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Jamal Hameed
Jamal Hameed

Jamal Hameed

QA Team Lead

Nuance Communications

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Initiative to develop a country
Professionals in every field should think about setting up businesses in their fields of expertise in India thereby creating new job opportunities. They should adapt their thinking to the Indian mentality and understand that things may not work as fast as in some of the other developed countries. They need to tailor the needs and be tolerant with people. In plain words, they need to "speak" their language. For e.g., a regular day in the US for a professional could be filled with meetings whereas in India, it might be just the weekly meeting or perhaps even none. The important thing is to understand the cultural differences and to make use of that diversity to profit the businesses. One cannot expect the people to understand the "big" picture so easily or so quickly. They need to slow down and get to the people's levels to understand their needs, their strengths and their weaknesses. Also, the companies need to have foundations whereby the society is also taken into consideration.
Important lesson learned
Yes, there are several lessons I have learned in my life. I would like to share some of them here. The most important lesson I have learned is "Nothing comes easy". We always need to work very hard to earn something good. Once we have a vision and a plan to what we want to be in 5 years from now, we need to work accordingly. There will be several hurdles to face and we just have to keep going on, getting up from the fall and brushing it off before moving on to the next thing. You just cannot afford to relax unless our goals have been achieved. Then, there comes complacency. We tend to relax and become complacent easily once we have achieved something of substance, but, we have to avoid complacency at all costs. Thomas Edison tried 10,000 things before actually arriving at the electric light bulb. In his words, "I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work." It is very important that we do not give up, never ever.
Ensuring success
One of the things that I do to ensure that I continue to grow and develop in my life is to keep learning not only in the job, but also from the experiences of bringing up my kids and talking to various people. It is highly essential to talk to different people to understand their view points. No two people could ever think alike and we need to be cognizant of that. Only by talking to them more and more would we be able to understand their thoughts. From my Quality Assurance job, I ensure that I talk to the business analysts and the developers at all times because it is important for me to understand the business analysts' understanding of the requirement as well as the developers' understanding of the same requirement. If there is a gap there, then, it becomes all the more difficult to come up with the right set of test cases. I need to ensure that we are testing the right feature in the best manner possible. Also, talking to them more allows me to come up with varied test cases.
My achievements
I am proud of several achievements. Firstly, being the Quality Assurance Engineer, I have found some good defects and I still continue to. When
I find defects in the software, it gives me immense satisfaction. I have worked for companies like Yahoo, Ericsson, Motorola and Cognizant.

I am proud of the time when I found a very good defect with the Yahoo Mail. Once I was checking my emails and there were 5 or 6 new emails in my Inbox. I have the habit of checking emails from the ones that were received first.
So, I go like Inbox(5), Inbox(4), Inbox(3), Inbox(2), Inbox (1) and then guess what Inbox(-1), that is minus 1. There is never going to be minus
1 number of emails in any Inbox ever! That was the best defect I had found.

