Testing Circus Vol5 Edition07 July 2014

Your Monthly Magazine
on
Software Testing
www.TestingCircus.com
Interview with
Huib Schoots
@HuibSchoots
Testing Circus
Volume 5 - Edition 7 - July 2014
Hiring Testers/Testing Interview Special Edition
moolya sucks
we test fast and dont know to make
more money from our customers.
we are like this only
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Volume 5 - Edition 7 - July 2014
Testing Circus
www.TestingCircus.com July 2014 - 03 -
Topic Author Page #
Interview with Huib Schoots Jay Philips 6
Hiring Testers- The Hard Way on Purpose Erik Davis 12
Hiring Professional Testers Huib Schoots 14
A Different Look into Hiring Testers Prasad 18
A Needle in a Haystack? Richard Robinson 20
Hiring Testers for Crowdsourced Testing Laura Gaudino 28
Where are the Good Testers? Kapil Saxena 31
Tester Being Tested - Panda Remarks Pradeep Soundararajan 34
Book Worms Corner WoBo 35
A Fake Testers Diary, Part - 43 Fake Software Tester 37
Testers to Follow Testing Circus Team 39
Tips for Kick-Starting Mobile Security Testing Santhosh Tuppad 41
Launch Of Zephyr Release 4.6 ToolsJournal.com 43
QASymphony's Scalable Software Testing Tools ToolsJournal.com 45
Andreas Kuehlmann on Coverity-Kalistick Solution ToolsJournal.com 46
Testing Events Around the World TestEvents.com 49
Testing Circus Team
Founder & Editor Ajoy Kumar Singha
Team -
Srinivas Kadiyala
Dwarika Dhish Mishra
Pankaj Sharma
Bharati Singha
Chanderkant Saini
Jaijeet Pandey
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Edition Number : 46 (since September 2010)
*On the Cover Page - Huib Schoots
W
h
a
t

i
s

w
h
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?
Feedback please! editor@testingcircus.com
What is the most important factor for a successful project? It is not the code, test
tools, infrastructure, budget or execution methodology. It is the team members who
bring success to a project. This month we have compiled articles on this very
important aspect of testing projects. Hiring and retaining good testers are the areas
that every organization should give importance to.
For testers who are looking for new jobs, it is important that they plan and prepare
for the job search and interview process. Job search is not a part time activity. It is
a full time job in itself. Knowing hiring processes help job search.
I hope the articles published in this edition will give some insights into hiring and
testing interview. Also dont miss the interview with Huib Schoots and our other
regular features - Fake Testers Diary and Panda Remarks.
Hiring good testers is now easy. You can do it via Testing Circus website. If you are
hiring software testers, you can avail this free job posting facility to advertise your
vacancies in our site. I am sure you will hire better testers by hiring testers using our
site.
Enjoy this edition of Testing Circus. Send your articles for our Security Testing
special edition next month. Happy testing!
- Ajoy Kumar Singha
@TestingCircus // @AjoySingha
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HUIB SCHOOTS
Huib is a curious and passionate person. He likes to share his passion
for testing by coaching, training and giving presentations on a variety
of test subjects. With eighteen years of experience in IT and software
testing, Huib has considerable experience in the field of software
testing, both nationally and internationally. He likes to combine agile,
context-driven testing and human aspects to improve testing and help
people to grow. To achieve that, his goal is to make testing better and
more fun. He loves reading and attempts to read everything ever
published on software testing. Huib is member of TestNet, AST and
ISST, black-belt in the Miagi-Do School of software testing and co-
author of a book about the future of software testing. He is working as
a senior consultant, trainer and coach for Improve Quality Services, a
provider of consultancy and training in the field of testing. Huib lives
in the centre of the Burgundian Den Bosch. With many shops,
restaurants and pubs as well as nature reserve Bossche Broek within
walking distance it is a wonderful place to live. When hes not testing
he enjoys playing trombone in a brass band, photography, golf, games
(especially strategic board games), travelling, diving, beer brewing and
reading.
Organization: Improve Quality Services
Current Role/Designation: Senior Consultant
Location: Den Bosch, the Netherlands
Interview with Testers
1. Tell us about your journey to becoming a software
tester. How did it start and how this has been so far?
Was it planned or by accident?
After I finished my study Business Informatics I
joined a big consultancy company. I did a masterclass
to become a developer. I loved doing IT projects and
solving problems, but I didn't really enjoy
programming in FoxPro. To me it felt like staring at
a screen all day. The communication and
collaboration with other people gave me more
energy. After every release we installed during the
weekend, we spend a week fixing the bugs that
popped up. On another project I distributed the
software on floppy discs and every serious bug
forced us to distribute a new release. I got sick and
tired of copying floppies very soon. So I started to
look for ways to improve the quality of the software
we were building. Doing this I ran into testing. As
developers we did testing. But as I look back on what
we really did, I would rather call that "trying" now.
My first steps in the testing world I took as a test
automation engineer. Later I also did manual testing.
Here I found my passion: finding things out, learning
about how people work, helping teams to make
better software. And back in the nineties, testing
wasn't a real job within IT in many projects. So I was
happy being part of developing the testing
profession within the Telecom Industry I was mainly
working in back then.
2. When did you realize your passion was software
testing?
Within the company I worked in 2002 it was normal
that people grew into (project) management. I tried
that too. Although I really like to organize and make
projects work, I missed testing. I was always paying
too much attention to the testing in my projects. I
realized testing was my passion and I went back to
testing and test management. Several years later I
joined a test consultancy company and became unit
manager. Because this wasnt a full time job, I also
* Interviewed by Jay Philips
did training and consulting. Here I really found my
passion: training people, helping companies to
become better in testing and coaching the people in
my unit. In this period I started reading blogs,
discovered the book Lessons Learned in Software
Testing and context-driven testing which gave a
new and exciting boost to my testing passion. In 2011
I finally did Rapid Software Testing. That gave me
another boost in learning new things I hadnt
considered before. Last year I did a project for a
hospital where I was test manager, tester and coach.
A perfect combination of everything I love in my craft.
3. Do you regret being associated with software
testing today? Given a chance would you move from
testing to any other field in IT?
No, not at all. See my previous answer. I moved
away from project management and went back to
testing. I love what I do and even if I win the lottery
I will still be in the testing industry, probably doing
a lot more training for free. I think testing is one of the
most interesting jobs within IT since it touches on so
many interesting topics. And it is still a very young
industry where we can make a real difference.
4. You have written a book in Dutch "Bepaal je koers!
Toekomst en Trends in Testen". What is that book
about? Do you plan to translate that book into
English?
In English the title would be "Define your course!
Future and trends in software testing" and it is
written on the occasion of the 15th anniversary of
TestNet. The jubilee book was a present to the 1600
TestNet members. The book provides an overview of
trends and developments that me and seven other
contributors to the book saw arise around us. We
tried to translate them to the testing profession. We
think software testing will always be required, but
our craft will change. Using personas we described
what changes and opportunities will arise for testers.
The book makes clear why the demand for certain
roles will disappear and how testers can respond to
the changes that will occur. Our goal was not to
predict the future, because nobody can. It was meant
as a wake-up call to testers: The world around you
is changing. What are you going to do?.
Unfortunately I think it will never be translated into
English. The book is written for TestNet members
and they all speak Dutch. Translating the book is
simply too much work and/or too expensive.
5. You mentioned you attended Rapid Software
Testing course. How did that help you in your career?
Rapid Software Testing changed my testing
paradigm completely! Back in 2005 I bought the book
Lessons learned in Software Testing and since then
I have been reading stuff from Cem Kaner, James
Bach, Michael Bolton and others. One of my favorite
lessons from the book is Lesson 272: If you can get a
black belt in only two weeks, avoid fights. After RST
the whole puzzle in my head fell into place. There
was so much more to testing than I had learned for
the traditional classes. A whole new world opened
for me: heuristics, critical thinking, social sciences,
problem solving and exploratory testing to name a
few.
6. You do free skype coaching for testers. Does that
help you as a tester? Why don't you charge for your
coaching?
Yes, it does! I believe in continuous and deliberate
learning and I try to put that into practice. People
learn from feedback and evaluations. Coaching can
boost your learning. I learned about coaching testers
via Anne-Marie Charrett. She was very helpful
telling me a lot about it via Skype. Later I attended a
workshop she did at Lets Test. After that I started
doing skype coaching with James Bach and later I did
some sessions with Ilari Henrik Aegerter. I
experienced that this really helped me learn new
things and become better in topics we worked on
during the sessions like exploratory testing,
HUIB SCHOOTS
reporting and observing. After some sessions I
decided I wanted to learn how to do it myself.
When I met Erwin van der Koogh we discussed
working for free. He told me that helping other
people is one of the best things you can do for your
own happiness. And I like helping other people.
Skype coaching gives me an opportunity to help
others and make the world a little better. It also helps
me become a better tester and teacher.
7. In 2011 you were one of the founders of DEWT.
What made you want to create this group? And what
does DEWT do?
