Category: Insights

Insights

Great Career Choices for People Who Love to Travel

Some people get a travel bug in their earlier twenties, right around the time they land their first serious fulltime job. Others get the desire to explore the world later in life when they want to find the next job.  For all of them, the desire to travel and their dream job doesn’t have to cancel each other out.

In fact, your job can complement your travels if you choose a career in the right industry. Here are some great career choices that prove you don’t have to be filthy rich in order to travel the world!

Become a tour guide

Although regulations differ from country to country, anyone can become a tour guide after they pass rigorous training. You will learn a lot preparing for this post bit is more than rewarding, especially in terms of traveling.

No two days are the same for a tour guide who gets to travel on buses, cruise on ships, and drive passengers to scenic locations. Even if you decide to be a tour guide in your home city or country, you’ll have plenty of opportunities to meet people from all meridians and show them your national treasures.

Teaching English abroad

Is English your native tongue or are you proficient enough to teach others? If the answer is positive, then you can travel abroad to become an English teacher. Right now, China is among the countries that has the highest demand for qualified English teachers. 

As the boom of foreigners teaching Chinese children English is slowly coming to an end, educational institution there are now hiring language teachers to teach the youth of the country in person. Of course, if you’re proficient in English, the list of countries where you could teach is vast, from the Far East to South America. The best thing about teaching English abroad is that you’ll travel the whole country, as opposed to staying in one town.

Get a job as a bartender

Another jib that is fairly easy to grasp the basics of is bartending. Don’t get us wrong, it takes years and even decades to excel in the industry but starting a new career in bartending is affordable and not overdemanding.

Apart from knowledge, all you really need is a working visa, as there are countless hospitality businesses worldwide that are in need of good bartenders. This allows you to constantly be on the move, all the while looking cool as hell while mixing cocktails behind the bar.

Learn to drive a truck

Assuming you possess a valid driver’s license and you feel comfortable driving passenger cars, why not up the game and learn to drive a truck! Admittedly, heavy vehicle training is not easy but if you enroll in the right kind of course, you’ll learn fast.

Once you get your license, you can start working for international transport companies that ship goods across continents. You’ll be living on the road, enjoying the roadside scenery, and earning a hefty sum each month. When you grow tired of trucking, just chose another driving course to learn how to drive a bus and start making friends with passengers from all walks of life and from all seven continents.

The perks of being a flight attendant

There isn’t a person who hasn’t dreamed of becoming a flight attendant or a pilot. As you grow up, you learn that this dream job is not out of reach as other ones (did someone say “an astronaut”?). Once you go through the flight attendant training school that each airliner has, you are ready to step into your office in the sky.

As if being in the sky every day wasn’t exciting enough, stewards and stewardesses often get a daylong break in the most exciting destination in the world. Your Instagram feed will be full of pictures of tropical beaches, city skylines, and picturesque mountain villages.

Working as an au pair

For people who adore children, there is no better way to combine this love with the love for traveling than becoming an au pair. The job opportunities are endless if you know the language of the family whose children you’ll be sitting.

Moreover, if you’re learning a new language, becoming an au pair will allow you to perfect it; all the while teaching the little ones a few words of your mother tongue. Apart from cultural interaction, the best thing about working as an au pair is that the food and lodging are included so you get to keep the remuneration, no matter how small it is.

Website designers needed

The digital area we live in has produced a new kind of nomads: digital nomads. This means that people working highly sought-after jobs get a chance to work across the globe and earn the same big salary. You don’t have to be a senior developer to travel the world, as you can easily learn to design websites for a living.

The full list of careers that involve a lot of traveling is virtually endless, as new job posts are popping up all the time. However, you can feed your travel bug with any of the 7 professions listen above. 

Insights

5 Reasons Why 2020 Is the Year to Get Your Kids to Cook

No matter who is giving the reason – me, a teen or a young kid, I can share 5 reasons that will inspire you to take action!

It is not only a soufflé that rises when a child cooks for their family… When a child masters a skill there are lots of outcomes. In particular, I have found a child who learns to cook and make good food choices…

  • gains self-esteem
  • gains a sense of importance
  • feels they are able to make a meaningful contribution to their family
  • is proud of their achievement
  • is better equipped to look after themselves
  • is able to look after others
  • gains confidence and competence
  • feels empowered to try more complex tasks
  • is able to use preparing food as an act of service
  • is able to use food as a means of expressing love
  • develops self-management skills
  • develops self-discipline
  • develops self-respect
  • develops budgeting skills.

Learning how to cook will also result in the child being more conscious about its food choices. In addition to cooking, learning how to choose the right ingredients for a healthy and balanced diet is crucial. For example, even though it might cost more, sustainably produced meat from somewhere like Crowd Cow (which you can click here to learn more about) is a better choice for many reasons – it’s healthier, better for the environment, and for sure the meal will taste better! Thinking about cooking, I struggle to think of another set of everyday skills that directly impacts a child’s development and health.

