I Don't Want to Graduate, I Want To Be A Great Tester
I recently read John McConda's blog on hiring testers and where testers "fit" within his company. Until businesses and corporations recognize that testing is a career and not a stepping stone, our craft will be plagued by the "developers are superior to testers" syndrome that is within the corporate world. Fortunately, for those testers who took the Red Pill, the gap seems to be closing with the developer-tester and tester-developer articles.
I don't aspire to be a developer. I aspire to be a great tester.
We recently were looking to fill a test position within Dovetail Software. Our recruiting ad read as follows:
- Don't think a tester is a failed programmer
- Believe that software testing is a profession
- Have experience or aptitude with agile software development practices and agile testing
- Know how to write scripts using Ruby, C#, or JavaScript
- Have experience with or knowledge of Fit, FitNesse, NUnit, Selenium, and stress testing
- Understand how to test web apps
- Can work in a collaborative, communicative, and progressive environment
- Understand that cubes and private offices get in the way
- Are a professional and perpetual learner
- Live in Austin, or want to live in Austin
The first two bullet points says it all. Unfortunately, the vast majority of the submissions we received did not reflect the first two prerequisites.
So, how does a tester become a great tester? I don't have a checklist, but I firmly believe you only get better by being around better people as well as through practice. There are some great test resources out there for people interested in being a great tester. Testing Reflections is a nice start, as it is a blog aggregator. It's a one stop blog for Bret, Elisabeth, Brian, James, Brent, Scott, Mike, Ainars, Antony, and the list goes on and on. Subscribe to Agile Testing, Software Testing and any other pertinent groups. And practice your craft.
