I though I create a list with some problems I encountered or saw in other parts, or generally tend to be in companies that perform outsourcing or remote branches, but not only there.

It is normal to see a higher quality in places where the wealth is accumulated: USA, Western Europe etc and a lower in some other places: Eastern Europe, India. However this tends to level a little bit, but still in principle is the same. The biggest problem is credibility, more than competence now, that draws the lines. My focus is not on that thougt, but on usual problems.

So here is the list, in no particular order:

• It starts with public education, there is no official testing class in universities or other similar level. Even that I consider most of the current educational systems garbage (in most places on the world also) it can give a start point that can be questioned and criticized. You learned something but then you got your skills higher to be able to question what you inserted in your brain without thinking.
• Not enough high skilled testers on the market. This causes a chicken-egg scenario. Companies don’t have from where to choose and hire anyone almost. Then they are not satisfied and market salary goes down affecting skilled testers.
• Young and inexperienced testers tent to be very annoying when trying to prove themselves because they have a very simple view on testing.
• Some testers are very aggressive without a real reason and arrogant. This is more in generally aggressive environments or when a tester was promoted by mistake or bullshit.
• Developers can be unpleasant if not used with testing. The view on it can be through their skill (programming) thus making testers people who should not be paid at all.
• In remote or outsourced companies is the worst because they will try to sell low-level testers or in case they have a high skill tester they will rob him/her, thus dropping the motivation. In this case philosophical approaches or deep approaches are rare, mostly only tasks, test case and scripts in an unhealthy,unproductive and slavery way.
• Testing is seen as an opportunity to hire friends and get bonuses because “you don’t have to do anything as a tester anyway”.
• Management usually lacks skill to hire, evaluate and improve testing.
• There are bad directions in testing, like certifications or “standard procedures” that affect testing.
• Working in a foreign place can affect the situation. Foreigners can be annoying in some situations, but also locals can be arrogant and saboteurs.
• Testers that do great exploratory testing show fast enough that they can bring value, but need to be “upgraded” by managers to write scripts and test cases.
• Testing is seen from the outside from extreme perspectives: either is a non-skilled job where someone needs to be hired to try and see “if it works”, or 100% scripted testing.
• Testing is seen as a rudimentary step before being promoted to development.
• If there is a high skilled tester in the team he is seen as a troublemaker sometimes, because this should never be, is not part of the order of things.
• Most job ads show that managers want certified testers and with skills to write automated scripts. But mostly just a cumulus of bad or not apply-able to context stuff.
• If you do a great job in testing it will not be seen till you leave the company usually.
• If you do a great job managers will try to hire something “similar” to you like same age or same location, because you are probably a unit from a group of units perfectly identical and replicable.

Well this is the list that I could come up for now. I am sure that a lot of good testers had few of this problems and I think maybe there are more to add to the list.