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Sorry, software testing is not an ideal job in that case!

21/6/2016

11 Comments

 
I have been avoiding to write on this topic from quite some years but looks like I should really speak my mind about it now. Before you confuse yourself with the title any further, let me provide some context.

This post is inspired (rather provoked) by bunch of incidents of similar kind that made me upset. Let's briefly talk about those incidents first.

Incident one 

A long time programmer friend looking for change of job met me and asked for guiding him get a tester's job. Out of curiosity I asked why he wanted to be a tester and he said he wanted some easy job. He found testing ideal for his requirement of 'click here and there' sort of tasks he would love to perform.  

Incident two 

My wife has been working as a test engineer and has a programmer friend who took a career break after her marriage. After spending some years as 'stay at home' wife she decided to work again. In her discussion with us she said , "I have worked hard when I was a programmer. Now that I am married, I would rather work as a tester and live relaxed, happy married life." (Yes, you read that right)

Incident three

A friend of mine who happens to be from non-software field called me up for career guidance (in testing) for his wife and they have a kid of 3. When I asked, "why testing?" he told me that another friend of him (who works for some IT firm) suggested them to try for testing career as she thinks that's easy job with less learning headache (?) and a best fit for a married women.

Good thing is that my friend and his wife both are wise and after our discussion they still decided to try for testing career but for all good reasons.

Incident four

An uncle of my friend called me for career guidance for his son. His son has recently completed his Bachelors in Engineering and looking for a job in IT. Uncle asked me if I can help him find job in testing as he finds it easy to do job for a fresher and that it does not require extra-ordinary talent. Uncle also mentioned that since his son was bit weak in studies he would like him to take career in testing.

Now you might have understood what's the thing from all these incidents that makes me upset. In fact, it's not just about these four incidents but about many of such kind that I have kept on ignoring so far. Mainly because I felt they had more to do with peoples' choices than software testing field. But looks like some people's wrong perception about testing has also contributed to such thinking. After giving some deep thought to such incidents, I realised that there are two key perspectives that must change:

1. Some peoples' (males and females alike) perception about women

2. Some peoples' perception about software testing profession

What disturbs me more out of these two is this mentality of associating women with weakness, with low calibre and wanting to give them easy-to-do jobs. May be such problems can be experienced vividly in societies where women look after typical tasks at home (which is unfortunate and highly condemnable) but even in that case, I am afraid that choosing something as a career because it sounds 'easy, relaxed and with less learning curve' is poorest choice one can make.

Well, this topic is beyond just testing and better left with experts. As far as women in testing are concerned, let me please tell you about some extra-ordinary women testers I have personally known. They have been doing remarkable job in our community.  Dr. Meeta Prakash, Smita Mishra, Parimala Hariprasad , Faiza Yousuf, Jyothi Rangiaah are just to name a few. I am sure they did not choose testing career because they found it easy. And if you are interested in seeing a bigger picture then please have a look on what women testers across the globe are doing. Ask Fiona Charles, Anne-Marie Charrett, Leah Stockley, Anna Royzman, JeanAnn Harrison, Katrina Clokie, Kim Engel, Ru Cindrea or  Oana Casapu, how easy (or difficult) it is to become an extra-ordinary tester. Alexandra Casapu is probably the youngest tester I have known who has made a name for herself in the field.

I have deliberately mentioned all these names from different geographies so that one does not come with an excuse of socio-cultural problems from their region to blame it on. The closer look on the work all my mentioned (and not mentioned) female colleagues have been doing would tell you how challenging the testing field is and that it's not a job only hard-working, talented males can do. Well...never mind!

Is testing an easy job (anymore)?

It never was. It's just that some bad testers and test-case selling factories have managed to survive this long, so much so that it has resulted in spreading wrong notion about testing field. Unfortunately, we still have significant portion of bad testers  in our community who appear to be the main reason why some people think about testing this way. With below average skills, one may very well secure a job in some STLC (Sell Test-cases and Loot Customers) model based organisations but be informed that they are likely to run out of business soon (if they don't change).

As a matter of fact, software testing is way too beyond just filling excel sheets with pass/fail, checking actual vs expected, raising defects and calling it a day. It's a discipline that requires an individual to have excellent exploratory skills, critical thinking ability, analytical skills, communication skills, technical expertise, a right mind set and every other thing that would make someone a successful programmer, analyst or people manager for that matter. I have been testing software for over 7 years now and I have experienced this field becoming more challenging every other day. 

If you are unable to relate the happenings around you with the products you are building then your any role in software field has a zero significance, forget about the role of a tester alone. A skilled tester knows how to play the role of all potential users of the product, a skilled tester is able to visualise how the failure or new feature of one software product she uses daily, is likely to impact the product you are building. And this is not an easy job. Interesting thing is, your gender does not make any difference here. You will rock if you have what it takes to be a kickass tester.

