Her Story
About Miriam
I began my career as a cashier in a grocery store and progressively moved up through various roles in the retail industry, including office cashier, grocery manager, and assistant manager, a position I held for about 3 years. When an opportunity arose at the corporate office in software testing, I made the transition to validate software from a cashier's perspective. My main area of expertise is user interface validation, ensuring that what our cashiers and customers see is accurate and discovering any software issues early on before they appear in production across our 200 stores. My day-to-day responsibilities include keeping up with daily meetings, tracking new issues, managing unexpected testing requirements from major vendors like NCR, and working with different IT teams to ensure everyone is on the same page. I'm passionate about improving the quality of products at the retail level because I experienced firsthand the frustrations of dealing with bugs, system reboots during customer transactions, and unhappy customers. I knew I could make an impact because I understood the day-to-day tasks of cashiers and customers, and I'm willing to step outside the box of standard testing to find new things that could be broken.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Miriam
01What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I've ever received was from one of my managers who told me, 'I don't know how to do it, or you don't know how to do it, but if I teach you, are you willing to learn?' I went from being a cashier to working as a deli clerk, slicing ham and cheese, and I had no idea I could do it. My manager there told me, 'You're always so willing to just learn something new. What if I taught you this? Are you willing to do it?' And I said absolutely. She encouraged me to just continue to do that in everything I do, and she said there's no stopping me if I keep that attitude.
02What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
The most important thing to me is teaching my daughter what balance looks like and what it means to keep pushing forward at home and at work. I don't think a lot of people see how much it takes out of you. My husband works longer hours than I do, so I take the kids to school, pick them up, go home, cook dinner, and wait for him to come home. In the world we live in today, you have to do it financially, but there's a lot of people doing it, and it's doable. I want other people to know that it is hard, but we're together in this, and we're all doing it. I want to be that inspiration, especially after expecting my second child while trying to do it all at once. I didn't think I could go to school and go to work and take care of my kids, but God gave me the strength to keep doing that and push forward. I'm still impressed with my capabilities.
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