Thorgal Ligtvoet
Software Test Engineer
Limerick
We are the engineers of possible: Test Engineer Talks Test Automation
By Thorgal Ligtvoet
I’ve been with BD as a Test Engineer since I graduated from the University of Limerick in 2020. Following a successful co-op placement at BD for eight months as part of my degree, I rejoined BD’s newly-formed graduate program.
During my undergraduate studies, I was unsure of which direction I wanted to pursue and didn’t have a great grasp of what lay ahead of me in the world of engineering. Luckily, I landed with a wonderful team in RCI and was given multiple options to explore to give me a taste of what was possible.
During my co-op, I settled into a Test Automation role. I was given support by my mentor and almost immediately started to contribute to my project in a meaningful way. I worked with my team in RCI but also with other engineers in the US. This trend continued when I rejoined, as I now work with team members in India, Austria, and Germany as well.
One of the most important aspects which made coming back so easy was the culture that exists at BD RCI. The atmosphere in the building -- and the company at large -- is something that is the most important to me as an employee. Nobody is a stranger and connecting with people daily is a given. I feel very passionate about inclusion in the workplace and RCI sets the absolute gold standard for this.
My typical day will begin with a stand-up meeting with the wider team where we discuss our daily tasks and help each other if anybody is struggling with their work. Then I’ll move on to my work which includes automating test cases, performing maintenance to our automation framework and working with my automation and manual test teams to close User Stories. At the moment, I’m working on an application which supports Clinician Activities for five different Infusion Pumps.
Currently, I am solely performing automation testing activities, but have also worked as a manual tester on the Infusion Pumps. Having a background in both testing approaches helps me continuously deliver better overall results.
