The document outlines advice from Nicola Owen for software testers in their first year. She discusses her own career journey, starting with a graduate program and working at different clients to gain experience. Some key lessons include managing expectations, learning from mentors, getting involved in the testing community, and constantly learning about new tools and approaches. The main advice is to learn as much as possible, don't wait for opportunities but create them, and ask questions.
Re-membering the Bard: Revisiting The Compleat Wrks of Wllm Shkspr (Abridged)...
What I wish I knew in my first year of testing
1. WHAT I WISH I
KNEW IN MY FIRST
YEAR OF TESTING
By Nicola Owen
Belgrade Testing Conference
2. • House of Test
• Kiwi in Sweden
• Worked mainly as a
Test Consultant and1
year at a start-up
• Delivered workshops on
projects and presented
courses
• Enjoy playing boardgames
and watching food shows
3. WHAT I’LL TALK
ABOUT
1. How I started my career in
testing
2. How I discovered different
tools and approaches
3. What I’ve learned over the
years
4. Advice I would give to
someone in their first year of
testing
5. Books, approaches and tools
- examples
14. 2. HOW I DISCOVERED DIFFERENT
TOOLS AND APPROACHES
15. 3 WHAT I’VE LEARNED OVER THE YEARS
(PART 1)
• Generally, better experience with developers
than away from them
• Be patient
• Sometimes it’s better to ask for forgiveness
than permission
16. 3 WHAT I’VE LEARNED OVER THE YEARS
(PART 1)
• Generally, better experience with developers
than away from them
• Be patient
• Sometimes it’s better to ask for forgiveness
than permission
17. 3 WHAT I’VE LEARNED OVER THE YEARS
(PART 1)
• Generally, better experience with developers
than away from them
• Be patient
• Sometimes it’s better to ask for forgiveness
than permission
18. 3. WHAT I’VE
LEARNED OVER THE
YEARS (PART II)
• ”A mentor is someone who
sees more talent and ability
within you, than you see in
yourself, and helps bring it out
of you.” - Bob Proctor
19. 3. WHAT I’VE LEARNED OVER THE YEARS
(PART III)
• Don’t wait for opportunities – create them
• Don’t expect to just be rewarded for good
work, people need to see or hear about it, in
order for that recognition (and/or reward) to
happen
20. 3. WHAT I’VE LEARNED OVER THE YEARS
(PART III)
• Don’t wait for opportunities – create them
• Don’t expect to just be rewarded for good
work, people need to see or hear about it, in
order for that recognition (and/or reward) to
happen
24. MENTORING
• ”Mentoring consists of a long-term
relationship focused on supporting the growth
and development of the mentee. The mentor
becomes a source of wisdom, teaching, and
support”
25. HOW TO FIND A MENTOR
• Ask someone
• Online forums
• Networking events
• No need for initial commitment
26. HOW TO FIND A MENTOR
• Ask someone
• Online forums
• Networking events
• No need for initial commitment
27. HOW TO FIND A MENTOR
• Ask someone
• Online forums
• Networking events
• No need for initial commitment
28. HOW TO FIND A MENTOR
• Ask someone
• Online forums
• Networking events
• No need for initial commitment
29. 4. TESTING COMMUNITY – GET
INVOLVED
• Slack Channel on
www.testers.io
• Local testing
meetups
• Testing conferences
• Software testing
forums
30. 4. TESTING COMMUNITY – GET
INVOLVED
• Slack Channel on
www.testers.io
• Local testing
meetups
• Testing conferences
• Software testing
forums
31. 4. TESTING COMMUNITY – GET
INVOLVED
• Slack Channel on
www.testers.io
• Local testing
meetups
• Testing conferences
• Software testing
forums
32. 4. TESTING COMMUNITY – GET
INVOLVED
• Slack Channel on
www.testers.io
• Local testing
meetups
• Testing conferences
• Software testing
forums
33. 4. ASK QUESTIONS
• Why are we doing this approach/ using this
tool?
• Who can teach me this? (approach or tool)
• Can I try this _______?
• How can I improve?
34. 4. ASK QUESTIONS
• Why are we doing this approach/ using this
tool?
• Who can teach me this? (approach or tool)
• Can I try this _______?
• How can I improve?
35. 4. ASK QUESTIONS
• Why are we doing this approach/ using this
tool?
• Who can teach me this? (approach or tool)
• Can I try this _______?