Consider the three different perspectives below… mine, a teen’s, and that of a younger child.

Reasons to cook – from my perspective  

  • Success builds a child’s self-esteem and confidence – cooking is no exception.
  • A sense of contribution, belonging, importance and pride develops as children master skills – cooking is an excellent way to foster this.
  • Learning about food fosters personal responsibility – you can feel confident that your children will be better equipped to look after themselves.
  • Cooking is a life skill. It’s like riding a bike – once they have ‘got it’ they are away.
  • You can get the odd night off!

Reasons to cook – from a teenage perspective  

  • You don’t have to put up with food you don’t like – you call the shots!
  • It feels great if you can cook for friends and family – lots of compliments are good!
  • Being able to cook gives you leverage… ‘If I cook dinner, can I borrow the car? Money for the movies? New shoes?’
  • Knowing you can cook is quite empowering. You can make good food choices so you can get better skin, have more energy, be at a good weight – it’s all your choice.
  • It’s quite good fun cooking!

Reasons to cook – from a tween’s perspective  

  • You can eat the ingredients while you are cooking and then get to choose the best piece.
  • Your mum gets in a good mood if you help (cringe – this was a sage observation from my youngest son!).
  • You can make sure what is being cooked is something you like.
  • If you do the cooking you don’t have to help with the cleanup.
  • It’s fun cooking.

The thought of learning a new life skill will simply not engage the average kid – especially when described as a life skill. However, you start talking about something they want or need and you have their total attention.

I have found deal-making works well. Along the lines of ‘If I do this for you, could you do this for me’. You may be surprised to find how kids respond to this; many are masters of negotiation in other things so they will quickly work it out. I think it is quite funny when my children say one of the main reasons they wanted to be able to cook was because it gave them leverage. That’s fine if that’s what motivates them. It also has helped our family operate more like a team with everyone contributing.

Ironically, often as parents, we have to buy things for our kids anyway. Take a special pair of shoes for example. Both parties win if you suggest that if they cook dinner each Tuesday they will be able to get those shoes. This is not bribery. Bribery implies that one person wins and the other loses.  This is far better than that – there are winners all round. Your child learns a skill for a lifetime, they get the shoes, the family bond grows stronger and you get a night off – it’s the epitome of a win: win situation. 

No matter what perspective you are coming from

 the outcome is the same – 

your child gets a skill for a lifetime 

which is undoubtedly to 

his or her advantage.

DevelopmentInsights

Telemedicine is Growing Incredibly Fast in the Age of the Coronavirus: What You Should Know

Telemedicine has exploded in popularity in the age of the Coronavirus and social distancing. The ability to have a doctor look at an injury or view vitals without having to be in the room provides convenience. The safety aspect of this rings true during normal life as going into a doctor’s office for an annual checkup can lead to sickness. The truth is that you rarely see any of the staff at some doctor’s offices cleaning the waiting room. The rapid growth of telemedicine even in the last few weeks has been immense. Restrictions have been lifted that correlate with how virtual visits are billed compared to physical visits. The restrictions have also been lifted so a doctor can practice medicine across state lines. In the past, the doctor would have to be licensed in each of the states which can be an immensely lengthy and tedious process. The following are things that you should know about the growth of telemedicine during the Coronavirus pandemic.

Why Hasn’t Telemedicine Become Popular at an Earlier Date? 

There has been resistance by both healthcare organizations and the government to adopt telemedicine. Patients might think that there is a need to see your doctor in person when in reality this is not essential in some cases. A physical therapist can put you through the same therapy session via Zoom as they can at their office. The older generations resist this as they do not trust they will receive the same quality of care as a physical appointment. 

Privacy has been a huge aspect of the resistance to telemedicine. No healthcare organization wants a hack to leak information that is protected by HIPPA. Cybersecurity has to be paramount when developing a telemedicine program such as telehealth. A doctor being hacked can lead to a breach and a number of lawsuits. 

Robots have Entered Emergency Rooms and ICUs 

The use of robots in hospitals in triage for emergency rooms and even on hospital floors during the Coronavirus has increased immensely. This allows the doctor to see a patient and a robot can even bring them medication. The increase in efficiency during this time is due to not being required to change scrubs, gloves, or masks. There is even an extension of some of these robots that has a stethoscope. The doctor will be able to hear your heart and lungs with the clarity of being right next to a patient. 

ICUs use telemedicine as an extra set of eyes as one mistake can lead a person in a sensitive state to worsen or potentially die. This will also help the staff in terms of the quality of care provided. A missed dose of medication or failure to notice other things is common in such a stressful situation. 