James Bach challenged German and Dutch testers in
his blogpost My Stockholm Syndrome. As a
reaction to that some Dutch testers started discussing
a peer workshop with codename NLET at a
TestNet Event. We wanted more than only listen to
talks at conferences. We wanted to discuss context-
driven testing stuff with like-minded people to learn
more about CDT. The discussion continued on
twitter and in November 2010, seven passionate
software testers meet at my kitchen table to start a
Dutch version of peer workshops on (exploratory)
testing. After an exciting evening of discussion we
formulated our main goal: get together with like-
minded, explore our profession, get inspired, have
geeky conversations about our craft software testing
and learn. Early 2011 we created a website and
started blogging. In June 2011 the first DEWT peer
workshop was organized. We have experimented
with several formats and learned a lot about how to
do peer conferences. Currently we are planning
DEWT5 with Test Strategy as our theme. We are
moving more towards a LAWST style peer workshop
where we try to dive really deep into the topic
discussed over two days. Besides a yearly peer
workshop we try to get together 3 or 4 times a year in
an evening session. We have discussed topics like
coaching, selling context-driven testing, context-
driven presentation heuristics or testing exercises.
Next month we get together to do a workshop chain
testing that Joep Schuurkes, one of the DEWTs,
teaches. We will do a simulation for a couple of
hours. Sounds like fun and I am really looking
forward to it.
8. You recently changed jobs and now you work for
Improve Quality Services? It is founded by one of the
writers of TMap, right? Are you moving away from
context-driven testing?
Not at all. Since February I work for Improve Quality
Services. Erik van Veenendaal, one of the writers of
TMap, founded the company in 1998. He left the
company a couple of years ago and I actually never
worked with him. ImproveQS realizes that the world
is changing and the testing craft is changing too. I
work for ImproveQS because it is a company that
specializes in testing and quality management. At
this company I can do what I love: be a trainer,
consultant and coach for context-driven testing and
agile. This year we focus on telling the Dutch testing
community ImproveQS has added context-driven
testing to their portfolio. Next year the focus will be
on working with James Bach and Michael Bolton on
Rapid Software Testing.
9. According to you, what is lacking in todays
commercialized training industry, especially in
testing?
There is a lot wrong with the way people think about
learning. Many companies send their people to a
class and expect their people to come back and start
doing the stuff they have learned in class. I think it
doesnt work that way. I believe that people only
really learn how to do test techniques for instance by
applying them in practice and getting serious
feedback from more senior people who mastered the
test techniques. The most courses I have seen are long
lectures with over simplified exercises on paper.
There is no actual software tested in those classes. I
HUIB SCHOOTS
enjoy watching videos on education and learning. If
you want to learn more on how people learn and
what is wrong with the training industry, watch
Ken Robinson: How to escape education's death
valley or Sugata Mitra: Build a School in the
Cloud.
10. Last year you organized a conference called
Tasting Let's Test in the Netherlands. Was that the
first year of the conference? Why should people come
to that conference?
I attended several Lets Test Conferences in Sweden
as a speaker. It is a fabulous conference, the best I
have ever been to. It is special since everybody stays
in the same venue and people keep running into each
other. The atmosphere is great and you get to learn
loads. That is why I was honoured when Henrik and
Johan asked me to join forces and bring Lets Test to
the Netherlands in 2014.
Tasting Let's Test is a unique context-driven
conference, for testers, by testers. Our main goal is to
make a valuable experience for all participants, not to
maximize profit. It is there for you if youre
interested not only in listening to great talks, but also
want to actually test. We had a talk on exploratory
testing by Carsten Feilberg, followed by a practical
exploratory testing session with all participants in
the test lab. We also created the opportunity to pick
the brains of the speakers and testing peers. Tasting
Lets Test is an excellent opportunity to get a bite-
sized taste of the full Lets Test experience. And it is
a really affordable event.
11. You also blogged about popular books and blogs
for testers. Do you read a lot? What would you
recommend other testers to read?
Yes, I love reading! I keep buying books that people
recommend to me. Unfortunately I have a huge
backlog of books to read. But having them in my
library gives me the opportunity to read them when
I need the information and knowledge. I also read
many blogs, mostly when they advertise a new post
via Twitter. Last year TestNet organized a one-day
conference with context-driven testing as the theme.
I wanted to help the Dutch community evolve to
learn, think and do more skilled testing. That is why
I asked many tester friends from the context-driven
community to send me their most popular blogs and
books. I wrote two blog post with the results of those
little surveys. One tester replied that he could not
send a list. What you should be reading depends on
what you are ready to learn about next, and that
varies from person to person. And I fully agree with
this statement. Use the lists of popular books and
blogs as a source for inspiration.
Some tips: Read Lessons Learned in Software
Testing by Kaner, Bach and Pettichord if you want
to learn more about context-driven testing. Read
Perfect Software and other Illusions about Software
Testing by Jerry Weinberg if you want to learn
about myths in our craft. Give it to people you work
with if you think they need to learn about testing and
you suffer from common misunderstandings. Read
Thinking fast and slow by Daniel Kahneman or
You're not so smart by David McRaney or
Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely if you want to
learn more about how we think and our biases. In
this category I also highly recommend the Think
101, The Science of Everyday Thinking online
course or the videos on Youtube.
12. What qualities will you look for in a candidate
when you want to recruit someone for software
testing job?
Have a look at the article I wrote on Hiring
professional testers somewhere else in this
magazine.
HUIB SCHOOTS
13. What will you suggest to people who want to join
IT industry as software testers?
Software testing is not an easy job. If you are curious,
passionate about learning and like to find out how
stuff works, testing might be the right job for you.
Young testers should realize that testing is not about
process and artifacts only as some in our industry try
to make them believe. There are many skills you need
to train to become a great tester. Asking questions is
one of the most important for testers and especially
junior testers. In the current market I see a high
demand for software testers with solid technical
skills. Make sure you learn how software is created
and how it works, collaborate with developers and
dont be afraid to learn about scripting, coding and
how to use tools.
14. What is your next big idea?
Only one? I have many ideas. I am not sure if others
would call them big, but they are a big deal to me.
Recently I discussed an idea for a peer workshop
in France with several people. We hire a huge villa in
a nice region in the summer and get together with 20
testers to spend a long weekend or a week together
without any official program. During the week
participants can work together, discuss new ideas
and meet other testers in a relaxing environment. My
idea is that many regular conference speakers like the
interaction with each other and the best ideas emerge
from conversations with each other. But when the
conference is over everybody leaves and there is no
time to work on the ideas. Maybe to cover for the
costs we could test some companys software for a
day per person. I guess there must be companies who
are willing to pay to have their software tested by a
group of excellent testers.
15. Name few people you would like to thank, people
who helped you directly or indirectly in your career
as a software testing professional.
There are many people who I need to thank and I am
afraid I will forget several people. In my early career
Jeroen Smoorenburg, Kimo Wesseling, Onno
Verdonk and Ed van Rijckevorsel were very helpful
and influential. They had the patience and the
perseverance to work with me and coach me. I
learned a lot from them. I also learned a lot from
people like Ruud Teunissen, Martin Pol and Frits
Bezemer in my time at Polteq. At Rabobank Jean-
Paul Varwijk, Rien Krol and everybody involved in
the lateral meetings helped me to become a better
tester. Currently everybody involved in DEWT is
very influential. Of course I need to thank Michael
Bolton and James Bach for teaching me an awful lot
over the last years. Indirectly I want to thank many
people in the context-driven community for sharing
their wisdom and ideas with me. Currently I am
working with some great testers at Improve Quality
Services. I especially want to name Ruud Cox since
we have been working closely together for the last 5
months.
16. One last question Do you read Testing Circus
Magazine? If yes, what is your feedback to improve
this magazine?
Yes, I do. But I have to confess that I do not have time
to read all the articles every month. The stuff I read is
good and I like it. It is hard to keep all your readers
happy with all content. I think the crowd is simply
too diverse to do that. If I have to mention something:
I would like to see more in depth articles and
experience reports with examples of how people do
their actual work. Anyway, keep up the good work
and dont worry if some people do not like all your
content.
________
Blog - http://www.huibschoots.nl/blog/
Twitter ID - @huibschoots
HUIB SCHOOTS
http://www.testmile.com
From the first time I spoke about hiring testers to an
audience outside of my company, I found some portion
of the people surprised by some of the things I said my
company does, or ways we approach this important
task. One of my key beliefs in hiring testers, one that I
learned and developed at the company I work for now,
is that there is no one, single mold that makes an ideal
tester. I continue to be amazed at the backgrounds that
beget testers. The fact that after hiring testers for more
than seven years I still find it hard to predict someone's
success simply based on the school they went to, or the
degree they have (or don't) shows just how difficult the
process can be.
If you want to make hiring testers simple, then you can
limit yourself to resumes/CVs that contain certain
keywords, or to candidates that list only certain degrees.
This way, you can
assign a low level
HR generalist the job
of screening out all
of the "bad"
applications and
only give you the
"good" ones. This
might also be a
viable option if you
are regularly
flooded with far
more applicants
than you have
positions to fill.
If you happen to be hiring in Ohio, I will enjoy
benefiting from your folly.
The way I do hiring; the way I prefer to do it, is difficult.
It's
We hire what I see as a lot of testers every year. Our
budget over the past few years has been at least 20 heads
per year. Pair that with the fact that we "lose" (another
topic for another time) a good number of people every
year to other departments and a few to other companies
and we end up needing to bring on around 40 people a
year. And that does not include interns. To accomplish
this, we have had to branch out from "bachelors degree
in Computer Science required" to removing nearly all
HR pre-screening of applications.
