Ashley Lesego
Senare

The job

Working within Old Mutual Bank's technology division, Ashley is responsible for the end-to-end quality of web and mobile banking applications serving millions of South African customers. Operating in a fast-paced Agile environment, she participates in every sprint from refinement to retrospective — ensuring that quality is baked in, not bolted on.

• Automated test suitesDesigns and executes using Selenium (web), Playwright (modern web), and Appium (iOS/Android), covering critical banking user journeys end-to-end.
• API testing & contract validationBuilds Postman collections to verify that banking services respond correctly to all input scenarios — including malformed and adversarial requests.
• Agile delivery participationActive in sprint planning, stand-ups, refinement, and retrospectives — contributing a QA perspective to feature design decisions from the start.
• Defect lifecycle management in JIRALogs, triages, tracks, and verifies every fix with clear, actionable reports and sprint-level defect metrics.
• QA documentation in ConfluenceMaintains test plans, strategies, and sign-off records that satisfy both internal governance and regulatory audit requirements.
• Cross-functional collaborationWorks daily with developers, product owners, business analysts, and security engineers to ensure all quality dimensions are covered before release.

The job

Following promotion based on demonstrated excellence, Ashley stepped into a full systems testing role at HWSETA — a government sector entity managing workplace skills development for South Africa. She was responsible for the quality of complex ERP systems (Odoo v8, v12, v17) spanning workforce skills planning, supply chain, and helpdesk operations.

• End-to-end functional testingTested Odoo ERP modules covering skills planning (WSP), procurement, and support ticketing — verifying business processes worked correctly under real-world conditions.
• Regression test packsDesigned and executed regression suites to ensure new module deployments didn't break existing functionality across Odoo v8, v12, and v17.
• Exploratory testingUsed deep system knowledge and investigative instinct to find defects that scripted tests missed — catching the unexpected before it reached production.
• User roles & permissions testingVerified that access controls worked correctly across the platform to protect sensitive organisational data from unauthorised exposure.
• Dashboard analytics reportingCompiled Power BI and Tableau reports surfacing patterns in system performance, testing coverage, and defect trends for management decisions.
• Developer & BA collaborationChallenged acceptance criteria, clarified requirements, and translated business needs into testable scenarios that development teams could build to with confidence.

The job

Ashley's internship was multidisciplinary — she was simultaneously a quality assurer, application tester, IT administrator, project coordinator, and trainer. This breadth gave her a systems-level understanding that most testers develop only after years of specialisation. She was writing and executing test cases in the morning, coordinating with stakeholders in the afternoon, and managing IT infrastructure in between.

• Application testingEvaluated software for functionality, usability, and performance against defined requirements — developing the precision habits that define her work today.
• IT infrastructure managementManaged and maintained network stability, hardware operation, and system uptime across the organisation's IT estate.
• Cross-team liaisonActed as a bridge between technical teams, management, and end-users — translating findings into language each audience could act on.
• Project coordinationCoordinated system implementation timelines and milestones, ensuring projects stayed within scope, budget, and time constraints.
• System documentationMaintained user guides, technical specifications, and process records aligned with organisational and compliance standards.
• Compliance & end-user trainingEnsured policy and regulatory compliance, worked with security teams on risk mitigation, and trained staff on new systems.