Helping software testers remain relevant and employable – find out more below
A while ago I remember Phil Kirkham mentioning that he’d found a bug that “fell” outside of the Test Cases he’d been given and someone was arguing that it wasn’t a bug. I found it incredibly interesting that someone would dismiss a serious bug because it was not found as part of a test case.
I’m a huge fan of keeping things simple, usable and accessible when it comes to developing stuff (if possible). A cool source of ideas for building usable and accessible “forms” is the ELMER guidelines. These guidelines are aimed at those building public sector forms, but I think the guidelines are good for anyone having
I often get asked by people new to Software Testing what the best approach to learning more about Testing is. Is it certification, books, blogs or other courses? These are the usual categories that get listed. I very rarely hear people ask whether “practice” is a good approach to learning. I think this stems
Whilst on the train a few months back I spent some time observing how people were using technology. Some were using the tech as I assume it was intended, some were “street hacking” the products, whilst others had adopted unique ways of utilising technology (and other devices) to fit the context they found themselves in.
I always tell candidates looking for a job to have a standard CV, but to never send this CV to anyone. Never. The ‘Standard CV” is a starting point for a contextually specific CV that gets the hiring manager giddy with excitement about speaking to you. Yet the other way around, it’s very common for
I presented at a conference last year where I talked about large feedback loops and how agile attempts to shorten these loops. Ideas such as Acceptance Test Driven Development, Test Driven Development and agile sprint durations are *some* reasons why agile achieves shorter feedback loops. (not exclusive to agile though). I also suggested that long
In my experience there can often be, especially amongst testers, a desire to hear the bad news, the gossip or the failings. Get to any mainstream Testing conference to hear stories of Testers gleeful at delays, failings and horror stories of late releases; the stereotypes of negative Testers did start somewhere and is very much
Testing is dead, that’s what they said in the news. I disagree, but I think it’s getting confused. There has been a lot of talk on whether or not “testing” is dead. At EuroSTAR last year it was an over-riding theme and it generated a lot of talk about what the future holds for
When people start a new job it can often be daunting and for some, a little overwhelming. There is often so much to learn and more often than not, a lot of the information you often need is either not easily available, or is so dull that you stuggle to get through it. I started
At EuroSTAR last week it was sad to see a “them versus us” culture still thriving in the software development community. I thought things were changing, especially with the on-set of Agile heading mainstream but it seems not. I got embroiled in a conversation which stole an hour of my life. An hour in
One of the interesting changes I see in the Testing industry is that many new companies, with newly formed Development teams (i.e. Programmers, Testers, Product etc), are automatically looking to the cloud for Testing solutions and tools. It’s a natural process as many of these companies often power their entire infrastructure through Cloud tech. It’s
One of my favourite blogs (http://www.experientia.com/blog/) carried an essay/article on humans and machines by Marina Gorbis. It’s a breezy article but makes some awesome points and each point Marina made rang true for what we are seeing in the Testing world. Marina makes a point that machines are replacing the mechanistic jobs traditionally done by
The other day someone sent me an email asking me how to stand out from the masses in the Testing world. I responded by suggesting they engage in the community, join groups that interest them, read about any other subject that interests them but isn’t directly considered a Testing information source and to start learning
In almost all places of work, there exists a level of wasted time and effort when communicating a message multiple times. In almost all places of work, there exists a level of wasted time and effort when communicating a message multiple times. These “duplicate conversations” are wasteful and ultimately take people away from the
I’m reading an excellent book at the moment called “Game Storming” by Dave Gray, Sunni Brown and James Macanufo. It’s one of those books that’s given me a “lesson” or insight in every chapter. In essence Game Storming is about generating new ideas and novel solutions. It’s a way of getting from Starting