The reason for this is simple in my eyes; we need more
applications. This should come as no surprise to most
hiring managers, but few schools produce any
meaningful quantity of students in any degree program
that know what testing is, let alone that choose to enter
the testing profession. This means we have to try to
make testers out of people who don't know they want to
be testers. Through the wording used in our ads, to the
types of backgrounds we are willing to look at, we need
to get more people in the door. Our region, and as I have
heard from numerous other people many other
regions/countries, does not have enough experienced
testers around to fill all of the open positions.
If we only needed candidates with a lot of coding
experience, or knowledge of a specific tool, I think this
approach would not be as effective as it is for us. We get
a large number of people who are, generally speaking,
Hiring Testers
- The Hard Way on
Purpose
- Erik Davis
interested in technology and can function on a computer.
Since we are willing to train new hires on the job, we
have been able to cast a much wider net to bring in
people that we can make into the kind of tester we want
them to be.
The biggest benefit of this approach is the diversity of the
backgrounds people bring with them. Once they learn
how to test (we teach them basic skills, knowledge of
heuristics and our internal tools) they are able to use
their prior experiences (most of which are outside of
testing) to help them come up with creative ways to
attack the product we set before them. We have had
English majors, physicists, math majors, accountants,
nurses, masseuses (that word doesnt look right), college
drop outs, commercial floor care professionals, music
majors and instructors; you name it, we probably have it.
Sure, we also have some testers that came in with
programming knowledge. A few even have Computer
Science degrees. Most though came in with some form of
two year degree in programming, or a major (like
MIS/CIS) that gave them some time writing code, but not
at the level you would get in a four year degree. These
candidates wouldn't be considered if they came in off the
street for our Development department (they require a
four year degree) but we are more than happy to give
them a shot in Test.
Yes, this method means much more work for our hiring
managers. It means having do run a lot of interviews,
and look over piles of applications. But it gets us the kind
of people we are looking for.
Sure, bringing this many people in that don't know that
they want to be testers for the long haul has its issues. We
do lose some people that eventually figure out their
passion lies outside of testing. This hiring style also
means we have to put in a lot of time and effort to train
and provide opportunities for our people to hopefully
show them how great and important we feel testing is as
a profession.
At the end of the day for the company I work for, in the
area of the US I live in, and for the kinds of testers we
have historically needed to hire, doing things the hard
way has worked for us.
Erik has taken on many roles in his 16 years in testing. The majority of his time at Hyland creator of
OnBase, has been in a variety of leadership positions from team lead to senior manager. In his current
role as Manager of Testing, Erik is responsible for the team that educates over 180 testers. He is also
constantly looking for ways to engage and retain the testers already at Hyland and find ways to bring in
new talent. One of his current projects is looking for patterns in the issues being found across the
department to help create targeted training to improve the testing being done. Erik considers himself a
member of the Context-Driven Testing community and is a member of AST, the AST Leadership SIG as
well as ISST. He spoke at the CAST conference last year and the QA or the Highway conference this
spring. He will be presenting material at CAST again in August as well as at the Targeting Quality
conference in October. Erik is the programs lead for NOSQAA (Northern Ohio Software Quality Assur-
ance Association) and runs the tester meet up NOTiCE (http://meetup.com/NOTiCE). Erik tweets at
@erikld.
Hiring the right people for a job is hard and often lot of work. When I look at the job offers for testers I see a lot of
rubbish and that makes me nervous. I think those job ads show that there is still a lot of misunderstanding about
testing and what testers do. That makes it harder to find the right people for the job. In this article I share my
experience and will highlight what I think is important when companies try to hire testers.
Hiring geeks that fit
The process of hiring
testers isnt very different
from hiring any other
people for IT jobs, only
the skills, knowledge and
experience you are
looking for are tester
specific. I recommend the
excellent book Hiring
Geeks That Fit by Johanna Rothman [ref 1] to learn more about how recruitment of people in IT works.
I have been in the testing business for quite some time and I have a lot of experience with hiring testers from
different perspectives. Whilst as a test manager for projects and as a line manager for a bank I conducted many job
interviews to hire testers. We hired experienced testers as well as people directly from school. I have been in the
secondment business for over 10 years and have done many job interviews to get hired for projects and consultancy
assignments.
What are professional testers?
I often talk about testers and testing skills. I like to make a distinction between professional testers and testers
by profession. The last category are people who have the job mainly because it is a way to make a living and they
do not act like a real professional should do. They know little about what they do and they do not study their craft.
They never read professional literature and they only want to do courses if the boss is paying. They just do their job
9 to 5 and go home and want to forget about their work because they do not really enjoy it. Testers by profession
just do something that seems to be working and cant explain effectively what value their testing is adding to the
company.
Companies always want to hire the best tester possible. And I believe professional testers are a minority. Testing is
a difficult, complex and demanding profession. That is why companies should be careful when hiring people to do
testing. Professional testers have the right characteristics: knowledge, skills, experience, attitude, ethics and values.
The trick in hiring professional testers is to recognize a professional and match the right mix of characteristics to the
Hiring
Professional
Testers
- Huib Schoots
characteristics of the job. Sounds simple right? I learned over the years that this is not as simple as it sounds. Later
in this article I will present my heuristics to recognize a professional tester.
Problem solving
I like to approach recruitment as problem solving. Think of it like this: when you want to hire a tester, you have a
problem. You are understaffed, you need different skills or maybe you need better people? It can be anything. The
first step is to take some time to define what the problem is that you need to solve.
Recruitment takes a lot of time and could be expensive. You want to make sure you are solving the right problem
by hiring the right tester. Do you really need new people? And if you think you do, who do you need to solve that
problem? What are the characteristics you are looking for?
Vague job characteristics dont help
Many job ads are very vague and badly written. There are no clear characteristics mentioned of the person they are
looking for and the attitude they expect from the person they are trying to hire. To me that is often a sign how the
company advertising thinks about testing. If you have a weak job description, dont be surprised if weak applicants
respond and try to get the job you are advertising. Be very specific in what you are looking for, dont be afraid that
only a few people will react. Being very specific helps candidates determine if they fit and you will see that people
who take the time to react, mostly are a better fit for your company.
Bad examples
Bachelors Degree in Computer Science or related field, or equivalent work experience tells the candidate that
almost anything is okay. I suggest to tell why this is important.
Ensure that project deliverables are defect free
tells the candidate that the company doesnt really understand what testing is about.
Education: ISTQB / TMAP tells me nothing. What do you want? Experience with it? Or only the foundation
certificate? It might tell the candidate that certification is valued over testing skills or that the recruiter isnt able to
describe which testing skills are important for the job.
Developing, implementing and executing test plans tells the candidate that it is actually a testing job as the job
title was already saying.
Be clear in what you expect
Finding the right candidates takes a clear expectation of what you are looking for. All aspects of the person you
are looking for should be in there: knowledge, skills, experience, attitude, ethics and values. Also add something
in your job description on why the tester wants to work for you. It can be an awesome product, the company
culture or great benefits.
Good examples
Brightpearl advertises this:
Exploratory testing - and we mean serious, structured exploratory testing, not just a buzzword. Youll have heard of and
read Cem Kaners work and others.
This clearly states what knowledge they expect from you.
NewVoiceMedia has job descriptions where they describe clear values of the company: We value ownership and
curiosity, what they expect from you: Share your passion for your work internally and externally and they tell you
how those attitudes and values are translate in expected behaviour: Care about the company, the quality of the
product and the user experience. and Take on epic challenges that push you out of your comfort zone. RES Software
clearly state what they expect from a tester and what a tester can expect from their colleagues: You know how to
convince a rock-star developer about a possible improvement in the software and have him buy you a drink afterwards. and
You test everything in your life, your new telephone, your new car, a piece of code and the quickest route to your new job.
Selection: add an extra threshold
After you have defined the problem and the
characteristics to solve the problem, the fun really starts.
I would recommend adding an extra threshold for
people who want to react. Let them write a cover letter
in which they have to describe why they think they fit
the description. This also gives them the chance to
explain if they do not have the required experience or
knowledge, but they still think why they could fit.
Another way of doing that is to add a challenge to the
process. Candidates who want to apply for the job need
to test something and send their report to you or they
have to answer some questions like Describe testing
and quality in your own words or How would you
test website X if you have one day to test it and have
them send their answer together with their resume.
Putting up an extra threshold helps in two ways: it will
discourage people who arent really serious or lazy and
it will give you some idea of the skill level of the
candidates reacting.
The interview: practice what you preach
I have a lot of experience as interviewee in job
interviews. The thing that strikes me the most, is that
only very rarely I have been asked to actually test
something. And I think that is a very risky way of hiring
people. How can you be sure that they can test and not
only are good in talking about it? Have the candidates
shown that they actually can do what they claim in their
resumes. Let a candidate test manager create, present
and defend a test strategy and have a tester test a piece
of software during the interview. Dont step in the trap
of thinking that it will take too long to work with them.
Take time to let them test! Let them explain how they
work and how they think. It is the thought process that
interests me. In my recent webinar [ref 2] I have
presented some ideas to test the candidate during an
interview.
Also ask questions that search for evidence of what they
claim: ask questions like: Can you give me an example
of how you applied test technique X or method Y?. The
most important question I always ask is how the
candidate learns. A very important aspect of testing is
learning about the product and learning is essential for
professional testers. After the official interviews, I try to
setup something for the team to meet the candidate and
spend time together so they get to know each other and
give the candidate a chance to get know the organisation
better. Cultural fit in the organisation and the team is
one of the most important things you want to assure. If
the person doesnt fit the culture, no matter how
qualified you will have a serious problem in the end.
