Man, the job market is brutal! It took me four months of job searching in 2025 to find SELF Id when MassMutual outsourced its technology department. And it took me four months of near constant job searching in 2026 to find AAA Life when I was caught up in the second round of SELF's layoffs in the end of January.
After throwing countless resumes into the void, submitting post after post on LinkedIn, experimenting with countless automation frameworks and programming projects on tjmaher.com, and spamming my entire LinkedIn Network (sorry about that!), and everyone I have worked with in the past twenty years as a software tester, desperately looking for job leads, it was a staffing firm working for AAA Life who found me. Thank you, Refactor Talent! Rewriting my LinkedIn Resume to make sure that I was using proper keywords in my "About" section of my LinkedIn Profile seems to have done the trick!
I'd also like to announce that I found another awesome software testing community to be a part of: The Software Quality Group of New England, a local non-profit meeting monthly in Burlington, MA. Come join us! And we are always looking for in-person speakers.
I've been missing being part of a software testing community! I was Meetup Organizer for the now defunct Ministry of Testing - Boston group from 2016 to 2024, loving every minute I was trying to find speakers, sponsors and hosts. I made so many great connections during my tenure. It's sad the Meetup group was shut down by the Ministry of Testing UK a few months ago, but I am glad to be part of a new software testing group!
In the past month as a new member of the SQGNE, I have:
* Given a talk to the group on building a mobile automation test framework
* Set up a monthly lunchtime discussion group that I'm planning to have meet the first Tuesday of each month.
* Been nominated to be one of the three Directors on the SQGNE leadership committee.
Check us out at SQGNE.org!
If you are in Massachusetts and are looking for a software testing group to present to, we are building out our calendar for the 2026 - 2027 right season now.
Join the SQGNE LinkedIn Group! https://lnkd.in/eNYUMG24
Thank you so much, everyone, for all of your support during my job search. It is really appreciated!
Happy Testing!
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