At the end of 2011 we did just that and asked our testers to tell us about their uTest experience. Those of us on the community management team were certainly touched by the impact these experiences have had on their lives and we believe that they may be enlightening to other readers as well.

Here is a small sample of the great stories that were shared:

I found uTest on a fluke; I’d heard there was a group online looking for help and I searched for ‘online testing’ and uTest was found. Though I’ve only been with them for a couple of months, it’s been fun. Now let’s get it straight, work is not always fun, but with uTest the diversity of products and engaging clients and testers make it fun. I’ve worked in small startups and large companies; uTest seems to embrace the individual aspect of a small company though the clients may be very, very large. Always approachable and quick to reply, the folks running the group have earned my deep appreciation and respect. Of the dozen or so of projects I’ve worked on, each is unique, and sometimes has follow-up work.

I’m looking forward to 2012 with uTest.

Good going!

- Hamilton

2011 was a great year with uTest. I joined in March of 2010 after getting laid off from my job and quickly found that I could make a living without having to work directly for a company. I had always thought about it but the security the company provided was hard to give up. Well, after they laid me off that security was gone. Luckily uTest was there and I had a lot of time to give them.

So while 2010 was all about proving that I could not only get by on my own, but actually make a living, 2011 presented me with a challenge of growing myself as a tester. Once again uTest provided. I took on opportunities to get into automation, TTL work, some security and usability testing, all of which I had some experience in, but I made some big leaps forward this year.

One thing that uTest has done for me was to get rid of that nagging feeling that it would be too hard or too scary to be outside of the comfort zone I was so used to working in the corporate world. I have been able to work on many types of projects for companies both very large and very small and across the whole spectrum of the IT world. It has shown me that not only am I capable of working these projects but that I can do a pretty good job as well. So basically my confidence level is way up and that is a priceless gift.

Thanks to everyone at uTest for the opportunities and for the help when I needed it. And here’s to hoping for an even better 2012!

-John

I joined uTest in March 2010. I have to say that it has far exceeded my expectations as far as what I could earn and has been the one thing that I’ve tried online to bring in some extra cash. I really enjoy what I’m doing and plan on continuing for a long time, and maybe in 2012 I’ll be one of the ones who decided to take the plunge and become a full time freelancer. And even if I don’t, 2012 is still going to be an awesome year!

-Peggy

These are just a few of the stories that were shared. If you are a uTester you can read more of these stories in our community forums by visiting this link http://forums.utest.com/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=2737. And if you’re not a uTester but would like to be, sign up today and learn how uTest can change your life.

Our community of professional and passionate testers is at the heart of uTest and it is what makes us truly unique. As we kick of 2012 we recognize that there are vast opportunities available to our community, not only for more work but also to learn, to mentor (or be mentored) and network with nearly 50,000 software testers across the globe. We look forward to pushing the envelope of crowdsourced, in-the-wild testing and will certainly take another pause at the end of this year to look back into 2012.

Until then, Happy New Year and Happy Testing!

The uTest nation photo contest was launched as a fun way for testers to show off their creativity and to literally visualize diversity that comprises uTest community. uTesters were challenged to take photos of themselves in interesting places displaying the uTest logo. Creativity was encouraged. The conditions for each entry were that uTesters needed to pose with a provided uTest logo, and must be safe for work. For instance, testers could display the uTest logo while exploring the Parthenon, on holiday at the Eiffel Tower, or even while visiting world’s largest ball of yarn. While some uTesters were able to shoot photos in person on location, others were able to display their Photoshop skills to create some fun photos.

Through the course of the contest we received 21 submissions from all around the world, and the winners were completely chosen by the community through a weighted average voting system. Once votes were tallied, our team evaluated each photo to make sure entry rules were adhered to and then calculated the winners.

Existing forum members can visit the photo contest topic to see all the entries. If you’re a uTester and haven’t registered for a forum account yet, be sure to register today so you can check out all of the photos and stay informed of future contests! Click below to see the winning photos and honorable mentions.

Winners, 1st row. Honorable Mentions, 2nd row:

What is the Bug of the Month contest? If you did not have a chance to enter last month’s contest, here is more information to prepare you for the next one. The contest will run every two months, and is open to the entire uTest tester community. Testers have the opportunity to submit the most intriguing bug(s) they have come across, and fellow testers then rate the submitted bugs from three categories: Exceptionally Valuable, Very Valuable, and Somewhat Valuable (borrowed directly from uTest’s system of tiered bug approvals). After the voting phase is complete, uTest evaluates the votes across all submissions and awards the top three reports based on highest weighted averages.

How do I win? Based on participation from the first competition and standard uTest projects, there are three major tenets to an exceptionally valuable report:

1. Severity or impact on end user
2. Report completion and conciseness
3. Supporting evidence such as screenshot and video captures

If you did not participate last month, keeping these three ideas in mind should help you for our next contest.

