I'm alive


Reader,

Yeah I know what I said.

But so much has happened and I can't stay silent about it. I like to share as I build.

This course is coming along nicely.

Remember I told you I was quitting my newsletter to do this?

You probably don't. It's fine. My plan was:

  • Make a portfolio website (check)
  • Create better projects
  • Build my dream QA course

Turns out bullets 2 & 3 go well together. This is the first course of many.

For each course, I'll build the project I ask you to build, as I build the course.

I call it "Lesson-Driven Development" or "Project-Based Teaching". Not sure. Not married to a term yet.

But you get it. I'm literally doing the thing and then teaching how to do it. One step at a time.

I've got a lucky group of beta testers sitting in a Telegram channel giving me feedback on the course as I build it.

They're so smart, I'm so grateful they're volunteering to help me make this course amazing.

The best projects are group projects, as I hope I've drilled into your head by now.

Not just for your QA Automation portfolio, but for anything in life.

A few updates you should be aware of:

  • I named my business "Modern QA" and bought a domain name for it
  • I'm using that domain for my newsletter signup page, so share it with your friends
  • My blog is on a subdomain of that domain, but you probably know that already
  • The Modern QA newsletter is not exclusively about job hunting anymore, but instead I am going for a "future-proof your QA career" theme. If you think that's cool, stick around. If not, the unsubscribe button's at the bottom of the page. That said, what I talk about will include job-hunting advice or at least be relevant to your job hunt.
  • The way I write emails won't change at all. If you loved 'em before, you'll still love 'em. But I am aiming for sending daily emails now. You've been warned.
  • I started mentoring on ADPList again, but in a limited capacity. If my availability works for you, feel free to book.
  • As far as products or services go, the only thing I'm working on now is this course. I'll occasionally mention it, especially as launch approaches. Launch will be sometime in November.

I probably missed a few things. But anything cool I've done since my last email can be found on my website.

As for you, I'm happy to be writing to you again.

I missed this. I don't think I'll ever stop loving how it feels to write these emails.

I hope you'll join me for this next chapter. If not, it's been good.

Cheers,

Steven

NOTHING TO SEE HERE.

I'm not currently writing a newsletter. Feel free to read the old ones in the archive below.

Read more from NOTHING TO SEE HERE.

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Reader, On Monday we covered who to contact and when. You did the work, found the right recruiter and team. Now what? Let’s talk about the message itself. I read a lot of outreach. And I'll be direct: most of it sounds the same. Not because the people sending it are bad candidates, but because they're following an outdated professional template that signals "I didn't really think about this." I’m guilty of it myself. I have looked back and read outreach for sales activity I’ve done and...