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Busting the Myths, the Tester’s Way

June 13, 2019.

Software Testing, a pillar of the life cycle of software development, not only saves businesses from disaster, but also helps to grow them. Imagine the fate of a company that releases a poor-quality product – it gambles its very reputation when it releases an untested product on the market.

Anyone can do testing!

“When you know better, you do better.”

Or so they say. Yes, anyone can do testing, whether you’re a designer, a developer, a PM or even a CEO. But the question is, can you do QA the way professional testers do? Can you confidently say that the product will not fall apart when released? Can you measure and quantify your work as a tester? Can you guarantee that an overall system is in place to handle complex scenarios with multiple modules? No matter who you are or what role you play, when you don the tester’s hat, you also don the mantle of responsibility.

Top-notch companies in the IT industry have dedicated QA departments to make sure that their products hit the market on the right foot, with as few production issues as possible, and ensuring that clients receive the best quality service.

It’s a blame game!

“It’s not a mistake to make a mistake but it is a mistake to repeat a mistake.”

The job of testing is often misunderstood. When an issue is found, be it the design, the back end, the front end, or the platform that don’t match requirements, it can be taken the wrong way. A tester’s job is to find defects in the system so that they can be rectified before it goes to the market. To err is human, and no-one is fail-safe; we make mistakes in our understanding, in the way we work and the way we perceive information, in the way we develop things. Building a product is an evolutionary process that improves over time. When issues are found, they shouldn’t be taken as a personal failure; the only goal here is to build the right product and build it as a team.

Sometimes testers make mistakes as well, like missing requirements, not understanding them clearly or just overlooking a few minor things while working on the bigger stuff. Blaming doesn’t help. When everyone knows the importance of their work, owns their mistakes as a team player and works towards improvement, only then can you achieve a common goal as a team.

Testing is boring!

“No job is boring if you really know what you’re doing.”

In the Agile development world, where the pace never slackens, there is no time to be bored. Testing in an iterative manner doesn’t give enough time to breathe through the sprints. Working for a service-based industry, where client requirements keep on changing, moving from one project to another within a month’s time (or within a few days) doesn’t allow room to grow unless one spends dedicated time learning new tools and trying to use the tools strategically to reduce the testing overhead. There is no end to learning and today’s industry, with its demands, requires extra effort to make the job less complicated.

Testing eats up the budget!

“You must have a game plan. If you aim at nothing, you’ll hit it every time.”

Testing should be a selling point for companies that have plans to grow and move forward. Delivering quantity is of no use when quality isn’t there. These days, the market sees it all: cheap labor, non-standardized products that don’t withstand the test of time, unethical promotions. To sell your product on the market and to grow it to a scale where it keeps on delivering every time, you must have the courage to sell it on the premise that it’s better and workable. Testing doesn’t eat up the budget, it stabilizes the product and increases its life expectancy on the market.

Testing is a thankless job!

Not very often do you hear someone say that their job is thankless, but sometimes you do come across people who think that way. Systematically destroying a product that is being built in order to make it stronger, until it becomes indestructible, takes much more fortitude than building it in the first place. Testers must withstand higher pressure and stronger forces, and have less time than the builders. Reaching those quality standards takes more strength than you’d think. But in the end, nothing is more fulfilling than watching your product work seamlessly while being used by hundreds or thousands of people, making their life easier one step at a time.

“A lot of people tell you it’s a thankless job. I never felt that way. It was an honor for me to serve.”