Look for Healthcare-Related Apps to Erupt

Healthcare-related apps are going to erupt in popularity when they can be integrated into telemedicine. Certain organizations might have an app so patients can meet with, contact, and integrate with other technology. Companies could profit immensely from this because apps for healthcare were used sparingly. If looking for security and collaboration optimization then considering a Helm repository. Collaboration can be easily attained by developers utilizing all types of different tools. 

Direct Contact or Quick Responses Can Save Lives 

A person that can directly contact their doctor and get an answer in a matter of minutes can save their life. Sending over a picture of a healing wound is a great example as many people cannot tell if an infection is present. Video is also available and charting data like blood pressure, temperature, and heart rate can be imperative. The ability to foresee a health problem in the near future due to rising vitals can allow a doctor to recommend medication or a lifestyle change. 

What Does the Future Hold?

There are plenty of people in the older demographic that would not have considered seeing their doctor virtually but have been forced to. A percentage of this demographic will continue to utilize this technology as it provides convenience. Not having to battle traffic or for immobile people, this is the best choice for them. The younger generation will be faster to adopt the technological advancements. Sitting in a waiting room with sick people simply does not appeal to many patients. Look for the use of telemedicine to stay steady although there might be drops initially after the pandemic comes to an end. 

Telemedicine has taken off during this Coronavirus as it the healthiest option for many patients. The last thing that anyone wants is to go to the hospital due to an insignificant illness then wind up with the extremely dangerous virus. Telemedicine is here to stay, the adoption rate by the general public is sure to increase after all of this is over.

DevelopmentInsights

How to Lead Change Management in a Startup

Managing and leading change in a startup can be challenging. Even for founders themselves, it is difficult to introduce change in an organization. To make it easy, keep on reading and we’ll share some tips on how it is possible to champion change management and make everyone willing to embrace it. 

1. Highlight the Benefits 

One of the secrets to successful strategic change management is highlighting the benefits. Resistance to change can stem from the fact that the employees are not aware of how it can be good for them. They might think that it benefits only the management. Show them that the change that you wish to introduce will also be good for them. This way, there is a lesser likelihood that there will be resistance. 

2. Conduct a Study 

Effectively leading change management requires the need to conduct a thorough study about what you are about to implement. There should be a solid basis. The changes should be backed by facts. This will make it easier to convince other people that change is necessary. Otherwise, they will have an unwelcoming attitude.

3. Create a Plan 

To successfully lead your team through change, you need to come up with a solid plan. It should be as detailed as possible and should be a result of thorough research. The plan should stipulate what will you do in case there is resistance. Also, it must identify what the management intends to do in case the plan did not work. 

4. Collaborate 

For change to be effective, you also need to collaborate. Change management is not a one-man job. It is a team effort. By collaborating with other people, especially those who will be directly affected by the change, success will be a likelier feat. 

5. Be Committed 

To lead change in a startup, commitment is crucial. You will encounter roadblocks, but these should not give you the reason to immediately give up. Show them that you are committed to the implementation of the planned change regardless of the obstacles that you might encounter. 

6. Set Realistic Goals 

While it is good for startups to dream big, when it comes to leading change management, being realistic is important. By setting realistic targets, you are increasing the chances that change management will be more successful. 

7. Communicate Effectively 

Communication will help in changing the attitude of the people within the startup about change. Maintain an open communication line. Be an active listener. Ask for their feedback about the change. Most importantly, do not surprise them. Take it slowly. Change must be implemented gradually, providing everyone with the opportunity to prepare whatever change entails. 

From highlighting the benefits to collaborating, this post briefly talked about some of the best things you need to do to lead change in a startup. Regardless of the size and nature of your startup, the things mentioned above will make change management a lot easier. 

InsightsMartechSEO

Why Your Business Needs to Own a Domain

Over the last few years, the thought has shifted for a lot of small- to mid-sized businesses that a unique domain isn’t always necessary. Instead, these companies have opted to take the entirety of their online presence to social media.

Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are what many consider to be the de facto standard tools for marketing. They are wrong.

To a degree.

Yes, having a social networking presence is crucial to your small business. Without using the likes of Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, you miss out on a large audience—one that may or may not has heard of your company.

That won’t do in a world where business moves at the speed of 140 characters.

But then again – why should you invest the time and money into a domain? Let me explain.

What is a Domain?

First, let’s make sure we’re all on the same page. The easiest way to define a domain is to show you an example:

google.com

That’s a domain, right? Well, it’s actually not that simple. 

What you see above is a web address, a URL. Domains are a bit more inclusive than that. First off, a domain keeps people from having to type out the IP address of your server. So instead of typing 172.217.1.46, you’d type google.com. Domain names use a number of special services to resolve Domain names to IP addresses. Should you want to learn more on how servers work, check this Host4geeks article too.

But the domain isn’t limited to only a website. For example: Say your business is wewidget.org. People could type that into their browser and go to the WeWidget website. People could also send an email to help@wewidget.org to reach the company. 