Remember that recruitment comes from two sides: you
have to make sure the candidate matches the profile and
the candidate has to determine if they want to work for
your company.
Rushing job interviews will get the wrong problem
solved as the wrong person gets hired. Spending more
time on defining the problem and selecting the right
candidate will pay back in the long term by having a
perfect fit for your organisation.
How to recognize professional testers?
In March this year I wrote a blog post called Heuristics
for recognizing professional testers [ref 3] in which I
presented 18 heuristics to recognize a professional
tester. Use these heuristics in your recruitment process.
1. Have a paradigm of testing & can explain approach
2. Love what they do & are passionate about the
testing craft
3. Consider context first and continuously
4. Consider testing a human activity to solve complex
problems
5. Know that software development and testing is a
team sport
6. Know that things can be different
7. Ask questions before doing anything
8. Use diversified approaches
9. Know that estimation is more like negotiation
10. Use test cases and test documentation wisely
11. Continuously study their craft
12. Have courage and refuse to do bad work
13. Are curious and like to learn new things
14. Have important interpersonal skills (like writing &
communication skills, social and emotional skills,
problem solving, decision making, coaching,
teaching, being proactive and assertive)
15. Have excellent testing skills (like thinking,
analytical skills, modelling, risk analysis, planning
and estimation, applying many different test
techniques, exploring, designing experiments and
observation)
16. Have sufficient technical skills (like coding or
scripting skills, being able use tooling, SQL skills,
being able to configure and install software,
knowledge and skills to work on different
platforms)
17. Do not fear learning & are not afraid to make
mistakes
18. Happy and willing to share their knowledge
This long list of heuristics might give the impression
that we are looking for a super tester who has all these
characteristics. That is why I call them heuristics, some
may help you, and others may not apply in your
situation. Not every job requires every heuristic
mentioned. Since people work in teams, other team
members will have some of the skills. Also, knowing the
candidate lacks certain skills doesnt have to be a
problem as such. If the candidate is willing to learn and
your company is willing to invest in the candidate, the
problem can be solved after hiring the candidate.
To be able to use these heuristics effectively demands
that you know what you are looking for. It also
demands that you are able to distinguish skilled testers
from non-skilled testers.
Conclusion
Hiring the right tester is hard and often a lot of work. To
attract the right people make sure the problem that
needs to be solved is clearly defined and an explicit job
description that matches the problem is written.
Seriously testing the candidates will help you hire only
the very best: the one that really wants to work for you
and who is a perfect match for the job opening you have.
Remember that professional tester will grow and get
better once you have hired them while testers by
profession will not grow too much.
Rob Lambert (@rob_lambert) is currently writing a
series of blog post on the same topic. If you want to learn
more about hiring professional testers, I recommend
you read his blog. The series can be found here:
http://thesocialtester.co.uk/category/hiring-testers/
References:
[1] Hiring Geeks That Fit Johanna Rothman
Leanpub - ISBN 978-0-9854820-0-8
[2] Webinar EuroStar Hiring Professional Testers
http://www.eurostarconferences.com/community/mem
ber/webinar-archive/webinar-99-hiring-professional-
testers
[3] Heuristics for recognizing professional testers
http://www.huibschoots.nl/wordpress/?p=1666
More information:
Discussion Hiring Professional Testers on
Testhuddle.com
http://testhuddle.com/forums/topic/hiring-
professional-testers/
Recruiting Software Testers by Cem Kaner
http://www.testingeducation.org/BBST/foundations
/Kaner_JobsRev6.pdf
TestBash 99 second talks: Dont be so bloody vague
- Anna Baik (Starting at 25:55)
http://www.ministryoftesting.com/2014/04/testbash
-3-video-99-second-talks/
Blog post Thomas Ponnet: writing job description
for testers (part I and II)
http://observanttester.blogspot.nl/2011/02/writing-
job-description-for-tester-part.html
Blog post Ralph van Roosmalen Technical
Recruiting at RES Software
http://blog.ressoftware.com/index.php/2014/04/25/t
echnical-recruiting-res-software/
Rex Black & Michael Bolton: irrelevant interview
questions?
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_f
bid=10151920630645073&id=111442000072
A testers syllabus by James Bach
http://www.satisfice.com/images/testsyllabus.pdf
Huib Schoots is a tester, consultant and people lover. He shares his passion for testing through coaching,
training, and giving presentations on a variety of test subjects. With more than eighteen years of
experience in IT and software testing, Huib is experienced in different testing roles. Curious and
passionate, he is an agile, exploratory and context-driven tester who attempts to read everything ever
published on software testing. A member of TestNet, AST and ISST, black-belt in the Miagi-Do School of
software testing and co-author of a book about the future of software testing. Huib maintains a blog on
magnifiant.com and tweets as @huibschoots. He works for Improve Quality Services, a provider of
consultancy and training in the field of testing.
There are testers and then there are more testers, but
there are only a few good testers - Anonymous
Hiring good testers can be a daunting task for
organizations. Unfortunately, many organizations
confuse Software Testing as a Computer skill, while the
reality is it is more of a social skill. However, the task of
hiring a tester can be simplified by asking yourself the
following question:
What are the communication skills that the
candidate possesses? (Writing skills, Listening skills,
Verbal skills) Most important
What are the technical skills that the candidate
possesses (depending on her experience)? (This could
include a specific technology or knowledge of a
competing product which could help the current
organization)
What critical thinking skills does the candidate
possess?
What are the networking skills of the candidate?
(This means if she is active on social networks, does she
mine them for information?)
In this article we shall discuss about assessing a
candidate based on different skills, and what the
employer could do about it. Communication skills are
mistaken by many employers to just be a test of spoken
English, while this is partly true there are other ways to
assess the candidate such as:
A webcam interview
Writing skills test
Listening skills test
Speaking skills test
Communication skills:
Earlier we had telephonic rounds of interview which
exist even now, but a webcam interview could help the
employer with the candidates non-verbal
communication too. This could help in eliminating
unnecessary candidates, as there have been cases with
hundreds of people turning up for an interview. In
interviews that are held in office premises, the candidate
could be asked to write a small paragraph on herself or
about things she enjoys doing (other than software
testing). Using a handwriting analyst to analyze the
candidates handwriting could provide clues to her
personality. This is primarily due to the fact that
different personality types may be needed for testing,
people who are easily diverted and defocused could
also add a lot of value in testing. An interesting article
on this by Anuj Magazine can be read here.
For more experienced candidates, they could be asked
to write emails for certain situations they might face in
real life or ask them to write a bug report for a specific
bug. This could not only tell you about the candidates
writing skills but also about her bug writing skills. For
speaking skills, do role plays of certain unpleasant
situations. Later on the candidates could get categorized
into good, could do better and rejected
candidates. The could do better candidates could be
coached if they are were brought on board.
Technical skills:
In testing technical skills, a lot depends on the situation
that the person being hired for. Some companies have
standard rules such as certification in UNIX, Oracle,
SQL, and some testing certifications. Then comes the
A Different
Look into
Hiring Testers
- Prasad
technologies that they have actually use. Questions
asked, range from the simplest to a little bit of probing.
According to me this may not really be the answer.
Many a time people who conduct an interview would
select a candidate A, after asking him a few simple
questions due to lack of time, but once the candidate is
on board he is exposed to some other manager whose
expectations of technical knowledge are much higher,
thereby making the process of selecting a candidate,
flawed. What is important here is managing
expectations. When I say managing expectations, we
could simply ask the candidate about typical scenarios
that the project encounters on a day to day basis, and if
they have any idea how they could handle it. Are they
comfortable to the demands of the project (a key
differentiator)? Are they willing to scale their technical
skills up to a certain level? This is very important to
judge.
It is very important to ensure we could start of by
simply asking What is software testing? You may be
surprised but many people only have memorized the
answer and upon probing them a little deeper they
would appear to be confused. Asking the candidate
about the different types of testing, and what the levels
of testing are and why should they be executed could be
the way you could start off. The way they answer, when
they are probed a little deeper could expose the
candidate on how much knowledge they actually have.
Critical Thinking skills:
An important differentiator between a good tester and a
bad one could be based on the questions that he/she
asks. As James Bach puts it Testing is questioning a
product in order to evaluate it. Unfortunately,
important ways in which software is used is never
questioned, and requirements are never clear, accurate
or updated. In such scenarios it is very important that
the candidate is tested on questions that are ambiguous
in nature. A classic question in this case is How would
you test a calculator that just fell on the floor? most of
them would reply I would pick it up switch it on and see
if its still working. The next question the interviewer
would ask what be, how do you know there is a switch
to turn it on? The candidate would say because all
calculators have switches. The interviewer would say,
Do all calculators have switches? The candidate (a
little irritated) Dont all calculators have switches? At
this point the interviewer would give a hint and say
Some calculators dont, I was referring to ABACUS, the
analog calculator not the digital one. ABACUS does not
have a switch.
All this conversation could have been avoided if the
candidate (a good tester) would have asked, What kind
of calculator? (While keeping the question open ended,
he could have got more options, which could help
him/her to test).
Networking Skills:
Networking skills of a tester can add major value to the
testing effort as well as the testing organization. The
networking skills of a tester could probably get him in
touch with people to get answers for certain issues that
the project or product may be facing. As the tester
grows, he could get a lot of valuable testers into the
organization, saving it a lot of money in human resource
effort.