• How can I improve?
36. 4. ASK QUESTIONS
• Why are we doing this approach/ using this
tool?
• Who can teach me this? (approach or tool)
• Can I try this _______?
• How can I improve?
39. WHAT I HOPE YOU WALK AWAY WITH:
• Manage your expectations
• Don’t wait for opportunities – create them
• Don’t expect to be rewarded for good work automatically
• Learn
• Find a mentor
• See what’s out there in the testing world
• Ask questions
40. WHAT I HOPE YOU WALK AWAY WITH:
• Manage your expectations
• Don’t wait for opportunities – create them
• Don’t expect to be rewarded for good work automatically
• Learn
• Find a mentor
• See what’s out there in the testing world
• Ask questions
41. WHAT I HOPE YOU WALK AWAY WITH:
• Manage your expectations
• Don’t wait for opportunities – create them
• Don’t expect to be rewarded for good work automatically
• Learn
• Find a mentor
• See what’s out there in the testing world
• Ask questions
42. WHAT I HOPE YOU WALK AWAY WITH:
• Manage your expectations
• Don’t wait for opportunities – create them
• Don’t expect to be rewarded for good work automatically
• Learn
• Find a mentor
• See what’s out there in the testing world
• Ask questions
43. WHAT I HOPE YOU WALK AWAY WITH:
• Manage your expectations
• Don’t wait for opportunities – create them
• Don’t expect to be rewarded for good work automatically
• Learn
• Find a mentor
• See what’s out there in the testing world
• Ask questions
44. WHAT I HOPE YOU WALK AWAY WITH:
• iManage your expectations
• Don’t wait for opportunities – create them
• Don’t expect to be rewarded for good work automatically
• Learn
• Find a mentor
• See what’s out there in the testing world
• Ask questions
45. WHAT I HOPE YOU WALK AWAY WITH:
• Manage your expectations
• Don’t wait for opportunities – create them
• Don’t expect to be rewarded for good work automatically
• Learn
• Find a mentor
• See what’s out there in the testing world
• Ask questions
46. ANY
QUESTIONS?
• Feel free to keep in
contact:
• Nickytests.blogspot.com
• Nicola.owen@houseoftest.
se
• On the Testersio slack
• @NicolaO55
Hinweis der Redaktion
Assurity Graduate Program
You may be wondering - how did I get into testing?
My introduction to the testing world is not exactly unheard of, but probably rather uncommon. I did a Graduate Programme back in 2012. Before then I honestly never knew that testing existed as a career - the only career I knew of in IT was being a software developer. But when I saw the advertisement on a careers site - I decided to go for it. Technology and how things work interests me - and I’m a curious person.
The Graduate Programme was a 4 week course where we not only studied for the ISTQB Exam, we also learned how to be a consultant, how to ask questions and in general, how to add value to a project.
I remember doing some mini projects, which I found stressful at the time and lots of testing-related exercises. Now keep in mind this was my first job out of university. So I was pretty much a “clean slate” when it came to the “real working world” It was intense, exhausting and eye-opening. Yet I loved it because I learned A LOT in those 4 weeks.
In the Graduate Programme, I learned about test cases, the V-Model, Agile, waterfall, test plan etc.- but honestly I had no idea of how little I knew.
At the time, I had no understanding of what the “real world” was like. So anything I was told about testing and how things would work - I accepted for fact. We were told how testers should be involved from the start because it’s a lot cheaper to prevent bugs than fix them towards to the end of a project. We were told that you should build in quality and not just test for it. We were told that testers and developers should work closely together. In my opinion, they are all true. But when I started out on client sites, I realised that the real world looks a bit different.
Different clients for an average of 9 months each
Since I worked on multiple client sites, I got to be exposed to multiple industries in a relatively short space of time - these ranged from Education to Government and Trade to Payments. By hopping from project to project, I learned how to learn. Quickly.
Moving from client site to client site meant I felt the need to prove my value as a tester faster.
More importantly, I learned how there’s no such thing as a one size fits all approach. Depending on the industry, the size of the project, the timelines and of course - the people involved - how you test can differ. I got to see what’s out there faster.
When it comes to working as a tester, my expectations didn’t exactly match reality. Now I haven’t worked at a gaming company so this comic in front of you doesn’t exactly hold true.
But I did have some expectations..