The wewidget.org domain could also be used for FTP, cloud services, online shopping, and much more. So it’s not just a URL, it’s a window to an entire range of services that you can create on your own or with the help of offshore developers.

Let’s talk about why.

It Makes You Look Professional

When people ask you about your company, and you want to make sure they have all the information they need, the last place you want to send them is Facebook or Twitter. Why? It makes you look as though you don’t care enough about your company to show it off. 

A domain allows you to have your own unique URL that can be easily remembered by anyone. But more importantly, it allows you to offer up as much information as you feel necessary about your company. You are in control. You can have an About section, a products or services page, a section that highlights your employees, and much more. With your own domain, you can even add an AI-based chatbot to your site to assist with customer Q&A.

Your own domain also allows you to have email addresses that include the name of your company. So instead of using bob.wewidget@gmail.com, you could use bob@wewidget.com. Of those two email addresses, which do you think looks more professional?

Easier Expansion

Another plus of having your own domain is that it allows you to further expand your offerings. With the help of offshore programmers, you could create web applications specific to your company. 

Say, for example, your company deals with managed PC support. You could hire offshore software engineers to create an app built into your website that allows clients to quickly send in help requests to specific support specialists. Pulling this off without a domain would be tricky. And without the ability to expand your online presence, you run the risk of staying small.

Local Search Results

To anyone that has tried their hand at marketing in the new world order, it’s rough. With an inordinate amount of competition, it is so hard to be seen—no matter how good your company is. This is why you need a domain. 

Without a domain, your company will not show up in local search results. So if someone searches for “widgets near me”, We Widget won’t appear in the results unless it has a domain. If your business depends on local business, this is something you can’t do without.

But don’t think that your business will automatically start showing up in search results just by purchasing a domain. You have to put the time and effort into crafting a professional website with plenty of pages that offer content the Google bots can crawl. The more information about your company you have associated with your domain, the better the chance it will show up.

How Do You Purchase a Domain?

You can do this in a number of ways. You can purchase the domain from Register.com and then associate your hosted website with the domain through your host’s admin panel. An easier method is to simply purchase the domain and hosting together. There are plenty of sites that offer such packages, like Vervehosting, GoDaddy, Google Website Hosting, AWS, Rackspace, and more.

If you’re looking for the easiest, most cost-effective solution, go with the hosting/domain combo. Not only will you save money and time, but you’ll also have customer support for both your hosted site and your domain in one location.

The cost for both a domain and hosting can be as low as $12.00 USD per year for the domain and $9.99 per month for the hosting. You’d be hard-pressed to find something at this price point that will give you as much ROI.

Conclusion

You should consider a domain for your company a necessity. Without one, you’ll miss out on expanding your presence, increasing your clientele, and so much more. And whether you create your website on your own, or outsource to a third party, make sure everything found on your new site is relevant, up to date, and easy to read.

DevelopmentInsightsMartechProducts

6 Important Skills for Project Managers

When you’re a project manager, you tend to have a lot of things on your plate, and it can be difficult to get them all right if you don’t possess the necessary skills. To help you, we’ve put together a list of six skills that help project managers experience success on a regular basis.

Keep reading to learn what skills you’ll need to cultivate to make an impact on your business.

1) Empowering Individuals & Collective Teams Can Take You Far

Although the word “project” is in the title, one of the biggest parts of being a project manager is actually the management of your team. In most cases, companies that encourage the empowerment of their employees have been shown to have the highest records of growth and long-term stability.

When you as a project manager know how to empower your team and encourage them to become the best versions of themselves, you encourage both their growth and the growth of your company. Empowering women is especially important. And as any successful executive or business owner could tell you, happy team members make for higher rates of productivity, sales, and customer satisfaction.

So if you haven’t yet begun to empower your team members to take initiative and introduce their own ideas into your everyday business practices, there’s no better time than now to start.

2) Planning is an Absolute Must

As a project manager, you play a major role in decisions both large and small. In fact, you’re likely presented with more than 10 critical decisions over the course of each day, and in many cases, those decisions will have an impact on the long-term and short-term growth of your company.

So it goes without saying that making decisions that reflect a larger-scale plan is a must.

First, though, you need to successfully plan both the big picture and minute details of each project from the get-go.

When you do this successfully, you increase the chances that your project will go off without a hitch, and you help empower team members to ensure the completion of vital steps within the plan.

3) Know How to Appropriately Communicate with every Generation

Once you’ve come up with a plan, it’s also necessary that you know how to effectively communicate to each of your team members. If they don’t understand exactly what’s expected of them, you run the risk of running into problems later on.

The most successful project managers know how to tailor their explanations to the various generations according to their particular communication styles.

Baby boomers, for example, tend to communicate best in face-to-face settings, whereas Gen Zers tend to demonstrate the highest rates of comprehension in digital settings.

