Up close & personal with Preetinanda Samal 

Tell us about yourself.  

I am a Mum and was born and completed my studies in India before relocating to Malaysia with my husband. We had 5 great years in Malaysia, where my son was also born before bidding farewell and relocating to Australia permanently. During my time in Malaysia, I worked as a senior test engineer but decided to take a three-year sabbatical to spend more time with my son – so far, I can say it was a good call!

After my sabbatical, I returned to the workforce as a Test Analyst at Optus before joining the team at Talentplicity (Vocus) for the past year.

Like most working mums, I love good relaxed me time. I enjoy family holidays, road trips, and camping trips. My husband is a great cook and my son, and I enjoy every meal that he prepares.

What do you do at Vocus/Talentplicity?

I will try to keep it short … 😊.

I am currently working with Vocus and with close-knit scrum teams like Salesforce, Service Now, and Wholesale Mass Market scrum teams as a Test Analyst.

On any given day you may see me:

• Balancing the use of agile delivery concepts and test analysis tools and concepts.
• Supporting short and long-term operational/strategic business activities through analysis, test forecasting, and sizing.
• Working closely with the product owner, business analyst, scrum master, and development team within the program to ensure the integrity of the end-to-end solutions.

Assisting in backlog refinement, story grooming, user story development, capturing acceptance criteria, story sizing, documenting use cases, and process mapping.

Test management, Test planning, and Test execution in a nutshell.

How long have you been with Vocus/Talentplicity?

It has been just over a year since I joined Vocus/Talentplicity.

What do you love about your job?

I love the genuine spirit of cooperation, helping each other out and the eagerness to resolve conflicts, which normally isn’t seen at other co-operations. I also get to work from home 3 times a week, which is great.

What is a hobby or pastime that you enjoy?

I like painting, watercolor is my favorite medium. I had the opportunity to learn from an amazing artist/master while we were in Malaysia. Painting is like meditation to me.

I also love desserts and enjoy making/baking/cooking them for my family and friends.

What is your favourite recipe/dish?

I have a few but I can’t say no to my mum’s chicken curry or my husband’s delicious biriyani 😊

What is your favourite holiday destination?

Since we’ve been in Australia, we have not repeated a destination. This country is so vast that it always feels like there is so much more to see. When we were in Malaysia, we also frequently went to an island called Langkawi which we really enjoyed and is a must if you ever are in Malaysia.