Expectations vs Reality
Perception of quality
My understanding of what quality was, was similar to perfection - I thought all (known) bugs had to be addressed before you went live. Bugs were something that hurt the quality of the software.
As time passed, my understanding of quality has changed. Now, I don’t think of bugs so much per say - but more of the value delivered to stakeholders. If they’re happy - I’m happy.
Testing – interview analogy.
Trying to understand how good something/someone is
Testing doesn’t mean you know exactly what the software is like - but good tests do, same thing with good questions/hiring process
Importance of quality
This is similar to my previous point. I remember thinking, before I started, that others would share my views on how important software quality was in a project. After all, I thought, why would they want to release buggy software and have customers complain? Even risk losing customers?
But as time passed, I then became a little disillusioned. My effort to raise bugs and talk to developers, business analysts and other people in my team made me think that I was being more of a nuisance; a burden, than a team asset.
The desire to get things done, so you can move onto the next one is a very prevalent mindset in software projects. Also: “it’s not in the requirements so it’s not a bug”. I still hear it → that still drives me a bit crazy.
Agile
Agile was glorified when I was on the graduate programme. After everything I heard about Agile including its benefits - I thought to myself - daaaamn sounds amazing. Bet I’ll be on loads of Agile projects when I start working.
Then I started working. That didn’t exactly turn out to be the case.
Waterfall was very prevalent. But then I did find companies saying that they had Agile projects just because they ran a daily standup. (which ran for 45min and slowly became a daily sit-down until I complained to my manager about this since we were having to work overtime to meet deadlines). It seemed to me that Agile was quite the buzzword to throw around to seem cool.
Don’t get me wrong - I’ve worked on Agile projects and really enjoyed them. But unfortunately, I haven’t spent a whole lot of time actually working on Agile projects - or at least not as much time as I would like.
Working with developers
I expected it to be easy to work with developers - since we’d be on the same side. We are, after all, building software together to make users happy.
Whether or not this expectation matched reality depended on the team set-up I was in and my definition of “team”.
When my “team” was the product team including developers - then this expectation was met. But when “team” referred to fellow testers - then I found an “us vs them” mindset to be a lot more prevalent.
Tools:
There are so many different tools out there that can help you make your testing life easier, better and more efficient. Instead of telling you, which ones I have found useful - I’ll instead tell you how I found these tools.
I got involved in the local testing community - going to local meetups meant that I would listen to talks where people would talk about their experiences in testing (often including which tool they had used). This was often followed by a facilitated discussion period - where we could ask each other questions and even probe deeper on other people’s experiences in different tools.
Another way I got involved in the testing community was through an online Slack group called testers.io, there are channels on there where you can ask for advice on which tools to use for certain problems or you can ask about people’s experiences on tools you are considering using.
Lastly, online forums and sites - there are heaps of sites and forums which group tools by function. e.g. API testing, security testing, performance testing
Approaches
There are heaps of different testing approaches (and might I add interpretations out there). When it comes to testing approaches, I learned these on the job. Test cases, mindmapping, exploratory testing, Session based test management etc - all on the job.
What I have learned over the years Part I
Generally, better experience with developers than away from them.
The ability to just roll your chair towards their desk and then ask them questions face to face is invaluable. Challenges can arise across different time zones.
Be patient
This applies to both overall and in the job.
Overall, in that, it takes a while to build experience and become a good tester - you need to learn and see what’s out there. In the job, when it comes to dealing with some particularly frustrating things - e.g. finding a bug that is hard to replicate, but it has a massive impact
Sometimes it’s better to ask for forgiveness than permission
For me this comes to testing approaches. I’ve been told exactly how to test with no real reason why. So I go ahead and do it a different way that still solves their problem - as long as it does still solve their problem; I’ve gotten away with this. Be careful here. Use eBay example (being asked for test cases for a feature)
I waited a year, maybe over a year before finding one. I wish I found one sooner. When you’re learning and growing (which technically should be always not just in your first year) - having someone guide you, give you honest feedback and want the best for you - is put simply. Amazing. I was really nervous about leaving my first job - I thought no other employer would want me and that I should just stick to where I was. Since this was my first job I didn’t know what it was like “out there”. But my mentor helped me discover which qualities I had to offer which were unique and would set me apart. Even though I’d read a lot of stuff online on what other jobs are like, job responsibilities, market pay etc. - it’s hard to beat a real actual person who cares about your career growth.