Where do I learn more? If you’re already a uTester, please sign in to the uTest Forums to view a complete list of the latest winners and hear more about upcoming contests. If you have not joined uTest yet, you may register here to qualify and participate in our next Bug of the Month contest. May the best bugs win!

Colin Zhang, a silver uTester organized this latest uMeetup where testers gathered from Hong Kong, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou. They enjoyed making introductions, exchanging testing experiences, and generally enjoying each other’s company. Meeting at a Starbucks at Zhongxin Square,  lively and caffeinated discussions were surely had.

We’ve received some great feedback from testers who have taken part in uMeetups in the past. Being passionate about testing and about uTest seems to be a common thread that brings these testers together.

Want to have a uMeetup in your area? Check the forums to find the one nearest to you. If you don’t see your country on the list  apply for a sponsorship here.

Take a look at a  few pictures from the event after the jump:

I suppose I’ll get things started:

• Meet the world-record holder for most consecutive hours of testing.
• “Technically yes, I did ask for more tester support.”
• Today’s Lesson: User Interface Testing
• PETBT: People for the ethical treatment of beta testers

Now it’s your turn. Give it a go in the comments section.

Oh, and in case you forgot, we’re currently running a more formal contest (for a chance to win an iPad 2) on our Facebook page.

TestingReflections.com has a nice write up on the news release, but it’s particularly interesting to see that there are three tiers of testing, as follows:

Software Tester: The ideal program for entry-level, junior, and career-switching software testers.  Successfully completing this credential will give you the knowledge and experience most employers expect from testers with 1-2 years of on-the-job experience – effectively enabling you to start your career needing only to acclimate to the specific expectations of the employer and demonstrate your skills at work before being acknowledged as a mid-level tester.

Software Testing Professional: For testers with several years of testing experience on-the-job who are looking to make the jump from mid- to senior-level, this program is designed to teach high-quality individual contributors how to be effective technical leaders within their testing organization.  Effectively giving the tester the new skills they need, in addition to their existing hands-on testing knowledge, to prepare them for the additional responsibilities of a technical testing manager or of a manager of small to mid-sized testing projects.

Software Testing Leader: This final step in the program has been designed for senior-level testers who desire to be successful managers or directors of corporate testing programs.  Frequently the most challenging step for career software testers is to transition from being a technical leader to a management role focused on the interface between quality testing and executive-level business value.  Successful completion of this stage of the program will give the student the tools they need to make the jump from technical leader to manager – opening the door to further advancement to positions like “Director of Testing Services” or “VP of Software Product Quality”.

Full article after the break.

The Centro de Ensayos de Software (CES), a non-profit software testing laboratory in Uruguay, has recently launched a program that is certain to become the new “gold standard” in professional development for software testers.  The program, endorsed by the Universidad de la Republica (Uruguay), the Universidad Castilla La Mancha (Spain), and sanctioned by the Uruguayan IT Chamber (CUTI), is the most comprehensive, affordable, and publicly available training program for software testers on the market.  Based on my market research and comprehensive review of the program, I have no reservation in rating it as market leading.

Software Testing, the software development activity responsible for identifying issues with software and providing a wide variety of quality-related information to stakeholders and decision-makers prior to release, is the primary job of many millions world-wide, yet the majority of software testers learn their craft entirely on the job.  Yes, there are various “take a class or two, pass an information-based (not a skill-based) test, and receive a certification” programs – some more respectable than others and most far more expensive than the CES program.  There is even a new certificate coming to market that involves three, one month, on-line courses where students are taught and assessed by experienced testers and university professors, but none of those rise to the level of the CES’s program.

The CES offers courses leading to three levels of credential, Software Tester, Software Testing Professional, and Software Testing Leader; each tier is comparable in quality and format to a “Professional Enrichment Certificate” from an accredited university, and when viewed collectively the three levels are only marginally short of the criteria published by North American degree accreditation organizations for consideration as an Associate’s Degree.  Each tier is both information- and skill-based and requires takes 6 months to complete.  The successful student is expected to dedicate a minimum of 400 hours of instruction and project work that is delivered and assessed by university approved instructors and significantly experienced software testers to complete each tier of the program.  The three tiers span the career development of a software tester:

• Software Tester: The ideal program for entry-level, junior, and career-switching software testers.  Successfully completing this credential will give you the knowledge and experience most employers expect from testers with 1-2 years of on-the-job experience – effectively enabling you to start your career needing only to acclimate to the specific expectations of the employer and demonstrate your skills at work before being acknowledged as a mid-level tester.
• Software Testing Professional: For testers with several years of testing experience on-the-job who are looking to make the jump from mid- to senior-level, this program is designed to teach high-quality individual contributors how to be effective technical leaders within their testing organization.  Effectively giving the tester the new skills they need, in addition to their existing hands-on testing knowledge, to prepare them for the additional responsibilities of a technical testing manager or of a manager of small to mid-sized testing projects.
• Software Testing Leader: This final step in the program has been designed for senior-level testers who desire to be successful managers or directors of corporate testing programs.  Frequently the most challenging step for career software testers is to transition from being a technical leader to a management role focused on the interface between quality testing and executive-level business value.  Successful completion of this stage of the program will give the student the tools they need to make the jump from technical leader to manager – opening the door to further advancement to positions like “Director of Testing Services” or “VP of Software Product Quality”.