The ideal communication style often varies from one generation to another, but more so from one individual to another. That’s why getting to know your team members and their individual communication styles can help you ensure smooth transitions between each step in your project management process.

4) Time Management is Essential as a Project Manager

If you’ve adequately planned out your projects, they likely have a projected completion date. It’s at this point that effective time management becomes a necessary skill if you want the project to be completed within that projected timeline. To do this effectively, you need to have a clear idea of your team members’ respective skills, the resources available, and the resources that will be necessary to ensure timely project completion.

5) Make Sure You Know Your Stuff

The market is constantly changing, and your knowledge of your field needs to adapt to reflect those changes. The most successful project managers know that their learning is never done, and they actively look for opportunities to know more about their job, current market trends, and the elements that affect both each day.

To put it simply, make sure you know your stuff. Because the more actively you approach learning, the less likely you will be to enter a project with outdated knowledge and information. This will then enable you to make informed decisions about the necessary timelines, tasks, team members, and overall plans for each project.

6) Know When You Need to Negotiate with Peers and Clients

With the willingness to learn comes the knowledge that you won’t always be right. If you can embrace that knowledge and put it into action when interacting with peers and clients, you’ll find yourself miles ahead of other project managers. This is because project managers who approach complicated situations with this mindset tend to be more successful in negotiations than those who approach the same situations with the thought that they, and only they, have the answers.

Simply put, an accomplished project manager knows when to stand up for their thoughts and ideas and when to compromise.

Conclusion

Part of being a project manager is knowing how to manage your projects effectively. If you take the time and energy to cultivate the skills we mentioned above, you’ll be well on your way to achieving the success you’re looking for.

Good luck!

InsightsProducts

Are Monitor Arms Worth It? – The Benefits of Monitor Arms

Is it worth tracking arms? What are the advantages of one control arm? Since many of us stare at computer screens most of the day, it is important to optimize our comfort and make our viewing experience as enjoyable as possible. Monitor weapons will help with both; however, they save desk space and streamline your work area, giving your monitor the “floating” look. Not sure yet? Read our Purchase Guide for the Display Neck.

Benefits of Monitor Arms

The monitoring arms will help to reduce the pressure of the neck, back and eye and the pain associated with such discomfort. In an everyday work environment, being able to adjust the height, width, and angle of a display to the best position for your height and seating or standing style makes a world of difference. Improved relaxation leads to higher productivity, improved health and decreased stress.

Types of Monitor Mounts

Monitor arms are “mounted” to a desk or a wall and there are several types of monitor mounts including:

  • Spring Mounts
  • Post Mounts
  • Wall Mounts
  • Rail Mounts
  • Laptop Mounts

Spring Mounts

Spring mounts are the costlier display arm solution, but additional flexibility and adjustability come with the added expense. Spring mounts can move in any direction and allow the positioning to be very precise. They are meant to move around and are suitable in office or work environments where the show is used by multiple people. Those mounts support almost all positions of swivel, tilt, and rotation. positions of swivel, tilt, and rotation.

Our favorite spring mount is the Humanscale M8.1 monitor arm.

Spring mounts come in two types: gas and mechanical. The more expensive gas spring mounts run quietly and have a smooth, very fluid motion. Mechanical spring mounts work lighter and are not as smooth as gas spring mounts, but they last longer with fewer parts and no seals.

Post Mounts

Post mounts are cheaper but still give a strong, secure link to your desk. The arms can be modified on post mounts but are more rigid in that they cannot be rotated as extensively as spring mounts. Nonetheless, post mounts are a perfect monitor mounting solution for a personal space where you are not shifting your display after changing it the first time.

Our favorite Post Mount is the SpaceCo SpaceArm Stubby Single Arm.

Wall Mounts

Wall mounts are meant to be built just like a wall-mounted TV on a wall. Wall mounts fit well for medical professionals including dentists and physicians whose equipment needs to be moved out of the way quickly. Wall mount solutions also include mouse and keyboard trays, so a whole “machine” can be taken out to show a patient something and then pushed away while the work is being done. Wall mounts are great at home, too, if you don’t want the extra adjustability provided by a spring or post mount and want a clean look without anything attached to your desk instead.

Rail Mounts

Rail mounts are less common in consumer environments, as they are usually used in the financial, medical, and security industries where many (6 +) monitors are mounted. Rail supports, while offering a variety of flexibility and customizable options, accommodate more weight than a typical display neck.

Laptop Mounts

Laptop mounts are very similar to a typical monitor arm in that they are mounted to a desk but are designed to support a laptop instead of supporting your show. There are also options for laptop mounting which support a second or third display so you can mount both your laptop and external monitor.

DevelopmentInsightsMartechProducts

How To Promote Your Business With eBooks – 21+ Tips (Infographic)

As a digital book, eBooks are easily available and can be accessed from a variety of devices, which makes it an excellent digital marketing tool to promote your business or services. As a long-form content format, eBooks are research-based, informative and a go-to source for all the information one needs about a particular topic. More importantly, by creating an eBook, businesses can portray their professional knowledge & expertise, improving their brand’s credibility and generating potential leads.

