Software Testing Blog

I recently came across this article, Personality Traits in Software Engineering, which conducted a research survey assessing the major personality traits of software testers and developers. Turns out — and I’m not at all surprised having met so many testers in our community — software testers rock! Here’s how the scores break down:

According to Anne-Marie Charrett in her blog, Maverick Tester, “On average we [testers] are an agreeable bunch of people, open to experience (see below) with a high cognitive capability. A hearty clap on the back fellow testers, we all knew we were pretty special.”

I couldn’t agree more! So, yes, this is simply a feel-good blog for all those testers out there with a case of the Mondays. Give yourselves a hand. And Happy Monday!

“Certifications are a farce – they simply test your ability to cram for an exam,” cries one tester in a recent uTest forums exchange. “No way – certifications are extremely valuable and establish credibility to the testing world,” replies another tester.

And it goes on and on… As a witness to the ongoing debate, it’s clear that there may never be a meeting of the minds when it comes to certifications. It’s certainly been thought-provoking and entertaining to read through the vicious cycle of pros and cons supporting both camps. Here are several to spark more debate!

Pro-Certifications Camp:

• They provide a base level of knowledge for those interested in the field, including terminology, processes, etc.
• They help testing newbies get their foot in the door of the testing world
• Certain organizations prefer to (or only) hire certified testers
• Passing a certification means that one is serious about testing
• Having a certification differentiates you from the crowd of software testers

Anti-Certifications Camp:

• Certifications bodies take in top money to create certs that simply test your ability to cram for an exam and at best possess knowledge – as opposed to your problem solving skills and how to test
• Passing such exams does not prove anything about testing skills & should not get your foot in the door for a job
• Organizations that prefer certified testers are simply lazy about their interviewing process – looking for a piece of paper or label on the resume vs. looking at the candidates skill set
• Passing a certification simply indicates that you are willing to take the time and money to complete a task
• There are so many certified testers – so what differentiates one from another? More advanced certs? Where’s the limit?

Read more…

Update: We’re roughly 72 hours into our latest Bug Battle, which is comparing and evaluating the top TV networks: ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX.

With just under four days remaining in the week-long competition, we’ve already had more than 400 testers participate and well over 500 bugs reported. This is shaping up to be the most exciting Bug Battle ever, both in terms of the quantity of bugs submitted and the quality of the reports themselves.

Remember, the Bug Battle ends Friday, February 12th at noon ET, and there is nearly $4,000 in prize money at stake. It’s not too late to win the top prize so get started today (remember, it’s the highest quality bugs that matter, not the quantity)!

To join or catch up on Bug Battle discussions, be sure to check out our testers-only forums.

There’s no shame in being a couch potato (every now and again). After all,the competition between the major TV networks has been extremely entertaining. But now is the time to get up off the couch and onto your desktops, laptops and smartphones – it’s time for the very first Bug Battle of 2010!

That’s right, we’re pitting the four major TV networks against each other in this quarter’s bug-hunting competition. And while there are multiple sources to find out which network has the highest rated shows, we’re going to compare their web and mobile apps to see who distributes that content best.  Here are the networks, in alphabetical order: ABC, CBS, FOX, and NBC.

As an added twist, we’re introducing a mobile testing component to the Bug Battle. For more details on this – as well as info on rules and prizes – check out our Battle of the TV Networks page.

It’s now time to pull back the curtain to determine which network sites have the most bugs, the most critical bugs, and the best usability and feature set. And so uTesters, best of luck to you all as you begin another exciting bug hunting mission. May the best network win and may the top testers prevail. Good luck!

Special note: This competition is available only to members of the uTest community.  uTesters can get complete details and discuss the Bug Battle with their peers in the uTest Forums.

The major networks have been engaged in a decades-long struggle to win the hearts and minds (and eyes) of viewers. Whether it’s news, sports or sitcoms, these battles are now being fought on multiple fronts – including the distribution of their content through their web and mobile applications.

Which brings me to our latest bug-hunting competition. This quarter’s uTest Bug Battle will challenge testers to find bugs on the web AND mobile apps of the four major TV networks: CBS, NBC, ABC and FOX.

The competition gets started this Friday, February 5 at Noon (ET). At that time, testers from our community will be given one week to search these sites for the most compelling bugs, and to report them through our online platform. We’ll be dishing out nearly $4,000 in prize money for categories like Top Tester, Best Bug and Best Survey Feedback. As an added twist, we’re also including prizes for the Best Mobile Bugs.

More details on this Bug Battle – as well the rules, prizes and deadlines – after this commercial break. Just kidding, you can find them in the “Bug Battle” thread in the uTest Forums and we’ll be sharing more details here in the next few days.

