Finding A Way For Fresh Testers.

Following post is my experience of being a tester from a different field.

Being a Tester is not an easy job, as you know I am some one who is not from a technical background but, forced my self to be a tester just because this is some thing which I want to keep doing till the last date of my retirement.

But things are not working out, just because of a tag called “Fresher”. I was lucky to pursue a job as a tester at a right time, even though I can feel the heat of this word “Fresher”.

What can tester do, to get rid of this word “Fresher”? Why we have to stick to one job to remove this tag? Can’t we act practically? Sticking to one company doing same job, day in and day out does it make any sense?

Sitting in an office and finding error in software’s is not everything that a tester needs. He needs knowledge lots of knowledge, he has to be competitive, self motivating, sharp, should have a different views, many more qualities are needed since testers are a different creature on this world.

In today’s world everyone needs an experienced tester but, what about the fresh ones?

Aren’t they important? Can’t they be an asset for you? What should a fresh tester do to survive?

Oh come on! Don’t think about becoming a freelancer, I really don’t understand why people become a freelancer, why to work free for something which you are good at. I understand being a freelancer can add values to your work, might give you fame but after that, if your lucky then you’ll get a job or else continue being a freelancer. Does that make sense? I don’t think so?



Oh come on! Don’t think about uTest or some similar sites, what I have experienced being true on this kind of sites might not land you anywhere. I made a profile with the status of beginner and tried to find some ‘releases’ guess what no releases for fresh one on the same time I logged in from a different user Id which had a status of an expert, now guess what 15 projects on release option waiting to be tested. Does this sound good?

MORAL -- Never be true with your experiences is it?

In my early days I met one of the testing extremist Mr. Pradeep Soundararajan I really appreciate his work for the testing community. He is one of those personalities which is self motivated as well as motivates others unknowingly.

I got an opportunity to be one of the participants of BWST-1 where knowledge was in tons (hope you have read my earlier post on BWST).

BWST motivated a lot but, that didn’t last for too long. June 13th I was hit by a reality that company is trying to slash some nos. of head count. Now obviously, being a fresh new bee the sword was hanging on me too. Some how first week went off (after 13thJune), there was news from other departments. Finally, on 25th June I got a call from my chief (PM). He discussed about the several change to bring in our testing team and spoke about discarding jobs but, some how I managed to save my tail my asking him to work more efficiently as well as handle client. I really thank God to save me this time.

Then after, my learning got diminished day by day, my thoughts are put into a cage. No time to explorer new things, and unfortunately I have to blame time for this.

We fresher need practical knowledge, one to guide us with the do’s and do not’s.
Please share, if there is any institute or organization which provides real time experience in testing for freshers.

Some questions to be answered...

My humble request to all the readers, Please consider the post as discussion only...

Putting my mind in discussion mode...
Some question raised to me for the qualification of a software tester...
If there is a qualification barrier for the testers following thing would be a plus point.

1. Suppose qualification barrier is implemented for being a software tester, the very first thing changes is software testing will become a standardize process.
2. As one of our community member(Mr.Pradeep) has said it very correctly that, if we assume there are 20,000 testers, then will have some 30,000 definitions for the term called software testing.Rather than having 30,000 definitions, if we implement a qualification barrier then we might have a single and a standard definition.
3. Testing assure quality of a product and if we implement a qualification barrier then it might work in a much more effective manner.
4. Qualification barrier will bring a standardize process or basic procedure of testing which will definitely cover the gray areas of testing.
5. IEEE 829 (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) had published standard or basic procedure for testing purpose but, do we really follow those steps? NO, that mean there is no standardization, in this case, qualification barrier might teach us to follow those basic or standard steps.

While writing these points there were few question raised in my mind…

1. Why there is no standard in a profession like software testing, by standard I mean ‘a degree or level of requirement’.
2. What’s a problem in getting certified? This question rose, because if we ask a doctor he say’s I have passed out MBBS or MD or PhD. If we ask a CA (chartered accountant) he say’s I have cleared the toughest exams. An Engineering person he says I have done my BE.

What about software testers?

I agree, no one can measure knowledge through a degree or certificate but, can anyone allow you to practice doctor’s profession without the qualification, can you become a judge or a lawyer in a court without the qualification. If the answer is NO, then why don’t we have a qualification barrier for becoming a software tester?
By the medium of software, software testing touches each and every profession, let that be a small business software or a doctors or judges software.

Ok let’s think the other way round, for example a nurse and a doctor they both work together but what differentiates is ‘Qualification’.A doctor and cook both belong to same profession called hospitality but what differentiates is ‘Qualification’.
What about software tester, no qualification.
Which profession do we belong?
Coz we don’t have any Qualification.

My humble request to all the readers, Please consider the post as discussion only...
I know this post might look a foolish question for some, but it's a question for me, so please share your views with me and everyone.....
Kind Regards,
shikhar...