSHIP

HIRZA PIMENTEL ▪ 03/13/2018

I'm excited to have been offered the Intro to Self-Driving Cars Nanodegree Scholarship, which is sponsored by Lyft and Udacity. I've been constantly improving my skills and expanding my knowledge of new technologies, and automation is one of the areas I enjoy learning about. Automation doesn't just make workflows more reliable, it also provides opportunities for improving human experience. This desire to find ways to improve lives drives my interest in learning about autonomous cars >>

HOW TO CHANGE THE LOCATION OF YOUR IPHONE BACKUP ON A MAC

HIRZA PIMENTEL ▪ 03/10/2018

Last weekend, I tried to install MongoDB on my Mac, when I got an error saying that I needed to upgrade my operating system to be able to continue. I have actually been postponing upgrading, since I only have 10GB of free storage on my hard drive, and I haven't had time to move my files to our NAS. So what was supposed to be a simple task of installing an application, turned into hours of moving photos, videos, and music to our NAS, backing up my devices, updating my OS and installing the application >>

HOW TO GET SONOS TO ANNOUNCE WHEN DOORS ARE OPENED

HIRZA PIMENTEL ▪ 03/04/2018

A couple of months ago, my parents paid us a surprise visit. They knew the code to our garage door so they got inside our house, without us knowing. My husband was helping our 3 year old in the main bathroom and I was in the master bath, brushing my teeth so I left our 1 year old in the pack 'n play inside our bedroom. When I got out of the bathroom, our son was not there. I asked my husband if he took our son, and he said he didn't. We were surprised that he was able to get out of the playard on his own. We searched under the bed and inside the closets, and we couldn't find him >>

GROW WITH GOOGLE CHALLENGE SCHOLARSHIP

HIRZA PIMENTEL ▪ 02/18/2018

I strive for lifelong self-directed learning. Having two kids under four have kept me busy at home, but I remain determined to improve myself. I am always on the lookout for strategies that I can apply to our testing processes at work. And I continously set personal time aside to keep myself updated on technology. This is why I'm thankful for the Udacity programs. It provides parents, like me, the opportunity to grow their professional skills without spending too much time away from our family. With online learning, I am able to catch up on lessons when the kids are napping or when they're working on their arts and crafts >>