In such cases, a web-cam interview for a few minutes
could probably eliminate unnecessary candidates. As
we should be able to tell, all the above mentioned ways
cannot be implemented, but some of them can.
Different ways can be used to hire testers, to actually
make a difference.
Prasad is a Software tester with close to 11 years of experience. He has worked with major MNCs, and
has mentored testers and has an interest in teaching testing also. Prasad blogs at @ezeetester
Who is hiding all the good testers out there? Most
agencies send me terrible factory testers that have
CV's splashed with lists and logos! Is there really a
shortage of good testers? Have all the jobs gone offshore
and testers are now trying themselves out as plumbers
and circus entertainers?
Over recent years I have developed a series of
techniques and procedures that have helped me find the
good testers. This article will share my knowledge and
recent experience with hiring a full test team. This is not
a best practice, but a bunch of great ideas that have
worked for me in my situation.
I need good testers: my requirements
In a recent role as Test Manager, I had to hire a team of
testers. The testers had to be good for the product
quality to improve, and for me to succeed. They needed
these qualities:
to put up with a lot of pressure from an
environment that was traditionally not tester-
friendly
to learn fast, and learn a lot of domain critical
information
to adopt to an agile-like culture, at least it looked
like one
to work in a deliverables-focussed, time
managed environment
to adopt a context-driven philosophy and put
that into action
to speak out when there were issues, but not too
loudly
to be able to analyse a function with regard to
the wider context of people, project and company
to operate as lone tester, or pair up in their agile
team
to be an advocate for product quality in a
process quality obsessed environment
I needed an intermediate or senior level tester. Here is
how I thought about the distinction. Clearly, I was not
after a junior tester.
Limited Thinking Junior Tester
Sells themselves primarily as being certified (e.g.
ISTQB)
Procedurally driven
Requires requirements specification to test
Requires a test script to test
Carries out basic UI instructions
Can take screen shots
Can enter information into a defect report
template
Can produce a quality centre report
Writes their CV predominantly as a "list of stuff"
rather than competency statements of what skills
they can perform.
Says things like
o You cannot do exhaustive testing
o Testing must be independent to
development
o Metrics must be used to show quality
and progress
o Requirements specification must be used
for coverage
o Its my job to break the software
A Needle in a
Haystack ?
- Richard Robinson
Attracting, screening and hiring testers you want on your team
But rather, I needed more advanced tester.
Intermediate Growing Tester
May use test scripts but adds in other useful tests from time to time that seem relevant for some reason
Still includes certification, but knows the limit of its value
Often finds bugs not associated with test scripts
Appreciates there are driving factors behind the approach for testing, methodology
Can use tools to support testing
Enjoys finding problems with a product
Enjoys investigating functions and to find bugs
Understands mission of testing, information outcomes, assumptions
Has an instinct for when things are not quite right, and raises questions to more senior testers to confirm
that
Says things like:
o We are doing risk-based testing
o We are doing time-boxed testing
o Test scripts limit the value of testing
o Exploratory testing is important to find important bugs
Experienced Testing Operatives The Needles
Does NOT sell themselves as being certified, instead lets experience and involvement in blogging, forums,
conferences and events speak for them.
Discourages test scripts as being wasteful and not a complete testing method or approach
Uses tools to support exploratory testing, and ad hoc automation to uncover necessary ramp-up of input
coverage to identify any patterns
Experiential learner; not a factory mindset
Has a favourite list of tools to aide test execution
May do testing in sessions, threads and use test ideas rather than test scripts
Passionate experimenter and discoverer of the product
Explorer of uncertainty to uncover risk
Understanding of wider context of people, project, company, product
Uses keyword heuristics such as SFDIPOT, FEWHICCUPS
Uses RIMGEA when writing up a bug report
Says things like:
o I am missing something here, what information is missing?
o Given my oracle, this is a bug
o Lets not do that test, its too expensive compared to the value
o Due to the risk of this function, we need to gather a greater depth of test evidence
To achieve my outcome, I could not rely on the recruiting partners to supply good candidates. I needed an edge,
a method, a way of finding good testers without too much effort.
This is how I did it. I will let you know the outcome at the end of this article.
Attracting candidates and filtering the
rubbish
To attract the right type of tester, and scare
away the wrong type, I put up an ad of
sorts explaining the types of skills I wanted.
They went beyond what was written on
most CVs I saw, and hopefully intrigued
the right people. Unfortunately, it also
attracted a lot of recruiters who offered
their candidates anyway, bypassing such
screening initiatives. But not to worry, I had
more cards up my sleeve to fend off such
lazy behaviour.
Here is my job ad. I promoted it through
LinkedIn, and Twitter too. It attracted a lot
of positive publicity amongst the testing
community, which meant I was definitely
on the right track with this.
Screening for actual skills and filtering
out the unmotivated
To prevent you from reading all those CVs,
you could trust your HR function to screen
them for you. Alternatively, you can do it
yourself with some challenge questions. I
prefer screening the responses myself,
because it shows me if the tester can carry
out their skills and impress. I also do not
believe that HR know much about testing that is useful to me.
My questions meant several things to me:
The candidate is motivated enough to answer the questions. My belief is that passionate testers enjoy such
questions, and will be happy to spend time on showing their skills to me.
I can judge their written English prowess through their responses. Communication is important and needs
to be clear, concise and meaningful.
The answers uncover different competencies to me:
o Boundary-value analysis skills, a staple skill of testers
o Questioning the functional specification information
o An understanding of how to test with no specification and use the context to drive decisions
o An identification with testing and personal attachment indicating potential passion and drive
o Comfort and confidence when given an abstract or chaotic situation
The questions I used are these:
Performing under pressure and
filtering out the unconfident
I now had some shortlisted
testers who were turning up for
interviews. Great! But what if
they lied on their pre-screening.
Next up is a pre-interview
exercise. The candidate shows
up for a 1-hour interview. Half
of that is doing an exercise; the
other half is the interview.
For 20-minutes, I request the
candidate complete the
following exercise. It is about
creativity, and idea generation.
I really want someone on my
team that can think. Think
laterally, think deeply, and
think broadly. Every idea is a
bunch of tests. The currency of
testing for me is ideas. Its
important.
Here is the exercise:
The best candidates generate a good long list
of appropriate granularity. They need to
respect the time limit, and cannot go crazy
with boundary value analysis on the one
field, but instead need to show a general
systems level of thinking and uncover much
more product tests in line with SFDIPOT.
Bonus points are granted for anyone with the
wisdom to outline any contextual factors, or
attempt to summarise the question in any
way. Anyone who stated assumptions,
asked questions, or listed driving factors
would score highly in this exercise.
One little added value for me is at the same
time as the exercise, I give the candidate a
one-pager on the organisation, project,
product and role. This helps get them up to
speed with the role and elicit questions. It
also means I don't need to say the same 5
minute intro which is tiresome.
Let the candidate shine face to face
In my context, the candidate needed to be somewhat "measured" by a panel of interviewers. We had to show a fair
and auditable process.
There were six questions in total. Each question was rated across the three categories of teamwork, technical, and
critical analysis skills. Examples of what could be included in those areas were listed on the interviewers forms to
help give context to a good answer.
In addition, a 4th category can be added to any question, as the interviewer panel member saw fit. Each part was
scored 0-3, with bonus points for anything relevant and interesting. It is theoretically possible to get a maximum
score of 16 for each question. We found that exceptional candidates scored above 30 from a maximum of 96.
The scoring system passed the audit test. It was seen as transparent and fair to the random interviewers who
contributed, and to HR (but that's not a difficult achievement).
Here is the background to the questions. You will need to come up with your own to fit your industry, company,
project, role, and the drivers and risks across these facets.
The opener - Why are you good for this role? This is a chance for the candidate to talk about themselves and
relax in to the interview. To recap, all good answers should aim to touch across soft-skills, technical and
critical thinking skills.
The company context - The Company is very focussed on 'this particular historical issue'. How would you
adapt your testing to this? Could be a recent security scare, bad audit result, poor milestone achievement,
and reduced budget...
The project context - On this project, we have to
obey 'such and such initiative'. How will this
have an effect on your testing? This could be a
delivery framework, audit-driven milestones,
agile sprints done 'our way'...
The role context - On this project, we have 'this
particular challenge' for a tester, how would you
deal with that? This question gives a chance for
the tester to apply themselves, and get insight
into the project and role. The challenge could be
working on an agile team, tight deadlines, poor
requirements specifications...
Direct technical ability - What technical skills do
you bring to the team? It's always nice to hear a
tester talk about what they know about what test
tool, programming language or the like AND
how they might be used.
Ambiguous question - the question is designed to
confuse through ambiguity or omission, and to
let the candidate apply critical thinking skills,
negotiation and to construct structure to answer
the question. Here, I am looking for how the
candidate owns a tricky situation. An impressive
answer would state assumptions, or ask
questions, and identify drivers to frame their
answer.
At the end of the questions, we always gave the
candidate the opportunity to ask questions themselves.
We drop a lot of context in the interview questions. The
strongest candidates asked plenty of questions, both
prepared and thought of during the interview.
Level-up, bonus round!
If you have time, and you suspect the candidate is very
strong for the role, then there is a bonus round for the
interview. I always have up my sleeve some object to
test. In this case, I had a pen that lit up like a torch every
2nd click. Its purpose was to be used as a torch late at
night to get the key in the door, but the candidate is to
discover this, and explain how to test it with this in mind.