However, creating an eBook is not an easy task. As a long-form content, if your eBook is not engaging or interesting, it wouldn’t yield the desired result. Thus, the first tip is to research your target audience to know what they want and offer them an excellent piece of content that can also be a great resource. When creating an eBook for promotion, businesses also look to fill in the ‘content gap’ in their niche market. This could be anything that they feel provides value to their customers, helping them to better understand the products and services they are offering.

Another reason for the popularity of eBook marketing is because it is a cost-effective marketing technique, which can keep bringing in results (leads) long after its first published. If you want to make use of this digital marketing technique to promote your business, then the below infographic can help.

This infographic comprises of 21+ effective eBook marketing tips. These are tried and tested methods that will help you garner maximum results once you publish your eBook. Thus, if you want to know how to promote your business with eBooks, then check out the infographic now. Also, for further details, you can refer to this comprehensive guide. Plus, for reference purposes, you can download this infographic for free!

21+ Tips To Sell Your Business With eBooks [Infographic] by the team at BigRockCoupon.inE-book-Marketing Infographic

DevelopmentInsightsMartechProductsSaaS

A Few Things Every Software Tester Should know

With so much information readily available for consumption, it can be draining and overwhelming. If you are a budding or aspiring software tester that is looking for great material to read online, then you are in the right place. Since you are about to start your journey as an epic tester, as I did at a software development company in Houston or simply planning on learning how to become one, remember that you will have tasks to work around and constantly learn new tools.

Every product will pose new challenges for you as a tester and you will have to be able to adapt to the changing environments. If I were to tell you a few tasks that you will be required to perform as a tester, that would give you a clear idea or an insight into what you are getting yourself into. Remember, they are in no order or necessary, as every project will bring in their own set of complexities for you to challenge and overcome.

So without further-a-do, let us dive into the various activities you should indulge in before starting your career as a software tester.

#1 Why are you interested in becoming a software tester?

Before we even begin our tech-talk, you need to ask yourself this important question. Are you really interested in becoming a tester? What is your understanding of software testing and how accurate it is? Just think about the career path that you are planning to tread on and make sure it is entirely your own decision and not influenced by someone else.

#2 What exactly is software testing?

Software testing has become a vast field and now it is not just about using the product, finding out the bugs, and running quality checks. Testing is a process that starts as early as the requirement gathering phase. From making sure the product is behaving the way it should, the risks involved, user experience, and much more is all part of testing.

Make sure your knowledge is fine-tuned and up-to-date with the latest practices and evolution that software testing has observed.

#3 Meet other testers

Networking has its benefits and what better way to socialize than meeting fellow testers and learning from them? Trust me, it will do you wonders to meet people that are in the same boat as you do or have professional work experience to become your mentors. Either way, you will be able to connect with them and get the much-needed help, guidance or a listening ear during the tough times.

So keep a lookout for all the testing conferences that include TestCon, EuroStar, Agile Testing Days, and many more. You can even join online tester communities and mingle.

#4 What is your understanding of the ‘bug’?

Is it the same as an error? Is it something that crashes the software product? What is it? There are so many definitions online like: Taking Wikipedia for example, “software bug is an error, flaw or fault in a computer program or system that causes it to produce an incorrect or unexpected result, or to behave in unintended ways

Pretty generic, right? However, a bug can be defined as anything that places the value of the product in jeopardy. Now whatever threatens the integrity of the software is a bug. According to this definition, a bug isn’t only present within the code, it could be in the specifications that we overlooked. Hopefully, this cleared much of your concept on what exactly is a bug.

#5 White and black box testing

The two famous approaches to software testing are White and Black Box Testing. White or Glass Box Testing is when a tester is aware of the internal workings like the code. The tester runs test cases that are based on the knowledge of the program’s internal code. This kind of testing tests the lines of code (LOC), branches of code, and focuses on overall coverage of the statements.

The biggest drawback of White Box Testing is that you will never know about any missing functionality. It is purely technical and tests out the code integrity. Another roadblock that tester faces is the constant following of a testing pattern that reduces their ability to detect anything unusual.

To curb all these problems, Black Box Tester plays a significant part. Why? Because they are unaware of the internal working of the product and they are responsible for testing out the requirements and functionalities.

#6 Regression testing

When you are dealing with an agile model for software development, you are bound to do regression testing. The process of making sure everything works together even after changes were made is part of regression testing. Consider the example of when your favorite app gets an update and suddenly a previous functionality stops working? This is why regression tests are performed to make sure that new updates, builds, or added features haven’t broken anything. In a nutshell, it is re-testing the previous features after a change has been made.

 

The regression test strategies may differ from company to company.

