Honoring #IconsOfQuality: Michal Drajna, QA Engineer

To celebrate the relentless passion of testers, BrowserStack is honoring some of the icons in the testing space—those who push the industry forward by sharing their knowledge with the community at large through their thought leadership.

Michal Drajna, a passionate QA Engineer, who joined Investown as the first test automation engineer, setting the stage for faster and smarter testing. With a love for learning and a knack for exploring new tools, Michal is all about making testing efficient and staying ahead of the curve.

Tell us a bit about your role as the QA Engineer at Investown 

I started at Investown as their first test automation engineer, with the main goal of setting up automated testing to make the process faster and more efficient.

I implemented Playwright for web applications (my favorite tool!) and Detox for mobile apps. Now, our tests run smoothly within pipelines, significantly speeding things up. This was my first startup experience, and the team's passion and the progress we made were truly inspiring.

Explore how BrowserStack Automate can simplify your test automation process.

What’s one piece of advice you would give to someone just starting their career in software development? 

For those just starting their journey, my advice is to stay up to date with current trends and follow interesting people in the industry, whether on LinkedIn or elsewhere. Make time for learning, take courses, and work on personal projects that you can showcase on GitHub.

How do you keep up with all the new trends and tools in software development?

I follow various QA experts on LinkedIn, watch content creators on YouTube, and stay in touch with both former and current colleagues with whom I discuss the latest news in the QA world. I also believe that meet-ups and conferences are essential, as they allow you to meet many new people and get the freshest insights from the QA field.

What’s a testing trend that’s got you excited these days?

Right now, I’m really interested in AI and how it can help in my day-to-day work. Recently, there's been a lot of discussion about shift-left testing, so I’m also trying to implement that in every new project I start.

Has AI changed the way you and your team approach testing? If so, how?

So far, AI hasn’t drastically changed our testing approach, but it has definitely made things more efficient. Tools like ChatGPT and GitHub Copilot have sped up writing tests, helped with data generation, and provided templates. For now, the main benefit I’ve seen is making test writing and data generation quicker and easier. I’m hopeful that we can give AI more powers as we move forward.

Learn how AI-powered test cases can enhance your testing efficiency.

Looking back, what's the biggest shift your team has made in testing, and what impact did it have?

The biggest shift we made was moving from mostly manual testing to automation, which sped up our release process and allowed us to catch bugs earlier. We get faster feedback after each merge to the master branch, which is exactly how it should be in every team. Implementing a shift-left approach has also greatly reduced the number of bugs in the application and improved early bug detection.

What are your go-to productivity hacks that help you stay on top of your game?

I have several go-to productivity hacks. I use time blocking to schedule specific periods for different tasks or types of work. The Pomodoro technique helps me focus on 25-minute work intervals with short breaks in between. Minimizing distractions through website blockers and setting my phone to Do Not Disturb mode is crucial. Really!

It's important to take a break and do some stretching and exercise. Regular breaks help keep my mind fresh and productive. And automation of repetitive tasks, such as test execution and report generation, saves a ton of time.

(Responses have been edited for clarity.)