Similar tests include standard pens, bricks, and I have
tried a chair on the table before too (I didn't have a
decent object on the day). These tests are particularly
good for structured thinkers who have a bit of trouble
breaking out of a one-size-fits-all process for testing.
Putting it all together
A candidate with an interview has already
demonstrated key skills in the pre-interview prep. The
panel then evaluates the exercise, together with the
interview score and notes. If no one scores well, then no
one is hired. That is very important. We don't hire the
best, if the best is still not a good fit or not someone we
want.
Lessons learned
There are many quick tips I have learned from doing
this approach.
Do not trust HR to screen your candidates. Or
have a strong relationship with HR through
trust and from experience.
Do not trust CVs. They very often do not
explain the skill level through enough detail.
Instead, they list out a bunch of high-level
concepts, tools and names of things. e.g. SQL.
Listen for sales answers. If you get that, then ask
for details and examples, and examples of when
things went wrong. No one wants a salesman
on their team who cannot test.
Save time by pre-screening. Do not have any
unnecessary interviews, they take up a lot of
time and resources.
Save time by doing the pre-interview exercise.
You now only need to interview for 20-30mins,
and can stagger your interviewees 30mins
apart. You will need a coordinator to make this
work well.
Remember your candidates are usually pre-
programmed to follow a script and rules in an
interview. Some find it difficult to ask questions
about the interview questions. For them, be
patient, and encourage questioning if you can
sense they are confused about something.
Use a one-pager to describe the product,
company, project, and role. This will save a lot
of time in the interview, and your voice.
Coach your panel about the type of tester who
will succeed in the team. If they know this
upfront, they are likely to score the right
attributes more highly and you should get
consistent scores.
Use a coordinator to help meet and greet
interviewees, and to usher them between
rooms. When you have back-to-back,
overlapped exercise/interviews, they can become
a nightmare. Try not to leave anyone in a room
just waiting around (very easy to do).
Outcome
So did it work? Did the testers match the interview
observations? Did they stick around for long?
I can tell you that the team I hired was the single most
effective test team I have ever worked with. Each tester
was a powerful combination of testing experience,
questioning ability, a quality advocate (product quality
primarily), and discipline that I have ever seen.
No one left the team. All were there because of their
passion. They were set up to succeed and then left alone
to do their thing, to test. With the right amount of
progress reporting, and issue raising, and one-on-ones
meant they were all dedicated, motivated and overall
were happy to be part of such a high performing team.
We led the way on using Agile to our advantage,
promoting better Agile practices from tester to the rest
of each agile team. The testers were the glue that
empowered the developers to step up to a higher
quality of code. It was 'game on' as far as not dropping
the quality baton.
Each agile test team saw the tester-developer
relationship strengthen through respect for each others
roles. We delivered quality outcomes to the project
managers and found an astounding number of bugs.
And now, it is your turn to draw on this success to
create the very best test team. Good luck!
Richard is a thought-leader in testing strategies, and an inspiring test manager. His philosophy is "better,
faster, cheaper" testing that pushes the maximum business value and product quality out of a product.
This approach not only satisfies the end user, but also brings a high return on testing investment to the
customer.
Richard is the President of the Sydney Testers Meetup group, and holds a black belt in the Miagi-do
school of software testing. He also contributes to the testing community through blogs, forums, online
testing events, facilitating international peer workshops and conferences. Richard blogs at
http://www.hellotestworld.com and tweets at @richrichnz.
KEEP CALM
AND
POST TESTING JOBS
@
TestingCircus
Submit #testing jobs for free and hire great testers who care about testing.
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Current Testing Opportunities
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As the software testing industry evolves, new ways of
working emerge. In the last few years, crowdsourced
testing communities have generated thousands of
home-based work opportunities for testers.
Crowdsourced Testing is one such organization.
Given our worldwide presence and unique way of
working, Crowdsourced Testing is not your typical
workplace. Our approach to hiring testers is not quite
what youd expect from an employer. So one question
we always get is: how do I get started?
Heres an inside look at how we hire and build
relationships with our testers.
A mutual interview process
Crowdsourced Testing does not require a grueling and
complicated traditional recruitment process to join.
However, when you register to be a tester with us, you
are effectively taking part in an ongoing mutual
interview process.
Of course we cant have everyone come to our office for
an in-person
interview. So when
you sign up, you
simply provide us
with your professional
information and you
can immediately begin
participating in your
first training sessions.
Although the
recruitment process
differs from the
traditional interview
model, the objective of
these training sessions
remains the same. You
have to demonstrate
your skills and to show your determination to work
with the company. We also consider your
communication skills, and how your performance
compares to that of other testers in the group.
The objective is to get to know you and your work, and
in return, you get to know us and how we work.
If its a good fit, you start participating in testing
projects. Each time you work on a project, your
performance is evaluated based on your efficiency,
linguistic skills, contribution and rapidity during the
testing session. These are qualities that we feel are key
to building a successful community.
A Different
Approach to
Hiring Testers
- Laura Gaudino
Crowdsourced Testing
As a new tester in our community, its important that
you make sure to demonstrate these qualities in all the
projects you work on with us.
Its also critical that you make sure you can handle a
freelance testing position.
The unique benefits and challenges of Crowdsourced
Testing
Indeed, although working as a freelance software tester
with Crowdsourced Testing offers many advantages, it
also generates a certain number of challenges.
For instance, you can work from home, depending on
your availability and financial needs, participate in a
wide variety of testing projects and get paid for every
valid issue you report.
The risk with this arrangement is that its sometimes
tricky to work from home - there are lots of distractions,
and it can be difficult to focus! Make sure that you have
a good dedicated space where you wont be interrupted
for a few hours at a time. Time to lock the door!
The more productive your participation is, the more you
get paid, and the more you are invited to bigger and
better opportunities.
The other aspect that is both beneficial and challenging
is the fact that groups are testing together. Its a great
way to foster collaboration and improve your skills, but
its also a constant race to find the best bugs, so dont
wait until the last few hours before a deadline to get
started. You can begin testing the moment you accept a
project.
How to get started as a crowd tester in 3 steps
1. Create your profile at
https://crowdsourcedtesting.com/en/freelance-
software-testing-jobs Make sure that you include all of
the devices at your disposal, because you are matched
to projects based on the platforms on which you can test.
2. Wait for an invitation to your first training project.
Project invitations are sent by email based on your
devices, the languages that you speak and your
experience with us. Invitations can be sent at any time
during the day. When you receive one, act quickly!
Projects sometimes fill up in as little as a few minutes.
3. Make sure to go the extra mile in your first project.
Your first project with us sets the tone for your
participation in future projects. Whats important to
know at this stage is that participation and quality are
whats rewarded. What you want to do at this stage is
stand out of the crowd as the best tester of the project.
If your participation is extremely valuable because
youve reported more bugs than the other testers, or you
contribute extensively to the other testers bugs, the
system will identify you as a high-potential tester and
invite you to more projects in the future.
Laura Gaudino is currently Communications Manager at Crowdsourced Testing. Part of her work
consists of managing the official blog of the company, conducting interviews and writing articles related
to software testing. Laura is passionate about mobile technology and cloud computing. She strongly
believes in the power of crowdsourcing to solve business problems.
Advertise in Testing Circus
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Testing Circus
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Not automation bots.
We are offering huge discounts for 12 months regular ad booking.
$
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0
I work in a profile where I am responsible for hiring
testers at all levels. During this process, many times I
take interviews and at other times, I supervise the
interview process. But most of the time, I hear
interviewers complaining that none of the candidates
were good testers and hence too many rejections. Is it
really true? Do we really have less number of good
testers?
I feel that this is partially true. There are two types of
testers in the industry: one who claims to know testing,
other who actually know testing. Honestly speaking the
responsibility lies with all interviewers to make sure
that latter should not be lost in the crowd of former.
Recently, I got a chance to speak to few interviewers,
who are able test managers, test architects, leads and
few project management staff, including HR team
members. I asked them about the interview process they
follow to hire for various positions. To my surprise, the
majority of rejections happen at first level, where the
interviewers are either less experienced or
untrained. For example, an HR with many years of
experience hiring all sorts of techies except testing is
suddenly moved to hire testing professionals. She/he
may carry thousands doubts in mind but still discard
aspirants based on their reflective thinking. Another
example are project management professionals (not
referring to PMP certified), like PMOs, LOB Managers,
Resourcing Managers, etc., who rarely test, but very
actively participate in testing interviews. They all would
be blank if you throw them questions like: When was
the last time you tested an application? When was the
last time you found a bug? Interviewing, I must say, is
most of the time regarded as a non-serious affair from
the people like us who sit on the other side of the table.
Its time to start taking it seriously.
Now the question that arises is do organizations make
sure that any person, who is part of the interview panel,
carries enough qualifications? By qualifications, I do
not mean academic degrees or certificates, but actual
knowledge about the subject and the actual requirement
for the position. So the million dollar question is Do
organizations ever interviews the interviewers? I
strongly feel that there must be qualifying criteria for
interviewers as well; (like we have something for
screening candidates) and those not meeting the criteria
must be kept away from interview process. The time has
come when we should start thinking about doing justice
to good talents.
Where
are the
Good
Testers?
- Kapil Saxena
Another important
observation about
interview process is
that while the
candidate aka
interviewee,
prepares for it, most of
the time interviewers
dont. There are no
specific reasons as to
why the interviewers
dont prepare. These
are the following top
responses when I
surveyed few
interviewers in industry:
Interview preparation? Dude, I am on the other
side of table. Do you know Ive 12+ years of rich
experience of managing teams?
