Why do you like testing?
I repeated my question as the candidate looked at me with widened eyes. Unsure of what to answer, he mentioned what Software Testing is and why it is important. I smiled.
Having spent most of my career working as a Software Tester, I used to clarify myself about what I loved the most in my job and why I wanted to continue. At a different point, the ‘like’ factor was not the same but it surely helped me in understanding my current focus as well as mapping uncovered areas of testing.
This simple question can open up the door of opportunities as it gives you a better idea about where you stand as a tester and what is ahead waiting for you.
If you are a QA either by choice or by chance, known for your quality of bug or for the number of bugs, emphasizing Manual Testing or Automation Testing, whatever be the case you are playing an important role. Knowingly or unknowingly, you are trying to make the world better and that is a big responsibility.
Today we are going to look out for an answer to the most ignored question – Why do you like Software Testing?
Why Does A Tester Like His/Her Job And Where Do You Fit?
With further discussion, I am going to present a list of points about why a QA person can like his/her job. Please read on and let yourself know, in which category you fit.
#1) Do you like Software Testing because it is challenging?
It surely is. Software Testing is about looking at a product from different angles, with different perspectives and testing it with different expectations. It is not easy to develop the right mindset and to test the product with different aspects.
#2) Do you like Software Testing because it is satisfactory?
It is very true. By testing the software, finding and tracking the bugs and also through suggestions of improvement ideas, you are contributing towards the betterment of the product, it surely is the most satisfactory job.
#3) Software Testing is complex:
Don’t you believe it? Do you think, understanding product and testing the same while considering different factors like functionality, performance, security, GUI and many others, is an easy task? Along with that, nowadays, it has become more complex due to Mobile Applications.
To cover the vast range of devices available and to check the application’s behavior in terms of response time and usability is a big challenge.
#4) Software Testing is a process:
As Software Testing starts with understanding requirements and continues with document preparation like test plan, test strategy, test cases, execution of test cases, preparation of test reports and test summary, a cycle of process is followed and it makes the task (=testing) more fruitful.
#5) Software Testing is about improving quality:
The ultimate purpose of software testing is not to find bugs but to make the product qualitative. As a tester, you are contributing to improvements in product quality.
#6) Software Testing is about finding defects in others’ work:
Critical attitude surely helps when it comes to software testing. By nature, if you like to find faults in others’ work, software testing is the job for you. But remember, the attitude should be limited to work and should not affect your relationship with colleagues and personal life.
#7) Software Testing is about understanding the customer:
Isn’t it correct? A good software tester is the one, who understands what customer wants, who studies the market, who understands latest trends, who provide relevant information to the client, who interprets how important the product is for the customer and ultimately who can be in customer’s shoes and work on a product.
Software Testing is really not just mechanical execution of 50 test cases per day but to understand the importance of test cases and tweaking them as per requirement and analyzing results to provide the best.
#8) Software Testing is about building confidence in the product:
How do you help the developers and organization by doing Software Testing? By testing the software, you are finding bugs and analyzing products from different perspectives, which helps to make the product better and thereby helps in growing confidence regarding the product developed.
#9) Software Testing is about learning fast and implementing new ideas:
Yes, software testing is the most interesting job because it throws challenges at you every day.
You have to stretch your mind to understand something, to find out how it should work and how it should not, to study the general behavior, to improve the analysis power, to learn new tools and implementing the learning in real life. This can rather be put as software testing is all about generating ideas.
This is the only field in IT, where you have to apply a number of ideas to do your work. You have to look at a bigger picture and you have to understand how badly end users can handle the product and have to imagine what could be end user’s expectations. Easy is it? Not at all.
#10) Software Testing is about deciding the priority:
As a software tester, most of the time you experience being pushed to complete the task ahead and early. Most of the estimated times for the product is eaten by development and in fixing the defects found in initial rounds of testing.
Ultimately you are left with almost no time and you own a big responsibility of signing the product as “TESTED”. To handle these kinds of situations you have to understand the priority and have to work and convey accordingly.
#11) Software Testing is about analyzing data and providing results:
As I mentioned above, software testing is not limited to executing test cases. One has to understand the results, has to generate a matrix and also needs to analyze a product’s behavior accordingly.
#12) I have to like it as I do not see any other option:
I really hope no one would go for this option. Software testing is an ocean and no matter at which point you are sailing your boat, you are surely going to face the strong winds and splashing waves.
But ultimately, my friend, who wants to sit on the seashore and keep looking at boats? So, love your software testing job as you are doing something best rather than just earning.
Finally, after reading these points, What do you feel? Why do you like testing?
Tune in with your like factors or provide a number of factors from the above list, which makes you like testing. We are waiting for your response.
About the author: This article is written by STH team member Bhumika Mehta. She is a project lead, carrying 7 years of experience in software testing.