Tips on How to Become a Better Tester

There have been several occasions throughout my career that have allowed me to speak about the work that I do in front of an audience. Despite the fact that I find presenting more difficult than testing, I actually enjoy it as I am able to share my knowledge with other professionals, and inspire them. This gig has been going on for years now, and it was only last weekend when I was lost for words for the first time. You see, a nephew of mine asked me how to become a better tester. I was quite taken aback because I didn’t expect a serious question coming from a kid. I tried simplifying the answer, but it just made it more confusing for him. When I got home, I reflected on his question, and wrote a list of tips about it. That being said, here they are:

Test, test, and test some more.

As testers, we have to insure the quality of the product that our employers have asked us to test, and to help developers find and eliminate any bugs that it may have. So, it is really important that we provide topnotch testing procedures as the success of the product’s usability depends on it. To achieve that level, improve your testing skills by running independent examinations on your free time. For instance, I ran a series of tests involving online gaming sites, partycasino.com to be particular.

In this series, I tried testing their browser-based and standalone versions on the laptop that I have at home. I repeated this testing procedure several times, and on different perspectives. The first test that I ran was client-centered. By doing so, it had given me an idea or two of what the average end user’s expectations of Party Casino are, graphics and process-wise. Next, I have conducted a test based on the concept of exploratory or common sense testing. This allowed me to produce variations in testing to quickly ferret out bugs. The last test that I did was focused on the changing features of this leading social gaming source, and whether they fit all together, or pose a great risk with the existing ones.

Be updated.

Take advantage of the availability of Google Reader and Twitter to find news on the latest trends in the software testing industry. You can also talk to fellow professionals from the industry, at conferences, training, etc, and share ideas.

Have some experience as a developer.

I know that programming is not the main responsibilities of a tester, but understanding its process is good practice. It allows testers to predict some errors before detecting them in the testing process.

[This is a guest post]

ShareThis

1. SRINIVAS KADIYALA says:

   March 11, 2013 at 6:34 am

   Thanks for ur post.

   Identify – Explore – Test are skills needed for a tester.

   Google Reader and Twitter are awesome,helps me to read the testing related posts.

   Reply to this Comment