Who has got time to prepare? Oh! I am so busy
now-a-days because of delivery pressure.
You know I used to be a great tester few years
back and I am still confident about it.
The fact that most interviewers do not prepare for
interviews, results in inappropriate questions being
asked to candidates, thus leading to rejections.
Inappropriate questions here refer to either out-of-
context questions or irrelevant questions like asking
queries about a skill which is not specific to the job
description. If youre an interviewer or if you supervise
the process, ask yourself how many times you read the
job description or are made aware of it?
We all must understand that the interview process is not
a game. Its an art. It doesnt matter who is at fault, the
loss is for both parties involved. The company requires
a tester of certain capability and it is the duty of
interviewers to first understand the need, clarify any
doubts that may exist and then only go for it. The
candidate, on the other hand, needs a job. He/she is
willing to demonstrate abilities to showcase their talent
and it is up to the interviewers who must give them
enough chance to prove themselves.
Its really tough to comment what it will take for all of
us to realize the fact that interview process is important
for both parties, i.e., candidate and company a.k.a.
interviewee and interviewer. It is time for the
organizations to realize that loosing good candidates,
just because you dont have good interviewers, is not
good for growth. The need of the hour is to have
stringent protocols for the art of Interviewing. It is
something to be first learned and then practiced, again
and again. The process, the workflow, the goals must be
clearly defined. Someone wise has very well said First
judge yourself, then others. So, next time when you go
for taking an interview, ask yourself:
Am I aware of the job description?
Have I read the resume of the candidate
properly?
Do I know the minimum qualifying criteria for
the position Im interviewing for?
Do I know the required skills that are needed for
the position?
Is there a need of additional subject matter
expert or any other person to better judge?
Interviewing must be carried out with positive attitude.
The tone and way of asking questions must encourage
candidates. You must remember that both parties
involved expect it to end at a positive note and it is your
duty, as an interviewer, to do give your best to identify
the best possible fitment for the position. Its going to
benefit you as well.
So, next time, when we hear people complaining where
are the good testers, ask yourself a question where the
good interviewers.
About the Author
Kapil Saxena is best described as a passionate tester who believes that everybody tests. He is cur-
rently associated with Magic Software Pvt Ltd. as Test Manager and enjoys working with testers on
WEB and MOBILE automated test framework solutions.
Kapil has honed his testing skills and knowledge base while working with organizations like Global
Logic, HCL, BEL and NTPC. He shares this rich experience of over 10 years in domains like healthcare,
government, e-commerce, mobiles, and eLearning, at weekend testing community sessions where he is
an active participant and at conferences where he is often called as a speaker. Kapil relies on cricket
and spending time with family and friends, to unwind. Kapil tweets at @kapilsaxena
T
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reading
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Tester Being Tested
@booksrg8: Do testers need to know how to code?
@testertested: Here is my answer:
- Do all testers need to know how to code?
- Do some testers need to know how to code?
- Do those testers who do not need to code to test need
to know how to code?
- Do those testers who need to code to test need to know
how to code?
- Do those testers who work with others who code to test
need to know how to code?
- Do those who have invested their time learning things
(other than coding) that are of great value need to know
how to code?
- Do all testers need to know how to code irrespective of
whether their job demands of that or not?
- Do all testers need to know how to code but it is okay
for them to not want to do it?
- Do all testers need to know how to code because we
want them to write product code and not test?
- Do all testers need to know how to code because
someone thinks how would they test code without
knowing how to write it?
- Do all testers need to know how to code to get respect
from those who know how to code?
- Do all testers need to know how to code so that they
can code and code and can someday be called
programmers?
- Do all testers need to know how to code but is okay for
them to not know what to code?
- Do all testers need to know how to code irrespective of
how crappy their code is?
- Do all testers need to know how to code although
knowing how does not mean it is a skill?
- Do all testers need to know how to code so that they
can watch a programmer do it and find bugs as and
when it is coded?
- Do all testers need to know how to code to fulfill the
idea of some people who think "we all are same"?
- Do all testers need to know how to code to get rid of
themselves from work they do which could have been
avoided if they knew how to code?
- DO all testers who do not have a background in
computer programming need to know how to code?
- Do all testers at some point need to know how to code?
- Do all testers who have to work individually need to
know how to code?
- Do all testers who have no work to do but have plenty
of time to learn something need to learn how to code?
- Do all testers who claim to know how to code need to
know how to code?
@dwarika_mishra: Is it right to push all manual
testers to learn automation and to work on coding
skill?
@testertested: Push? By force? I am no judge of the
world to decide if it is right or wrong. However, I am a
fellow human being. Nobody can be forced to become
something and force fitting into a job does not work. I
have tried that with me and others. It did not. Sure, that
is how many companies seem to function but I am sure
the force fit is creating them many problems.
Instead, I wish businessmen spoke something like -
"Our needs have changed. We have data points to
believe that. If you still like to work here - you need a
different skillset. We are going to support you to get
there, only if you are interested. If you are not and you
think you can bring in a different value, we would like
to know about it. We shall apply our brains to what you
say and if what you say makes sense to us, we shall
agree to let you be who you are. However, if the
outcome is not as you intended, we would encourage
you to look out for a company that suits and needs your
skill set."
#PandaRemarks by Pradeep Soundararajan
Pradeep Soundararajan is the CEO of @moolyatesting, KungFu Panda, Entrepreneur, Blogger, Speaker,
Exploratory Tester, Traveller and Wannabe Stand-up Comedian. Pradeep tweets at @TesterTested.
Read other Panda Remarks at - http://www.testingcircus.com/category/tester-being-tested/
Tweet your questions to @TestingCircus and @TesterTested using #PandaRemarks hash tag.
BOOK
WORMS
CORNER
The topic of this month is interviews/hiring testers. And sadly, I dont have any book to rave about since I cannot
honestly tell or brag that a book helped me (or anybody else) to get a job. So, no book reviews this time around. Yes,
there are at least 50 books written in the market on How to get a job in Google or Microsoft or Amazon. If there is
truth to the content, and the book sold at least 500,000 copies, then there should have been 500,000 employees at the
above mentioned companies. And we all know that it is not the case. So, no book review on interviewing books.
What gets you a job? Skill, skill and skill. In some cases, favoritism and networking work too. It is almost unpredictable
to predict the mind of the interviewer and so, no book can teach you what to expect. And I can tell you to expect the
unexpected in any interview.
The intent of all interviewing books is to create a sense of false indication to the user as to how they can get a job on
reading the book. The truth is that theres no interviewing book printed ever that can guarantee to get you a job in any
company. There are books that develop your skill. How you showcase your skill in these interviews is what would help
you get a job. So, if you want a job, dont waste time reading Interview Books. Please go out there and develop your
skill and work with peers to get a job that you want.
In case you are looking forward to read this section to get smart by understanding what book you need to read to clear
interviews, consider yourself smarter since no such book exists. Those books only represent the view point of the
author and their interview and give a broad sense of what to look for. It is almost impossible to predict what questions
you would get in an interview. On the bright side, I know that you are trying to understand what books you need to
read to get a job; and my recommendation is None. No books to chew on means I am starving. Hope I get more to
chew on before next months edition. Until then, adios!!!
Love,
WoBo
B
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R
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http://www.sahi.co.in
Become our fan -
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P
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4
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A Fake Testers Diary
http://www.testingcircus.com/category/a-fake-testers-diary/
Liar Liar
Whenever theres an interview, there are two people
sitting out there. In my opinion, the one whos asking
questions is a liar; and the one whos answering those
questions is another liar. Before you get pissed off at
me for using such strong terms, I plead you to hear out
my case as to why I am indulging in this kind of name-
calling.
What do you think is an interview? The most fake
practice ever invented. Two people trying to sit on two
sides of the table and spend 30 minutes discussing
various things while their mind is made up within the
first five minutes. How someone is able to judge anoth-
er person in such a short time is something Ive never
understood ever.
The funniest thing about interviews is that theres no
data that exists which states how many good candi-
dates your company rejected and how many bad can-
didates they picked up. In spite of such faulty
methodologies, interviews flourish across the world
and have become the full topic of this entire edition.
Any employer offering you a job tends to indicate that
hes trying to change the world and how he wants
your support; any employee applying for a position
tends to indicate how hes created new galaxies in
his past job and how he promises to work hard to
create new universes. Its actually very funny to watch
two people sitting on opposite sides and telling lies to
each other, knowing fully well that they are lying to
each other. Sadly, the only truth that you can tell about
interviews is that it is a place where two people lie to
each other.
What kinds of lies to people tell each other in inter-
views?
The candidate
I am the greatest superstar in my job & I helped to
turn the world around
I was the go-to person in that company who knew
every piece of code inside out
I am an expert on smoking testing (smoke tests),
sanity testing, functional testing, non-functional
testing, pre-installation testing, post installation
testing, pre-build verification testing, post build
verification testing, pre build acceptance testing
prior to post build verification, pre post build
verification testing prior to validation testing.
and so on
My middle name is automation.
Selenium is in my blood
I am the greatest tester who tests at 540 test cases
per minute, eclipsing the previous testing record
held by Mr. Super-tester who could test only 492
test cases per minute.
I am changing teams because I want to work on a
new domain
And the interviewer?
