Sunday, February 12, 2006

Further on the road in becoming a finest software tester ...

One of my blog reader asked my views on things that a good tester should invest on and personal traits and qualities of a good tester. I did write about it at my blog in this post. Here is a sequel to it

1. First important thing become a great testers is to question. Question around you anything - be it Door Knob, Watch, your vehicle, your access card, your rice cooker, Gas stove, TV, cell phone. Get curious about everything around you. Find bugs in everything that you see. World is a giant software and is full of bugs. Find bugs there. Then finding them in software will become fun.

2. Powerful observation: can you observe things that others don’t see? Can you notice that little color fading on the billboard hoarding? Can you find error or mistake in Prime ministers reported speech? How about in annual report of Infosys or IBM? Be aware of anything around see deep into it. Smart testers find bugs by observing carefully and are always curious about things - they never stop.

3. Memory and analytical skills. Take tests or training to improve memory. Solve puzzles, play chess, Suduko, jigsaw puzzles. Few of these tricks are mentioned in this blog post.

4. Becoming a good tester should be your goal - "logging tonnes of bugs" or "getting expertise in automation" - will come as side effects - they will be natural to you. Remember - there are no shortcuts - be lifetime student of learning, questioning and observation.

Have you read articles from James Bach and Michael Bolton on Critical thinking? If not, they should be good beginning. Don’t expect immediate results. Depending upon how committed are you and how fast you get into the mode of questioning and observation - it could take about 1-2 years to call yourself a descent tester. That is my rough estimate.

Current industry trends focus on process, factory thinking and want to make testing as routine and predictable - real testing is always interesting, instantaneous and dynamic. You can not do good testing by a following a “pre-laid out list” - You need to think.


Shrini

1 comment:

The Avenger !!! said...

Once again such to the point post.

I am glad pradeep talked about you else I would have never found such good posts on testing !!!