I believe that this is exactly the program that testers and employers of testers have needed and desired for many years.  Without hesitation, I would move job candidates who have completed any or all of this program to the top of my consideration list.  In fact, the only thing that keeps me from promoting this program even more aggressively is that, at least for the time being, it is only available in Spanish.  Even so, if you speak Spanish, or have tester employees who do, I strongly encourage you to take a very serious look at this program and draw your own conclusions.  I am confident that you will come to the same conclusion I have… that there is no currently available program that is more comprehensive or higher quality at any price, let alone at surprisingly affordable cost of approximately U$1,300/tier.

Visit the website (www.ces.com.uy in Spanish), or the view the brochure (www.perftestplus.com/CES.pdf in English) for more information.

What does the inclusion of software testing at the collegiate level mean for the profession? Let us know in the comments section.

In line with the recent turn, a new poll among professional testers in the uTest forums indicated that:

• 22% are actively looking for a different job
• 10% are passively looking for a different job
• 10% are not seeking to change jobs and
• 44% plan on doing more freelancing

Since this was a uTest poll, it lends itself to those who freelance (in addition to their full-time testing gigs) which may account for the 44% above, but what’s even more interesting to us are the non-freelancing trends.

When 32% of respondents are either actively or passively looking for a different job, it’s a sign of a better, recovering economy, which yields an unavoidable and perfectly healthy amount of turnover. And it’s those CTOs, Directors of Engineering and QA Managers out there that can identify and keep their ROCK STAR engineers and testers — the very building blocks of their QA organizations — whose organizations will win the day.

VP of Product Craig Daniel said it best in our recent interview – “As hard as it is to find a great developer, it’s 10 times harder to find a great QA engineer.” The lesson here is if you’ve been lucky enough to have found great people — testers who are passionate about their craft — pay close attention to the market’s road to recovery and do everything you can to keep them in your lane.

Today, we are thrilled to announce a 300 percent increase in year-over-year revenues in the recently-ended Q3. During this time, uTest closed a $13 million C Round of financing (led by Scale Venture Partners) – one of the largest investments ever made in a crowdsourcing company. We also launched cool new features and functionality, such as social sign-in, dynamic reporting and integrations with more bug tracking systems.

In Q3 2010, uTest also:

• Signed 120+ new customers, including innovative category leaders The Associated Press, The BBC, The Container Store, Urbanspoon, Box.net
• Acquired 2,500 new software testers, growing the community to 30,000+ professional testers from 168 countries
• Added Scale Venture Partners Managing Director Sharon Wienbar to the Board Of Directors
• Conducted the “Clash of the Career Sites” – more than 500 testers from 22 countries discovered nearly 700 bugs in the web and mobile apps of Monster, CareerBuilder, SimplyHired and Indeed; see articles in TheNextWeb and TechTarget for details

And there’s so much more to come! I just want to take a quick moment to thank our fantastic global community of testers who exceed expectations and go above and beyond to meet the testing needs of hundreds of companies each day. Our third quarter results are a testament to the tester community’s commitment to excellence.

Curious, we posed this question to our tester community as part of our weekly What Do uThink series. However, since Elvis and LeBron James are booked solid for the foreseeable future, we limited our celebrity pool to legends from the world of technology. No offense to The Kings.

With that criteria, we weren’t totally shocked to see this become another close contest between Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. Here were the results:

• Steve Jobs (Apple)- 27%
• Bill Gates (Microsoft) – 24%
• Alan Turing (pioneer of modern computer) – 16%
• Larry Page and Sergey Brin (Google Founders) – 11%
• Tim Berners-Lee (inventor of the worldwide web, HTML, HTTP) – 5%
• Hopper (uTest mascot) – 5%
• Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook) – 3%

Sandwiches with Steve Jobs, burritos with Bill Gates – you really can’t go wrong. Not only could these guys carry a great conversation and provide you with a first hand account of tech history, but they’d almost certainly pick up the tab as well.

It was a little surprising to see Hopper get more votes than Mark Zuckerberg, especially considering his many annoying food allergies and poor table manners (Hopper that is). Also, if you’re quick with the math, you’ll know that 8% chose “other.” This distinguished group included testing experts James Bach and Michael Bolton, as well as Al Gore, George Lucas and Michael Dell.

A strong case can be made for every member of this list – so go ahead and make one. Who among these tech legends would you want to have lunch with and why?

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!