Life as a Social Boss
Hi, you’ve maybe seen me at an event, or just popping up online. I’m Áine and I manage the majority of the social for Ministry of Testing. Everything from emails, tweets, Facebook posts and all sorts of other fun. So what’s my story, how on earth did I end up where I am?
I was a tester for a long time, about 6 years in fact — that’s pretty long for me. I had my own team, I was a senior in my field. High Fives! I then decided it just wasn’t for me anymore, I still found testing fascinating, but my heart belonged elsewhere. For about 5 of those 6 years I was also running a number of social platforms on the side. I’ve my own YouTube channel, blog and all the social that goes along with it. I’ve worked with some well known brands over the years, put myself through training programs, inhaled all the information I could lay my hands on and I loved playing with all things creative. So I decided to work more in that field.
From January I became a full time freelancer working in all things social. I’ve provided training for companies, managed social media, sorted out SEO, provided digital marketing plans and created videos. All sorts of fun! I knew Rosie from the local software testing meetups and we’d chatted a few times. She happened to see my post about my new career path and decided that we should work together! Perfect. I got to keep my hand in the testing world and play with the creative side of things. I’m a fan of ninjas and monsters, just in case you hadn’t guessed.
Ministry of Testing is now my main client and with that, I’ve been able to travel to conferences and plan trips of my own around the world. I’m actually sitting in the airport as I write this, I’m off to Bali! Pretty soon, I’ll be sitting by an infinity pool, looking out over the jungle while coming up with more social plans for Ministry of Testing — or maybe I’ll be on the beach? I have that digital nomad life that some people crave — in fact, I craved it for 10 years!
It all sounds fun and games however, I put in long hours just making sure we’re updating people on things that are coming up, creating meetup groups online & ordering swag, sorting marketing for courses coming up, dealing with sponsors for events/online platforms/emails, attempting to keep up with the news on Slack/testing news/tech updates, updating our various websites, as well about 20 other things that just need doing. Plus continually keeping up with the changes within my industry…google does love to change it’s algorithms a few times a year, just for giggles. In saying all that, I wouldn’t do anything else! I’m always busy, I’m forever learning and I’m incredibly happy.
I know I’m bias, but I love my work with Ministry, yes a layer of cheese is currently dripping from my keyboard. However, what other brand allows me to take ridiculous photos of ninjas and monsters attending workshops and post them to the world to see? Or put together emails with bad jokes in them? Never mind the odd ridiculous video, dodgy tweet or post! Plus I still get to keep up with the testing community and stay part of such an active, engaging, supportive bunch of people — some are utter loons, some are gentle and sweet, all of them you want to high five or hug. Win! You can keep up with the whole craic on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, The Club or Slack!
I’m sure I’ll be back in future with an update on life at the Ministry of Testing, for now, I’m off in search of wifi to upload and some coffee.