It's unfortunate that despite of some great things happening in testing world, I am compelled to make the post explaining the reality of testing field. But even in these changing times, I have come across too many of mentioned incidents to ignore them anymore. If this means "just another post about what is testing?", so be it . Being a passionate tester and active member of testing community, I get deeply hurt when someone (who does not understand testing) makes such reckless remarks about testing profession. 

If you are curious to know the current state of testing field then please have a look on what we have been finding via State of Testing survey every year. The bad testing is getting exposed and eliminated, skilled testers are replacing the bad ones already. Role and significance of testing field is changing drastically and that means only the best would survive. Our community needs more awesome testers (men and women alike), please think of it as a career option only if you think you can become one. If you have the courage, curiosity and conviction as skills in you then I promise you'll rock this field.

On other hand, if you are choosing testing as a career just because you think it's an easy job then I am afraid, it's not an option for you. It's not an ideal job in that case. At least not anymore!



11 Comments
Daniel Knott link
21/6/2016 12:00:53 pm

Hi Lalit,
thanks for writing this down! I made similar experience with former student colleagues when talking to them about my job they have the feeling that it is easy to do, but we know that they are wrong. Some of them learned it the hard way when they had no help of tester in the team that they failed with their software and I think this is sometimes the way those people need to go :). Learn by pain ;).

Best,
Daniel

Reply
Lalitkumar Bhamare
21/6/2016 12:11:52 pm

Hi Daniel,

Thanks for stopping by. Indeed, sometimes people realise things the hard way. As long as they are realising it I am happy. May be they should then be honest and educate others with same mindset if they happen to come across any.

Thanks,
Lalit

Reply
meeta
21/6/2016 12:09:27 pm

Move your chairs Checkers ...Testers are here :)

Reply
Fake Software Tester
22/6/2016 03:14:58 am

Having been a tester and a developer who quit development to become a tester, I too have seen the 4 incidents that you have quoted. But, I use it to my advantage since the best minds offer to come for testing. I'd say hire them, then give them challenging work where the work that they do every year is different than the work that they did the previous year. Over time, I've realized that this makes them stay on!!!

Reply
Stephane
22/6/2016 12:52:57 pm

Yes, everyone thinks it's an easy job. Developers, managers, cio, recruiters...even some (bad) testers. It's our job to not let this crazy nonsense spread IT world.
Each time a developer not good enough is detected, then I'm suggested to make him a tester. Each time an internship joins for a short period, why not let him work the "QA" because we won't have enough time to make him a good dev, but of course we have time to make him a (probably bad with almost no ROI) tester, it won't hurt.
Our job is complicated, first because it is not well understood, also because it's underestimated (and many other reasons of course). Let's change this!
Thanks for the post

Reply
John
22/6/2016 01:50:37 pm

Come on, be honest with yourself. You know its easy and that why you chose it as career in the first place. You just dont want others to know that.

Reply
Lalitkumar Bhamare
22/6/2016 02:22:25 pm

John (or whoever you are),

In general I have zero tolerance towards bullshit but then I thought I should just ask you if you had to face tough time because of some smart tester? If I ask you to be honest with yourself and answer what makes you make such stupid comments, what your answer would be?

If at all making personal comments is what you enjoy most can you atlesst be brave enough to make a comment with your email, so that we can have some honest discussions?

Reply
Ewa
4/8/2016 12:18:25 pm

Hi Lalitkumar,
I think testing is little understood as a profession. To be a good tester, really a lot of work is required. And it's everything, programming skills, communication, psychology (being aware of biases for example). ISTQB Foundation level is just a beginning and inspiration and doesn't mean you are a good tester at all. We need to do a lot of learning (and unlearning for that matter) during our career plus we need to learn all the time. It's not a cushy job where you can browse ads on craiglist because you have nothing else to do.
Besides, I scanned job offers on a few sites and have noticed that testers are always less paid than developers. Is it because industry thinks it is easy and everybody can do it? I think the testers are already raising the bar, even by raising awareness and spreading the knowledge through magazines (Teatime with Testers, Women Testers), blogs, courses (Rapid Testing, BBST), etc. I'm really hopeful the people who look down at testers will come out of ignorance one day!

Reply
Joon Jung (JJ)
6/1/2018 09:45:43 pm

I enjoyed your post. The examples are typical perceptions of testing. It has been exasperated by the short term myopic focus of Agile and the notion that anyone can test. As expressed by Gerald Weinberg...Testing is now seeing maturity never seen before and we can expect the rise of this profession as Agile doesn't scale well without learning..which in essence is "testing".

Reply
Shilpa link
19/4/2018 12:54:46 pm

Myself being into Testing more than a decade can exactly relate the incidents given in this article :-)

Thanks for sharing !

Reply
Rajat link
22/1/2019 01:07:35 pm

I had similar experience while interviewing for various positions for testing / QA

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    A passionate & thinking tester. Trainer & student of the craft of testing. Father, Foodie and dog lover. Chief Editor and Co-founder of Tea-time with Testers  magazine. 
    Setting up this blog to share my experiences whilst doing what I do... 

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