I am happy to announce that I have found a new job at SELF ID, a start-up where I am writing a test automation suite for their Android and iPhone application. In the past two months I've been building an automated test suite, checking that you can create a new SELF identity, Sign in with your SELF to a demo site, and store the identity you created on the blockchain.
Testing tools I am using:
- React Native app testing: Detox + TypeScript. Detox is more grey-box than black box automation, since you embed it in your React Native application so it can monitor the internals of the app, making sure that pages are loaded, network calls are finished, and animations are complete, reducing flakiness. (Detox site: How it Works).
- Web Application testing: Playwright + TypeScript to test our demo sites showcasing how users can "Sign In With Your SELF". Who would have thought a decade ago that Microsoft would be all-in with the open source? Microsoft Playwright, Microsoft's version of JavaScript. Pair it with Microsoft's VB Code + Microsoft's GitHub CoPilot we have powered by Claude.ai.
- API Testing: I am in the middle of researching Pact.io to do contact testing for our Multi-Dimensional Identity Protocol (MDIP).
Work is so much fun! I have always loved throwing myself into my work, figuring things out as I go, connecting with my amazing co-workers, chatting about geeky TV shows + movies my wife and I are watching. Best of all? Everybody in the company works from home. I feel like I am so much more productive without having to slog through an hour long commute to an office where I am on Zoom all day.
It was a panicky three month job search when my development team at MassMutual -- where I had been the past four years -- all received notice back in April 2025 that our team would be phased out in July. It was a rough job search, with next to no interviews lined up. Automation with Capybara and Watir, Ruby-based test automation solutions I've been using for six years just aren't as popular anymore. If it wasn't for a hiring manager personally recruiting me for his company, who knew me back when I was running the Boston area Meetup for the UK-based Ministry of Testing, a software testing community, I may still be unemployed.
The best perk of all? I was hired just in time to join SELF's yearly off-site in Puerto Rico! Sipping rum & cokes by the beach at the Caribe Hilton with my new co-workers face-to-face, on only my second week at the new company, was amazing!
I am completely astounded at my good fortune, and I hope I am not going to be job searching for a long, long time.
-T.J. Maher
Software Engineer in Test
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