So testers, you’ve got a few days to prepare for our most challenging competition to date. Until then, stay tuned.

Stereotypes have been given to just about every profession. There’s the sleazy used car salesman, ambulance-chasing lawyers, doughnut-eating sheriffs, corrupt politicians, drunken pilots – I could go on.

Software testers are apparently no exception to this rule. In fact, the editors over at TestingGeek.com just wrote a piece on some common (and unfair) tester stereotypes. With the aid of a Top Ten list, the authors break down some of the wrong reasons why people enter the field of software testing. You should go check it out.

Of course, if you’re at all familiar with the uTest community – and if you’ve spent any time chatting in our online Forums – you’d know that software testers are an especially difficult bunch to pigeonhole. There’s an amazing cross-section of backgrounds, personalities, ages and experience levels. In other words, there’s nothing typical about them! You can read our Tester Spotlights if you don’t believe us.

Anyway, here are a few of the “wrong reasons” they listed, in no particular order:

Read more…

The Battle of the E-Tailers – our latest bug-hunting competition – is now one for the history books! Over the course of a week in November, a total of 505 bugs were reported in three of the world’s top online retailers: Amazon, Walmart and Target. For complete details, be sure to check out the Q4 Bug Battle Report.

While millions of shoppers were making leisurely holiday purchases, our global community of testers were hard at work – reporting a wide range of functional, usability and GUI bugs, as well as providing  user feedback. In doing so, you’ve once again demonstrated the value of comprehensive testing performed by skilled professionals. Well done!

The media, by the way, are all over this story, so we’ll be sure to provide a wrap-up of all the news coverage later this week.

To the Victors Go the Spoils
The prize for Top Tester went to Brad Sellick of Canada, while Tuyen Tran of Vietnam took home the new Judge’s Choice Award. Other cash-prize winners included Gaurang Joshi and Ranchhod Prajapati (both of India) for Best Bugs, as well as Gizem Sahin (Turkey) and Jaya Dinu (US) in the Best Feedback category. There were over 30 winners in this quarter’s competition, so be sure to check out the results page for the complete list.

And now, a few more top-line findings:

Read more…

Last night, uTest co-hosted our second Boston-area tester meetup with our UK partner, TCL, at The Kinsale. About 25 of local software testers showed up ready for some testing games, pizza, beer and networking fun at this P.E.S.T. (Pub Exploration Software Testing) event.

Attendees got a sneak peek at a soon-to-be-released version of the uTest platform and went at it to show off their web testing skills. Those who discovered the most creative and valuable bugs were awarded an iPod Touch, an iPod Nano and an iPod Shuffle.

We had a great time networking with Boston’s testers, developers and students.  We hope to see you soon in the uTest community reporting showstopper bugs for the biggest software companies in the world.

Great to meet you all in person and we look forward to doing it again later this year.  Stay tuned for details on our next P.E.S.T. event.

Check out the uTest Flickr page to see more pics from this event and other uTest gatherings.

Tester meetup alert! Please join us this week in Boston at the Kinsale Bar on Wednesday, September 2 @ 6:30pm for uTest’s software tester meetup. Also known as a P.E.S.T. (Pub Exploration of Software Testing) event, the meetup will be hosted with partner and testing consultancy TCL. This networking event is informal, free, and open to all!

Testers: To participate, just bring a wireless-ready laptop and/or a smart phone. We’ll also be hosting testing games and competitions designed to foster your testing knowledge and ability.

We’ll be giving away several new iPods as prizes!

P.E.S.T. events are held regularly in pubs across the UK, USA and India, where software testers can network with other QA and development professionals; learn about the latest trends and tools in testing; and connect with executives from uTest and TCL.

We’ve built a vibrant, online community, but we can’t wait to meet and connect with you in person. We welcome any QA or testing professionals in the Boston area to come out and join us for a fun, informal evening of networking.

To RSVP for this event, please send an email to marketing@utest.com.

Frequent readers of the uTest blog are by now aware that we’re big fans of James Whittaker – software testing expert, author and now one of Google’s top QA guys. Over the past few weeks, James has been writing a provocative series called the “Seven Plagues of Software Testing”. You can find it on his new blog.

As you’ll notice, only six of the plagues have been published thus far. The seventh and final software testing plague was intentionally omitted, as he is accepting submissions from his readers.

Before you send him your suggestions (we included an email address at the bottom of this post), here’s a few excerpts from some of the plagues he’s discussed so far:

The Plague of Blindness: “Software testing is much like game playing while blindfolded. We can’t see bugs; we can’t see coverage; we can’t see code changes. This information, so valuable to us as testers, is hidden in useless static reports. If someone outfitted us with an actual blindfold, we might not even notice.”

Read more…