#7 Mobile Testing

Safe to say mobile testing has become a field of its own. You could develop a career out of just being a mobile tester. So this is definitely a strong area you can experiment with and check if it clicks with you. There is a lot of material online to get you started.

Considering that mobile app development has become a lucrative field with millions of apps existing on App Stores and countless under development – Mobile testing is another branch that is an integral part of this area.

Mobile application testing can be defined as a process where apps developed for smartphones are tested for their functionality, usability, consistency, compatibility, security, performance, load, installation, and user experience.

#8 Write about your journey

There is nothing better than sharing your experience and journey as a tester. Writing will center you from all the chaos your work brings and help you reconnect with many others that are a part of the software testing community.

There is much more to tell you but I am sure you have the passion and desire to explore more and become a great tester.

DevelopmentInsightsMartechSaaSSEO

PREPOSTSEO Tools Review – Access 25 Powerful SEO Tool & Rank Your Site Higher

There is a big difference between having a website and operating one successfully to get the best business results. A lot of websites having an amazing interface actually fail. For the best business results, websites should have the needed exposure. If people are not landing on the website, it would be hard to generate the best sales volumes.

Why Prepostseo?

Using the correct legitimate tools is the first but most important step of improving the website rank. If you have the correct tools in the bucket, improving the rank would be much easier. Prepostseo has quality tools that can be used to enhance the rank of a website.

The top 25 Prepostseo tools for improving website rank

Domain Authority Checker

Domain authority is a measure of credibility. New websites usually have a low DA score and established ones rank higher on the chart.  The scale ranges between 0 and 100. Newly created websites have a score of around 20. Similarly, reputed and established websites have a score of around 70 to 80. If you are a website owner, you can check how things are going by using this tool to check the DA score.

Domain Age Checker

Constructing online business partnerships and opting for mergers is a regular activity. If one online brand is purchasing another, it should check the credibility. With this tool, you can check the domain age of any website. Reputed and legitimate websites use a domain for a long time. Thus, they have high domain age figures. Scam websites usually have newer domains and you can avoid them using this tool.

Google Indexer

Consider that you have added an additional page to your website but it is not being viewed1. This happens when an added or modified page has not been indexed. By using this free Google Indexer, you can index modified content.  When website changes are not viewed by potential buyers, brands suffer business losses. Website owners can surely avoid them by using this tool.

Backlink Maker

Backlinks are integral for a website to grow in terms of ranks. The highest-rated websites have quality backlinks. As a result, people do not have a problem with trusting their credibility. With this reputed tool, you can check the top-rated websites for constructing backlinks. With each recommended website, there would be a link to check Domain Authority (DA) and Page Authority (PA). By clicking these links, you can get an assurance that a positive backlink is being selected.

Broken Links Checker

Are you sure that the backlinks on your website are not broken? Links that are broken have a negative impact on the traffic rate of a website. This broken links checker is a commendable tool you can use for this purpose. In addition to that, it has a very simple process. Enter the URL of the required websites and click the button to check links. The output would show all the internal and external links of the website along with their status.

Readability Score Checker

It does happen that websites do not get a good rate of traffic even after published fresh related content regularly. It is not about publishing information only. If the content does not offer readability to the user, he would not spend time on the website. This would increase the bounce rate. Using this tool, you can determine how readable your content is.

Tool to verify backlinks

Are you sure that the backlinks to your website are working properly? This needs to be checked at regular intervals. At times, website owners expect the links to be working perfectly but they are broken. In such cases, users are taken to a non-responsive page. They get the feeling that the website is not working properly. As a result, a negative feeling is created and the user does not revisit the website.

Small text generator

Getting a good count of traffic is all about portraying the content in a different manner. The use of this small text generator helps in converting standard text too small caps, subscript, and superscript. These text forms of text can help in giving an innovative look to the text.  For instance, a title on a web page is written using small text, people would notice it because it would have a different appearance.

Keyword Density Checker

It is very important to understand that keywords have to be used with the correct density. The number of times a keyword is used depends on the word count. However, one has to check the keyword density to avoid stuffing. Unnecessary use of keywords is a negative act and search engines apply penalties on such websites. This keyword density checker is a commendable tool because it provides you with an accurate ratio of each keyword. You can upload the content by pasting it as a text or browsing the file directly.

Image to Text Converter

Consider that you view an image and wish to use the written text for your website. This tool can help you in extracting the text through any image. It is a quality tool using optical character recognition (OCR). Once the conversion process is completed, the text can be copied and used. Integrating a free OCR api into your app is easy with a service like Optic. 

Reverse Image Search

It is important to use original images but protecting them is the key. Images created from the start get misused when they are uploaded on other websites. If you own an image and it is uploaded on a scam website, your brand would lose its credibility and reputation. With this reverse image search tool, check the appearances of any image. In other words, you can get a list of web pages on which the image can be viewed. This is a free tool that helps in preventing image plagiarism and locating related snapshots as well. Thus, using it helps in improving the rank of a website.

