“One of the main things that has impressed me at Planit is the calibreof my colleagues. It is a pleasure to be part of such a diverse, talented and thoroughly well-adjusted team.”
Graham, Senior Consultant, Technical Testing, Planit
Graham’s interest in technology and testing started at a young age.
“I've always had a keen interest in taking things apart to find out how they work, and latterly learning how to put them back together again,” he says. “This turned out to align well with testing, and security testing in particular.”
Graham started his career as an engineer at a specialist consultancy in the UK, working on everything from embedded hardware to GUI applications. After four years, he had the opportunity to join a specialised, security-focused development and assurance team.
“In this role, I led a functional and security test team,” Graham says. “It was engaging, enjoyable, and challenging in equal measure.”
After building up his career portfolio in the UK, Graham relocated to Australia and found the chance to join the Perth office soon after it opened in 2012. “It was an excellent opportunity to join a growing business in a new market,” he says.
Now a Senior Consultant, Technical Testing, Graham has been able to apply his testing and security knowhow to a variety of clients in Perth. Along the way, he has been supported by his local and external team members.
“One of the main things that has impressed me at Planit is the calibre of my colleagues,” Graham says. “It is a pleasure to be part of such a diverse, talented and thoroughly well-adjusted team.”
As for what constitutes a good team member, Graham highlights a keenness for learning and doing new things as key traits.
“Good testers come from a wide range of academic and professional backgrounds,” he says. “It's the approach, mindset, and critical thinking skills that are the most important factors.”
In the technical testing space, Graham says a software development or STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) background is a good foundation from which to learn new skills and technologies.
Even for an experienced consultant such as himself, Graham says the learning doesn’t stop. Fortunately, he and other Planit staff have near unlimited access to the company’s comprehensive and industry-leading training programmes.
“Skills I used a decade or more ago are now either increasingly niche, such as Unix driver development, or are now relevant only to a diminishing number of legacy systems, such as MFC,” he says. “So in my experience, it is essential to continue learning and developing new skills!”