A Typical Day of a Test and Validation Engineer in Bangalore

My name is Anushameenakshi Sathesh (Anusha), I am 27 years old and I have been working as a Senior Engineer Test & Validation in Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) at Continental in Bangalore since April 2016.

In this article I would like to invite you to follow me through a typical day of my work.

The workday begins. Upon arriving at office, there is always a backlog of emails waiting to be addressed. So, I always take time to reply to the emails which needs immediate attention. I track any new updates that I have received regarding the projects I am handling. I plan my work for the rest of the day and make sure that the most urgent work gets done first.

One of the major customer I work for is Toyota. I get in touch with the counterparts in Japan to discuss the software or recent updates in the project. I receive my work tickets via the IMS Administration Tool. Each of them has a deadline and priority status. It guides me on which ones I need to start with.

I confer with my colleagues, clear up a few important questions, and continue with my work. I am testing camera algorithms. In the future, such cameras will assist drivers in autonomous vehicles  for improving safety and convenience. Cameras can detect other vehicles, pedestrians, obstacles, traffic signs, lanes etc.  and the information captured by our ADAS camera is quickly analyzed by the algorithm and used to trigger a response by the vehicle to improve safety. If I encounter any defects in the software during testing, I discuss them with the system test manager and I log issues for the software development team to look into.

It’s  time for a lunch break. I head to our Continental cafeteria with my colleagues. There’s rice, chapatis, sambar, dal, rasam, yoghurt and pickle. Me and my colleagues enjoy the traditional Indian dishes, chitchat, discuss projects and gather our strength for the second half of their day.

I concentrate on working on my tickets. My primary goal is to identify as many bugs as possible, creating a robust, high quality product and ensuring the safety of the end user.

After 4.00 pm, I spend some time to work on non-technical activities like Continental Idea Management (CIM) for which I am an Idea Manager. CIM empowers employees to submit ideas that would help Continental save costs, work more efficiently, improve processes and ensure safety. As an idea manager, I am responsible for a group of 120 employees. I moderate CIM processes by helping my colleagues brainstorm, requesting approvals and calculating rewards.

I finish my last test of the day. After taking a last look at my inbox and responding to all the emails, I shut down my computer and head off to the Continental gym to play  Table Tennis or to the outdoor Continental court for Badminton. I am looking  forward to meet some colleagues and have a relaxing end for the day.