The tale of our first year in Jönköping
The Tale of The Castle at the Shores of Lake Vättern.
One morning in early August 2021, in the midst of the Corona pandemic, two noble, hopeful and somewhat nervous QA knights met in a parking lot outside a furniture store in Jönköping. They arrived in their graceful gray steeds (also known as “cars”). One of the steeds was a rental vehicle, with a dubious smell from the carpets. The other steed simply reeked of horses. But that did not stop the two knights from embarking upon their new adventure.
A few months earlier, they had both decided to end their current ventures, follow their hearts and join System Verification, a company that was little known in the city of Jönköping. The two, whom we can call Emma and Magnus, cautiously entered into what would become their new castle and office. The merriments of the first day included unpacking screens and computers, and trying to log into systems they barely knew. They solved their tasks so gallantly that it almost became legendary, but their egregious humility forbade them from bragging about their achievements. Hence, the lessons of this first day have almost fallen into oblivion.
It quickly transpired that they got along well and had a lot of fun together. They both felt they were on the right path, pursuing QA. They soon attracted both one and two more people. Albin was a young squire with many exciting ideas, while Linda was a well-known knight with her very own leg armour. The two joined the merry bunch and just like that, the gang had doubled its size. They were now four valiant champions under the banner of testing.
Coloreel, a local customer, gave the Jönköping gang their first assignment. Albin joined their test organisation and has since tested both software and systems. He rapidly exchanged his squire gear for the full outfit of a QA knight.
The collaboration has been important for both companies. Needless to say, we are a little extra proud that Coloreel became the very first customer of the Jönköping office. Shortly after the completion of the first assignment, the next arrived. Both Emma and Linda started working on requirements for a larger project at the Geological Survey of Sweden. In the fall of 2021, another jolly young knight joined the troop. Makail became number five in Jönköping. He brought knowledge of embedded systems, but above all, a wide smile at all times. Makail had barely entered the gates of the castle until an assignment appeared. Since then, Makail has been spending his work days at a local customer’s site.
During the autumn, they organized a spa weekend together with the Gothenburg office. It was a much needed break and they found it highly enjoyable to meet the QA heroes of Gothenburg.
Just as one of the first blizzards of the year hit Jönköping, they arranged a student event for the first time. Magnus and Linda bought pizza and offered this to the frozen and wet students who had defied the weather and made their way to System Verification's fine castle at Gro36. As the evening passed, the students left one by one – until only the really eager, or possibly really hungry, remained. One of them was called Martina. She made such a good impression that Magnus offered her to join the group of knights, as soon as she had finished her studies.
One day, as Magnus was sitting at his desk, he received a job application from a girl living in Jönköping. Almost exactly at the same time, Magnus was contacted by two cherished colleagues from the Sarajevo office. They both stated that a very competent girl was about to apply for a job in Jönköping. The girl was called Halima. She joined the merry gang in March 2022. The group had now grown into six valiant knights.
Time passed and one day as Magnus was rubbing the magic lamp (also known as “LinkedIn”), Aladin appeared. This unexpected, but very gratifying, revelation resulted in Aladin joining System Verification in May. The group had once again grown. Now, they were seven knights in shining armour.
They were engaged by new exciting customers, both locally and remotely. Tests were performed on digital post boxes, personnel systems and sewing machines. But not only tests were carried out. The local QA knights also handled requirement process and improvement work.
Spring arrived. There were exciting meetings with QA heroes from all over the System Verification realm during some magical days in Split. In Split, the knights got the opportunity to get acquainted with heroes from Sweden, Germany, Bosnia and Poland. The knights went back to Jönköping, strengthened with new knowledge in QA and the company's history – and above all, with lots of new contacts.
Time passed. Spring turned into summer; and the knights rewarded themselves with a much-needed rest. As the leave came to an end and the rested knights returned to their tasks, Martina joined, having completed her education. Once again, the group had grown. They were now eight knights ready to take on a world full of testing and QA challenges.
The word of the QA knights of Jönköping in their shining armor began to spread. At the time of writing, two more knights are about to join.
The tale does not end here. The knights will soon embark on new adventures. Aeroplanes, robots, sewing machines, IT systems and other exciting possibilities loom for the group of noble knights. System Verification, the knights and QA are in Jönköping to stay. The group of knights will grow, since more people are starting to understand the beauty of being specialized. The knowledge of QA will also grow, become stronger and always be generously shared between the knights. New and old customers will feel confident that these knights may not be the best at everything – but the best at test.
