This document outlines the steps to becoming an expert software tester from day one. It discusses gaining experience through exploratory testing and running initial tests. It describes acquiring expertise in the tested product, company, and domain over time by understanding requirements, participating in meetings, studying competitors, and attending events. Finally, it notes that to become a testing expert requires massive quality contributions, event participation, technical publications, and providing independent audits, while maintaining testing best practices.
4. Day 1
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Testers from Day 1
Learning by exploratory testing
Run of first “technological” test
“black” / “white-box”
First software application
5. Day 1 – Software Tester
First:
•Computer experience
•Played game
•Software/operating system/drivers installation
•“Hello, world!” program with “test your code”
experience
12. Mathematics
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Metrics
Sets (w/ the finer vs. coarser test sets problem)
Graphs (w/ state transition testing)
Probability (w/ equivalence classes to partition
infinite input spaces into "testable" sets, risk-based
testing, error guessing)
• Statistics (w/ boundary testing, user profiling,
reliability engineering)
• Combinatorics (w/ pairwise, triple, or n-way
combinations of a system’s test sets)
24. Acquiring the product expertise
One should acquire the product expertise after:
•fully understanding the software product
Also, (s)he is:
•creating/maintaining the Test Plan
•participating to design review for new features
•sometimes, the most knowledgeable person
25. Acquiring the Company expertise 1
One should acquire the Company expertise after:
•knowing its entire suite of products
Also, (s)he is:
•involved in the initial communication phase and
participating in the requirements meetings
•the Test Architect, creating the Test Strategy
•not involved (usually) in the execution stage
26. Acquiring the Company expertise 2
The Company expertise holder is:
•business savvy, having business kinesthesia
•able to see the bigger picture of the Company’s
business approach and procedures
•able to actively participate to its growth
30. Acquiring the domain expertise
One should acquire the domain expertise, after:
•studying the software products of the
competitors
•working for the domain’s leader
•the continuous study of alternative solutions
•passive and active participation to technical and
business domain’s events
31. Expertise != Expert
• Horizontal evolution, beside a vertical one
• Gain another domain expertise (by repeating
the previous steps at a higher velocity)
• The expertise is relative (contextual), the
discipline Expert role is less relative, but never
absolute (non-contextual)
32. Becoming a Testing Expert
After:
•changes (depending on domain’s complexity)
•being recognized as a massive contributor to the
quality of the software products
•being a continuous participant to discipline
events, technical publisher
•being solicited to provide independent auditing
33. Don’t forget!!! As a tester:
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I always tell the truth
I deliver good results
I’m efficiently using the tools and resources
I communicate and collaborate efficiently with
all the stakeholders
• I keep informed the clients about the
risks/problems/limitations and improvements
34. Also:
• Make your point fully understood and
accepted by the customer
• Give 100% to your work
• Gather as much as possible information about
the product/technologies
• Don’t forget that everything is RELATIVE
