OK, here goes. New to this blog stuff, so you’ll have to bear with me. I have a question I want to answer. What is a software tester?
So many talks, blogs, etc seem to miss out the context from which the person is talking. A comment on one type of testing may or may not be applicable to the context you are working in. So am I at all qualified to talk about the area of testing in which you are working? Probably not. Some things are generic however, and can reasonably be applied to ALL areas of testing.
So what about me? I’d prefer not to name specific companies or individuals, just in case someone takes offence at what I say. However, I would like to start by clarifying what type of experience I have, so you can judge the context of comments I make.
I started my career as a software developer about 30 years ago. Nearly all my experience has been in embedded real-time software. I have an electronic engineering degree, so understand quite a lot about the hardware as well. Then about 10 years ago I started to concentrate on testing and reviewing other people’s work. After about 5 years, I was made redundant, and on applying for various jobs (at the height of a recession) I found that companies weren’t interested in me as a developer, as I hadn’t been writing code in the last few years. So software testing it was – I was stuck with it, and now the testing community is stuck with me; as you might have gathered, not the youngest in the community, but possibly one with a different viewpoint from many.
I am currently working for a company producing bespoke devices containing embedded real-time software. These have a very specific purpose, and much of our testing involves validating that these units perform as they should (do the right thing – what the customer wants) and verifying that they are reliable (do the thing right). Many of our testers do not have the coding experience that I have, and similarly many do not have the hardware background.
There is a second group of testers within the company testing the front-end web interface. I have done some work in this area, but my main focus is on the devices.
So that’s my context. So am I really a software tester? I’d say yes, but that term seems to cover a lot of different areas. Maybe my experience doesn’t fit with what you’re doing, and maybe that means that some of my comments may not apply, but maybe they do in a different way? I leave that for you to decide.
What about your context? Does what you’re saying apply to me? I need to know from what angle you are coming, so that I can make a judgement on the applicability of your comments to my work.
About The Author
Mike graduated in 1984 with a degree in electronic engineering, but specialising in software engineering. He then worked for 25 years in the defence/aerospace industry, for most of that time as a software developer, writing embedded real-time code in Pascal, ADA and C++. During that time, the software testing was done by the developer on their own code. In the last 5 years there Mike has moved onto testing other developer’s code, alongside other areas such as looking into software obsolescence.
After being made redundant, Mike discovered that employers were not interested in his software development skills so he moved into software testing. After starting with a contracting post, again in the defence industry, Mike quickly moved into a permanent post at my current company. His current role involves leading a team of 3 testers testing embedded real-time code on bespoke commercial devices dealing with RF, GSM, and GPS technologies.