In general, opportunities don’t present themselves you need to create them
I don’t think you should just sit around waiting for good things to happen to you. It didn’t occur to me that good work would not always equal recognition. A former manager told me that someone had to see it for it to matter. I know this sounds so strange. But it’s true - at work it seems to me that the people that climb up the career ladder faster and get recognised are not only those who create opportunities and take advantage of them. But also find a way to draw attention to their successes - what they managed to achieve with those opportunities.
Here is one example of an opportunity I created:
Just after my first year, Paymark - ended up mentoring and coaching some people in my team - teaching them mindmaps.
Don’t expect to just be rewarded for good work, people need to see or hear about it, in order for that recognition (and/or reward) to happen
For me, this is a big one, and one that I still struggle with to be honest.
My first boss at my first test consultancy gave me this advice soon after I started and I think it holds true. It’s not that you should only do good work so that someone can see it and then you get rewarded for it, BUT if you want recognition and reward for the hard work you do, SOMEONE has to see it or you need to tell people about it – you can’t just assume that things will work itself out and you’ll get the recognition you deserve.
Focus on learning, you have so much to learn. Later in my talk I’ll give you some ideas on what to learn.
Why would you want to have a mentor?
Takes a long-range view of your growth and development.
Helps you see the destination but does not give you the detailed map to get there.
Offers encouragement and cheerleading, but not "how to" advice.
Ask someone senior to you at work
Or ask someone who is in a position that you would like to have in the future
Online forums
This conference – networking opportunities here
No need to form an initial commitment of having a mentor-mentee relationship at first, you can always have coffee with someone or lunch with them a few times and ask them for advice etc, then depending on how that goes, a mentoring relationship may naturally form.
MENTION – speak easy for speaking at conferences
Slack channel
Local testing meetups
Testing conferences
Software testing forums
Why are we doing this approach?
“Just coz” isn’t something you’ll hear. But the same meaning can come out. Not able to give an actual reason
Who can teach me ____?
If there’s something you want to learn - ask around.
Can I try ____ tool?
Maybe you came across a tool online or at a local meet-up that you think could help you with your work. Ask if you can try it.
How can I improve?
Don’t wait for an annual performance review - assuming you have some sort of regular catch-up with the person you report to, ask them this question. You can also ask it to people you work with, developers, test leads etc. I have asked people I work with what I can do better - and half the time they actually take me up on my request for feedback and they tell me how I can get better. I bring up this question specifically because it can feel strange or wrong to offer unsolicited advice, especially if you’re not someone’s boss. But if you ask people how you can improve - you pave a path for that conversation.
Books:
I admit, I haven’t read as many books on testing as I would’ve liked but I’ve read a few good ones - some testing-specific books and others that helped me with my job.
The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg - habits as a tester, become aware of which actions you make are habits and which are choices. I find that when I start interacting with a new system, there’s a certain set of actions I always do in the same order - not because I choose to do it, but because it’s a habit. Becoming aware of this really helped. It means that I could be more purposeful with my testing.
Explore it by Elisabeth Hendrickson - lots of useful techniques for testing - have read it off and on for the past few years. She’s also got a great cheat sheet you can find online
Secrets of Consulting by Gerry Weinberg - I find testing to be a very social job. As a tester, you interact a lot with people. How to interact well with people is covered in this book - AND it’s a very easy read, I found it hard to put down.
Tools:
Postman - when dealing with APIs. In the past I worked on projects where the Backend would be available before the front end. So I would only have the API to test with for a few weeks before the front-end became available. Learning how to use Postman meant I didn’t need to wait until I had a proper UI to start testing.
Approaches:
Mind-maps to communicate test plans and test results.
Mindmaps are a lot more readable and appealing than long test documentation. You have a better chance to get a developer to look at a mindmap than numerous test cases.
I was able to prevent bugs more easily as the developers could not only see how I planned to test their code but it would also give them ideas as to other ways their code might break, so they’d work on preventing that before it even got to me.
Charles is an HTTP proxy / HTTP monitor / Reverse Proxy that enables a developer to view all of the HTTP and SSL / HTTPS traffic between their machine and the Internet. This includes requests, responses and the HTTP headers (which contain the cookies and caching information).
Tools for SBTM - exploratory testing
Manage your expectations – including around Agile, quality, testing, etc