The other achievement I am proud of is me being one of the few guys who had come abroad for higher studies from my native town which is a small town in Tamil Nadu and I have made it big. Today, there are quite a few youngsters who want to emulate me!
My strongest skill
My strongest professional skills would be Software Testing, Quality Assurance, Java programming, executing SQL queries, debugging and leading teams. I am very good with debugging issues and one of my attributes is never giving up. I am a very good trier in that I keep trying several things to make it work. I am never hesitant to try several things just to make it all work. One of the other attributes would be my strong communication and exceptional writing skills. I am very good with my writing skills as is quite evident from my answers. I have always written very clear and concise defect descriptions. I also write good emails that would be well understood by one and all. I love being the go-to person for the products that I own by being the QA for. I strive to understand the products end-to-end by working with the right people and asking the right questions. I also write very clear and concise defect descriptions that are easily understood by all the stakeholders.
Brief description about me
I am a Software Quality Assurance Team Lead with more than 9 years experience in the field. All of my experience has come from the United States. After completing my Bachelor in Engineering in Electrical Engineering from University of Madras in 2001, I came to the United States to do my M.S in Computer Science from Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. I graduated in 2004 and I have been working full-time ever since.
Currently, I am working as the Quality Assurance Team Lead for Nuance Communications. I am thoroughly enjoying my job as it allows me to strike a perfect work-family balance and also put my experience to very good use.
Overall, I feel I have been at the right places at the right times.
I have made lots and lots of friends all along and they all have enjoyed and still continue to enjoy being my friend. I am an easy-going person with a great attitude and the willingness to help others. You would always find me giving you a smile. I just love Software Testing.
My family background
As I had mentioned earlier, my family was business-oriented. My Dad was a business man. However, I was not interested in business. I wanted to do higher studies and abroad. It was a dream come true for me. No one in my family including my uncles ever had good education. Although my father managed to complete his Bachelors in Science degree which was a great achievement in late 1960s, he did not like to continue with higher studies.
He was totally unlike me in this regard. Personally for me, my family members have always encouraged me and they always wanted me to do very well in going against the norm of business. I am extremely thankful to my parents. They really are the reason I am here writing answers for my interview. I am sure they would feel very proud once this interview goes online. They would be thrilled!!
Important decision
Every day, I get to make several decisions in my life. However, some of the most important decisions I have made would be me coming to the United States for doing my M.S in Computer Science. Coming and living with friends taught me several things such as being independent. Prior to me coming to the US for higher studies, I haven't lived away from my parents. So, this was the first time. It taught me what life is all about. I remember walking in -30 degree Celsius Winter in Chicago. The wind was cutting cold!
Here I was away from home and in conditions that were so alien to me.
Yet, I adapted to it quite well. The other important decision was for me to do a Masters degree in Computer Science. I had my Bachelors in Electrical Engineering and it was going to be difficult for me to do my Masters without any programming experience. However, I took to it as a fish would to water and everyone wanted to learn Java programming from me. That is a clear indication of my ability to keep trying.
My role model
My only role model in life is my father. He used to work so hard and never got proper sleep. He worked so hard to bring us up well. He cultivated in us good values and taught us to always be nice to people. He encouraged us to try and understand the issues in everyday life and to tackle them from all angles. Most important thing, he never wanted us to give up! As I am his only son, he wanted me to do higher studies and get a good job. He made friends wherever he went and it came most naturally to me. I am really proud to be his son because that meant I had a role model readily available.
Couple of years from now
I see myself growing to become the QA Manager in a couple of years from now. As the QA Team Lead, I am already leading a small team, so, it is only a question of applying that experience at a larger scale. I am sure I would be up for it and that I would do very well if and when given the right opportunity.
Thoughts on Education system of our country
The education system in India is good, however, it needs to improve in some regards. The following measures could be taken into consideration.

1. Reduce the student workload, that is homework
2. Reduce the number of subjects, for e.g., the subject called History could be made as an elective rather than as mandatory
3. Stress on subjects that are more important such as Art and Craft, Cooking, Journalism that will enable students to build a career out of them
rather than merely pass the exams without understanding them
4. Simplify Mathematics, for e.g., Calculus is hardly applied anywhere, so, why even learn it
5. Reduce the cost of education, make it affordable to most people, even to the poorer people
6. Implement remote education by having courses stream over the Internet, nowadays Wi-Fi is prevalent. We can make use of it.
More about myself
I am very happy to be given this opportunity to express myself and share my experiences.

Thanks so much to the Silicon India Team for having provided me with this opportunity!
Qualities needed to become a successful leader
The most essential qualities a person requires in order to become a successful leader would be

- People Skills
- Communication Skills
- Negotiation Skills
- Understanding Issues from others' point of view
- Lead by Example
- Being able to relate with others' problems
- Willing to give and receive feedback at all times
- Taking Responsibility
- Being Accountable
- Sharing Success and Failure alike
- Keeping everyone informed at all times
- Never Give Up
- Strong Customer Focus
- Easygoing
Degree that I recommend
I would strongly recommend doing an M.S in Computer Science for my career, that is Software Quality Assurance Engineer. Being good in programming is very essential for my career.
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