Tiny Text Generator

This tool transforms normal written text into small three forms. These include small caps, subscript, and superscript. These forms of text are effective for marketing purposes. Instead of converting each character to these formats manually, you can use this free tool to get these unique text forms easily.

Plagiarism Checker

Are you publishing original content on your website? This is a very important question. Website owners who are not careful in this relation suffer. If you have plagiarized content on your website, your website would face penalties. In addition to that, it would be very hard to get a good count of visitors. This quality plagiarism checker scans through the content and reveals whether there are originality problems or not. Before publishing the content, it is important to use this tool and determine the originality level.

Article Rewriting Tool

Article writers and bloggers play very important roles in improving the rank of the website. They have to write articles on diverse topics regularly. This means collecting information by surveying websites, journals, and gazettes. After that, they have to rephrase the content. In a limited span of time, it becomes quite hard to complete all these goals. This article rewrite rewords content in an easy, free and instant way.  When you are done with content compilation, upload it and click the button to initiate rewriting. The article content would be reworded without any hassle.

Paraphrasing Tool

Almost every writer uses the internet to collect information when they have to write blog posts, articles or web content. Paraphrasing is something that requires focus, attention and time. Usually, writers have less time and they have to produce quality content with strict deadlines. The paraphrasing tool is a great option to get content rewritten. Simply upload the content in the original form. If you have a saved file, you can upload it directly by clicking the button for file selection. The other alternative is pasting the content as text. Original content is a key factor if you want the website rank to rise. Information written from the start means offering more readability to the readers. This is what visitors prefer when they visit a website.

Image Cropper

It is a fact that the right images boost website ranking in a very short while. However, refining the image is an important factor as well. If there is an unwanted image area, it should be chopped off so that visitors do not get confused. An image cropper is a commendable tool at no cost. Once you upload the image, you would see boundaries around it. All you need to do is adjust them to select the needed area.

Using a Graphics is a fantastic idea to hold an audience to read more content to the site. It is best when some Tools can help to create an amazing Visuals for Blog. Use Social Media Templates to create social media posts from PhotoADKing. It is one of the handy must-have tools for every social media enthusiast that we prefer.

AdSense Calculator

Google AdSense is a powerful and effective method to earn from a website. The key point is that website owners should have awareness about how much they can earn by applying the correct strategies. This AdSense Calculator provides you with a correct earning figure. Using this tool is very simple. You need to enter the number of impressions, click-through rate and cost per click. In this way, you would get a clear idea of how much you can earn.

Server Checker

A website does not generate any earnings if people are unable to access it. In addition to that, when people are unable to access a website, its rank goes down. Thus, a smart strategy is keeping a check on the server status. This server checker is a recommended tool for this purpose. You can use it to check the status of any website including your own. It is completely free and extremely easy to use.

Favicon Generator

Favicons help in differentiating your website with competitors.  It is an image that appears on the browser tab in which the website has been opened.  If there five browser tabs and only one has a favicon, the user would notice it easily. In addition to that, favicons help a lot in shifting between browser tabs. The interface of this favicon generator is quite easy to use and adapt.

DNS Records Checker

Website security is very important because a successful hacking attempt can bring the rank down immediately. This tool helps you in checking your own DNS records. Along with that, you can check the records of other websites as well.

Domain Who Is Checker

If you are establishing business relation with another brand, checking its website would provide you with a lot of information. By using this “Domain Who is Checker”, key details including owner name, country, email address and hosting company? It is an online tool so there is no need to go download or install anything.  When you enter the domain name and click the “Check WhoIs details” button, the core important details would be generated.

Reverse Who Is Checker

This tool is amazingly helpful and in terms of functionality. If you have a website owner’s name, it can be used to check the number of domains that he owns. Scam website owners usually have multiple website domains registered against their name. Connecting with such websites can hamper your reputation. Thus, before you establish a business partnership, this tool can be used to check the legitimacy of ownership.

Alexa Rank Checker

This Alexa Rank Checker performs a comparison between your website and other listed domains. In this way, if your website is not performing well, the necessary improvements can be made. There are two factors used to perform this comparison. The local rank of the website is restricted to the country in which it is registered. Similarly, the global rank compares a particular website to all websites listed globally.

HTML Minifier

The HTML Minifier reduces the code length by eliminating unnecessary space. This has an impact on the loading time. Websites that take a lot of time for loading do not acquire a high rank. By using this tool, you can eliminate unnecessary space and optimize the performance of the website.

ICO Converter

The ICO Converter is a tool used to generate favicons. Users can upload images in the PNG, JPEG, and other formats. A favicon is a good move to make your website more apparent. When a company or brand-specific logo appears on the browser tab, more people start recognizing it.