Hiring Testers: What skills to choose?

I work in a good environment for a quality engineer, or software tester. My company has enough size for there to be variety in teams, yet is no so big that we are out of touch. We have a particularly good sense of community among quality engineers who would not have reason to meet if it were not for the fact that knowledge sharing is actively encouraged.

We share knowledge sometimes by sending a few testers to a conference and listening to them present the things that, essentially, caused them to have the biggest emotional reaction - a moment of epiphany, a feeling of disapproval, a change of heart.

In the latest, a bit of a 'war of presenters' was mentioned. One of them went into great detail about how all quality engineers should be made to be as technically knowledgeable as a good developer. The other was very passionate about hiring people based on the more intangible aspects, such as whether they could solve problems, rather than looking for someone technically proficient.

I was hired on the latter principle, general ability, experience, and attitude over intense technical training. I had doubts that I was going to get the job, and honestly responded in the interview that if they were looking for someone with extremely high levels of technical literacy, I was not the right employee for them at this moment in time. I felt I needed to say it, because I had seen the lengthy requirements lists on job advertisements that I had hunted through. I'll admit, it made me feel a little inferior.

However, my employers do something that did not seem to be accounted from in this war of presenters at the software testing conference. They take both approaches, depending on what is more appropriate for a given team at a given time. They seek balance.

We have both technical testers, as well-versed as any developer, who write automated scripts, analyse performance of products on every level, who find complex bugs and proceed to drill down to the root of them so that the developer need only write the fix into the code. We also have testers who use black box testing, who rely on internal tools to capture logs that developers can use for investigations and who unearth any annoyance that may assault an end-user's eyes. Both types of tester are useful and it is rare that you will find someone truly talented at both things. Even if you do, they probably cannot cover everything (unless your product is very, very, small).

The different types of testers can be used in different ways. They can work together pair-testing and passing knowledge to each other. This enables them to become more rounded in experience. They can work separately, one testing the interface and another performing load testing. This enables them to become experts in their specialised areas. Which of these is best is a topic for other discussions.

Essentially, I don't see what the fuss is about. You hire people based on what fits the needs of your team and your specific company culture. Preaching that one type of tester is better than the other is completely illogical to me. Testers are not all the same, and the field of quality engineering is not all that small.

I work in an agile environment, so I will talk more about the effect that has on quality assurance and how it is performed another time.

Why the accordion?

Many people from the UK consider the accordion to be a comedy instrument, if indeed they think about it at all. It is not something that is often portrayed in the media and it is certainly not trendy. So why do I want to learn it?

Well, I played violin, piano and treble recorder as a child and had the usual school music lessons. As usual, my ability to pass academic studies without too much thought was the source of an apathy that led me to let the chance to really enjoy learning music slip by. Later, with little money and other things on my mind, I further failed to make any effort towards music.

Now that I am a fraction older, living comfortably and surrounded by musical talent I have been reminded how much I do love music. It's frustrating to me that I cannot talk the language that I want to with my more learned friends. I notice how much I sing and how often I seek out music. I know myself well enough to know how to focus on the root of my enthusiasm and use it to achieve a useful outcome - in this case, learning more.

I have known for some time that I need to really get a buzz for something to be able to follow up on it continuously and get through the rough spots. I thought about various instruments like the piano, the guitar, the drums, violin and realised that while I love them, I did not want to play them. I'm the person who thought they were bad at languages, then decided to learn Finnish. I like to explore things I know nothing about, things that are slightly unusual and things that take a little more effort in general. I knew I wanted to play an unusual instrument, but had no idea what it was going to be. I supposed it would be an obscure ancient Asian instrument and made a mental note to bear it in mind if I ever went to Asia.

Thankfully, lightning struck rather closer to home. There I was sitting on the tram, when I saw a shop full of accordions. I wanted one. I don't usually care for things in shop windows. It was a total eureka moment, true Melody-Jane style, but just to be sure I did some research. The more I did the more excited I got about it and the more certain I became that this was an instrument I actually wanted to learn. If I were anyone else I'd not have been so sure, but as I mentioned earlier, I'm the person who decided to learn Finnish on a whim. Now I've relocated to Finland permanently and have a basic level of spoken Finnish that I am continuing to improve on.

I want more accordion. And I'm going to get it!

How I started to write

I started writing by accident, when I was seventeen.

I'd been placed by a course that was designed to help the government reduce unemployment figures for the under eighteens. I had dropped out of my media studies course at college with depression, I was living alone and I had to work out what I actually wanted to do. I know know that many people go through life not knowing what the hell they want to do and I even embrace that approach to some extent, but at the time I was happily taking what the system offered me to set me up on the path to a suitable career.

However, the British government kind of assumed that people from a working class background who have managed to misplace their parents before they are through college are, well, somewhat illiterate. They were mostly right, and so I was placed on a course that was not suitable to someone who had completed a scholarship-funded public school education. No big deal, I enjoyed it and they did help me to get the long term work placement that led to my first paid job.

Before I reached that blissful point of employment, however, I had to be kept busy on the government course by doing all the activities they had to offer:
Driving theory, so that people can become delivery personnel;
Food hygene, so that you could work in MacDonalds;
First aid, so you could become a home care helper;
Health and safety... well, I expect it is good for supermarket jobs;
Basic IT, so that you could become an office monkey.

The longest course was IT, but I was already proficient enough to whiz through the levels and become rather bored. That is when I started writing. I started to enjoy writing, too. I'd had no interest in English in school and I completed assignments with little thought or effort. I didn't think about the way the books I loved reading had been formed, what made them so good, and what could have been better. Once I started writing, it all changed. I payed attention, practised and learned and I realised that I was never as bad at it as I had thought. I realised that I was capable of getting better. Best of all, I realised that the process of getting better, of learning, was enjoyable.

So at seventeen, without quite realising it, I learned to write. Meanwhile, I spent my days in the belief that I was working my way towards a long career in electronics.


I'll write more on this topic, I'm sure.
So if you want more, read on.

Melody-Jane.

Introduction

This blog provides you with my thoughts on the following topics:

Writing:
I write. I think about writing. I even write about writing.

Usability and Quality in Software:
My day job just happens to be in quality, with focus on the usability and design area. Chances are that I will occasionally have something to say on the matter.

Music:
I'm about to start learning the accordion, and learning about music. I will spread some of my excitement around here when I am in the mood.

Finland:
I fell in love with Finland before I'd even been there. On a whim, by accident, the way that all my life-long loves seem to occur. I now live there and am studying the language, and I have plenty to say on the matter.

Life:
Life is interesting. I'll probably notice something worth commenting on that is not specific to me, and want to write about it (see 'Writing'). You can relax, though, as I don't intend to describe my daily routine or why Sally and Lucy have fallen out over Harry.

I'll tag each of my posts with 'writing', 'software', 'music', 'Finland' or 'life' accordingly.

Welcome, and read on...
Melody-Jane.