CTG At Work: Deborah

Company title: Experienced Test Engineer

Years at CTG: 3 Years

Hometown: Brussels, Belgium

Current City: I still live near Brussels for the moment, but my husband and I are building a new house further away from the city where the children will have more space to play outside.

Favorite Thing to Do Outside of Work: I spend most of my free time with my family. I think it’s very important to have as much quality time together as possible. And every Friday evening, you can find me at the shooting range.

Favorite Song Right Now: Jack Johnson’s “Better Together.” It was the opening song for my wedding and is still my favorite song of all time.

On weekdays, my alarm clock rings at 5 a.m. First, I get myself ready so I can prepare everything before waking up my 16-month-old twin daughters, that is, if I have to wake them up at all. Most of the time, they are already awake and talking to each other, laughing, and playing when I enter their room. They greet me with a big smile. What a great way to start the day!

At 6.30 a.m., my husband helps me get the kids into the car. He leaves immediately for work, and I drop them off at day care before I go to work at my current client.

I arrive at work around 7:30 a.m. The first thing I do is get a cup of coffee to get me through my emails. Then, I check the schedule for the day and my to-do list. I’m a test engineer for Connected Services and Coyote, which are implemented on the navigation system of Toyota and Lexus cars. This can be tested either on a bench device or via a real drive test, meaning I actually have two different typical work days.

When I need to test on a bench device, I can stay at the office all day. The bench device is actually a navigation system that has been rebuilt on a rack and stands beside my desk. When a drive test is needed, my colleague from CTG will assist me. He drives the car while I’m testing the software in a real-life situation. Sometimes we only drive around in Belgium, but it is possible that we drive to the Netherlands, France, Germany, etc., depending on which features need to be tested. After a whole day of testing, I complete my test results, write my report, and share these documents with the stakeholders.

I leave work around 4 p.m. By the time I get home, my husband has already picked up the kids from day care and they are all playing together in the living room.

In the evening, my husband and I prepare everything for the kids to go to sleep. After they get their last bottle of milk of the day, we make a last stop at the bathroom. We put the kids to bed and prepare dinner for ourselves. We clean up and get everything ready for the next day. Around 9 p.m., I go to bed happy and satisfied, before starting a whole new day tomorrow.

I’m thankful to work at CTG. It was already a big company when I joined, and it keeps on growing every day. But I’ve never felt like I was just an ordinary employee. I feel appreciated and that I can make a difference. Even when I was absent for quite some time during my pregnancy, my colleagues kept checking in on me, asking how I was doing. I could always contact them if I needed anything.