Testers Wanted (incompetent programmers need not apply)
Joel Spolsky (@spolsky) – known widely as Joel On Software – recently penned a great article on the role of software testers. I’m sure you’re aware that most people tend to regard testers as the bearers of bad news. But as Joel correctly points out, “one of the most valuable features of a tester is providing positive reinforcement.” Many testers understand this, but few are given credit for it.
Anyway, he also provides an excellent summary of the traits that make testers successful. He says they need to be scientific, methodical thinkers who enjoy working with software. Above all, they need to be smart. But do they need to have a background in programming?
A particularly terrible idea is to offer testing jobs to the programmers who apply for jobs at your company and aren’t good enough to be programmers. Testers don’t have to be programmers, but if you spend long enough acting like a tester is just an incompetent programmer, eventually you’re building a team of incompetent programmers, not a team of competent testers. Since testing can be taught on the job, but general intelligence can’t, you really need very smart people as testers, even if they don’t have relevant experience. (Editor’s note: emphasis is mine).
That was Joel’s view. What’s yours?
[...] about hiring a great tester or the difference between good and great individual testers (including this one from us) , but this eWeek article stood out because it addresses building the right TEAM — [...]
One popular theme in modern Quality Engineering is Test Automation. Regression tests in particular need to be automated. The engineers who use this approach are in fact developers who design and build test frameworks. Test scripts are executed by machine.
The test function of a software development organization needs good software developers just as much as the product group.
Thanks for the comment Paul. It’s always interesting to hear different viewpoints on what qualities/talents should make up a test team, but it seems like every hiring manager has their own criteria.