We work in edge of the world technology, with
usage of cutting edge technology in between
We offer a great package including. Yada yada
yada (you know the drill)
Why our project is the most important project in
the world and thats going to save the world from
doomsday
Why employees dont leave our company at all for
the past 244 years
Lies lies and all lies. What they dont tell each other is
that the interviewer needs to onboard new people to
execute projects while the interviewee wants more
money. Thats the truth in most cases which they
dont talk about at all.
What do I have to say about interviews?
Dont worry if you did not get the job; someone else
deserved it and you did not deserve it. If not infor-
mation systems corp, you always have middle-
ware technologies, inc.
Dont worry about getting the answer right; check
out if the candidate and the interviewer is good for
you and if you will be happy in working with the
team.
Push each other out of your comfort zone and
observe reactions; people who do not get unfazed
in life will never get unfazed if pushed out of their
comfort zone.
You are not the best employee or employer in the
world; dont claim to be the best.
Be honest with each other; if you hated your boss,
say it; if you need 14 hour workdays and 100 hour
work weeks to ship a product, be upfront about it.
It is better to know this on the day-1 instead of the
day-100 and crib about it.
Negotiate, negotiate and re-negotiate; every em-
ployer would continue negotiations till you join; do
not expect a 100% pay hike and a Ferrari as part of
a pay hike in the 1
st
year after you join.
And check if you like what you see; if you dont
like the interviewer or vice-versa, its probably not
worth it.
If you are the interviewer, dont make a decision
about the candidate based on what you know and
what you dont know; ask him if he knows what
hes talking about.
Making mistakes is human; it is almost impossible
to be judgmental of a person in 30 minutes to 1
hour of conversation time. Understand the limita-
tions of making such decisions in a short time and
work around it.
And last but not least, if you really want the job,
dont listen to all of the above; search in Google
about what the company looks for, do your re-
search, learn those answers by heart and get the
job.
And thats all folks from me. Did you read this
and get a job? Let me know. Happy job hunting
and happier job getting.
Bernd Beersma
Senior Software Test Specialist, specialized in Test Automation
and Performance Testing.
https://twitter.com/bbeersma
Eran Kinsbruner
I have more than 10 years of experience in the mobile land such as
J2ME, Symbian, iOS, Android, BBX/QNX (RIM), Windows Phone.
https://twitter.com/ek121268
Ulrika Park
With @SoapUI & @LoadUI team, method activist, learning cham-
pion, manager @SmartBear
https://twitter.com/ulrikapark
Raj Subramanian
I am a software testing fanatic, crazy about outdoor sports , love
travelling, meeting people.
https://twitter.com/epsilon11
http://Twitter.com/TestingCircus
#Testers2Follow
#
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Over 100 testers to follow at Twitter - http://www.testingcircus.com/testers-in-twitter
Part 19
- Santhosh Tuppad
Security Testing Tips
It may look like mountain (However, when you are
climbing Himalayas it is not about *difficult*, it is
about *challenges*. There is difference between
difficult and challenge meaning in my opinion) when
you start approaching mobile security testing, if you
have been web security tester; this activity of starting-
up mobile security testing may become easy compared
to if you have not been web security tester. Either
ways, you can look into these tips.
#1 Reverse engineering: Start using the tools and then
you will understand what it can do and also you may
understand the underlying architecture of the android
/ iOS device.
#2 There are lots of tools, do not get into automated
ones till you get the mind-set of mobile security. I am
telling this because, your learning may stop because
you may feel that, "Wow, I am a mobile security tester
now" and if you take it head; then THE END!
#3 Mobile security looks like infant area as of today,
there is so much to do in it. You may want to become
researcher if this area interests you. Be it mobile
automation using JUnit or uiautomator for android or
any other thing which can help you add value to your
mobile app testing.
#4 I love using developer websites of Android and
iOS, it helps me to learn "How to test better?" or
"How to add value to my testing activity?" instead of
just doing some functional testing. There is so much
of information on the developer site, you will just
love it if you are core technical person who crave for
technical things which I think software tester need to
be unless you are a scripted checker.
Reverse Engineering Way of Learning via Tools
Xcode - To view logs, debug application and get
application data.
Burp suite - To monitor HTTP/HTTPS network
traffic.
Snoop-it - For dynamic analysis of iOS Apps, to
trace method calls analyze application flow.
iNalyzer - iOS Penetration testing framework
(contains multiple utilities).
iFunBox - File system access of iOS device (jailbreak
not required).
USBMux Proxy - Command line tool to connect local
TCP ports to ports on an iPhone or iPod Touch device
over USB.
Keychain dumper - To dump keychain entries on iOS
devices.
Sqlite3 - To view contents of db files.
iRET - iOS Reverse Engineering Toolkit.
INTROSPY - Black box assessment of iOS apps.
Cycript - Runtime Analysis of iOS apps.
APK Extractor - The name says it all.
dex2jar - It is a conversion utility to convert dex
format to jar format.
MobiSec - Live Environment Mobile Testing
Framework project is a live environment for testing
mobile environments.
You may also want to look into
https://www.isecpartners.com/tools/mobile-
security.aspx, I must tell this; I am in so much love
with these tools and then applying my test ideas to test
mobile security. Happy Reverse Engineering Learning
For Mobile Security Testing!
Tips for Kick-Starting Mobile Security Testing
Confused what to do with your career?
We can HELP
www.TalentPlusPlus.com
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Zephyr which offers free community edition for up to 10 users is now releasing major release with lots of new
features. Let us dive into few of the new features and enhancement to existing features.
Zephyr is Test management software that manages every aspect of the testing cycle to ensure what was delivered
against what was specified. This includes managing teams and resources, designing test strategies and
implementing their execution, organizing and reusing testing assets and environments, defining quality standards
and processes, collaborating with the entire team and communicating with internal and external stakeholders.
New Features in release 4.6:
Time Tracking
Estimated execution time and Actual execution time can be tracked on a per testcase basis. This data is one of
the important metric during planning process. This data can also be exported in custom reports.
Project teams that need to keep track of how long a particular test execution cycle will take can do so from a
planning perspective. The product features capturing of actual test execution time retrospectively to improve
test execution.
Release Cloning
An entire release of any project can be cloned into any other project, including all its requirements, testcases,
mappings, execution cycles, assignments, defect mappings, attachments with further provision to customize the
cloned project.
Launch Of Zephyr
Release 4.6
This feature helps reducing duplicate effort of creating
test suite from scratch and encourages consistency in
organization, planning and assignments from one
release to another.
Advanced Search and ZQL
Enhanced search results with a new query language
(Zephyr Query Language) to make advanced searching
more powerful and flexible. Auto-completion in query
creation.
The new version also allows user to create custom
Fields and further allows to search based on custom
fields created.
Importing testcases from local machines
Legacy test cases being maintained in excel files can
now be imported by users from their local machines
without having to upload them to the Zephyr server.
This gives flexibility of working offline on testcases in
excel files and import them into system when
connected to Zephyr.
Linux installer
Both a GUI-based and command-line based Linux
installer is now available. Command-line installer helps
in installing Zephyr in silent mode and roll out of
product to different clients in the network.
Feature Enhancements in release 4.6
JIRA Integration enhancements
Zephyr for JIRA is an add-on application that augments
JIRA 5/6, providing cost-effective, highly sophisticated
test management capabilities right inside your JIRA 5
or 6 instance. Zephyr for JIRA completes end-to-end
issue tracking and test management inside JIRA by
adding testing to the overall planning, development,
bug tracking and reporting process.
Mapping at the release level, mapping a
Zephyr release to a JIRA project
Auto-discovery of custom fields
Filtered list of resources shown
More granular control on defect tracking and metrics
at the release level, easier the discovery and use of JIRA
custom fields and faster the selection of JIRA user when
filing a defect.
REST APIs (Beta)
New REST APIs that include PUT and GETs for Project,
Release, User, Testcase, Execution, Search, Attachment,
and Cycle. This helps in easy integration with other
tools being used in the organization. Since the APIs are
in Beta phase, they may change in future based on
feedback from community.
Other features include:
Rich Interactive Testing Desktop and
Dashboards and Native JIRA UI
Manage Testing Releases and Sprints
Add and Track Requirements
Organize Test Repositories
Create and reuse Manual Test cases
Integrate Automation scripts
Plan and Execute Test Cycles
Integrate with JIRA 4, 5, 6 and Bugzilla 4
Track Real-Time Metrics via Free Dashboards
Real-time Collaboration
Unlimited API access
It is available both in cloud edition as well as on premise.
QASymphony recently announced major update of its
agile test management platform qTest. This release not
only provides integration with tools like Jira but also
provides API support to integrate with Selenium.
Latest release of qTest is available in three editions
rather four editions including hybrid edition which is
qTest Pro with qTest eXplorer. qTest eXplorer is one
of the powerful add on to qTest used for exploratory
testing.
Different editions of qTest available are:
qTest Project is geared for small teams of less
than 10 users working on single projects.
qTest Pro is for small to mid-size teams looking
to upscale and improve test management.
qTest Pro with eXplorer as the name indicates,
has all features of qTest Pro along with qTest
eXplorer
qTest Enterprise is designed to support many
users on multiple projects and integrate with
other enterprise-level apps.
qTest is available in the cloud or on premise. Cloud
version starts from as low as $1 per user per month.
qTest comes with powerful features required for
todays agile teams catering from small to enterprise
level software development. Along with its features to
manage requirements, design test cases, test planning,
test execution, track defects, generate status and
generate metric reports, it also integrates with other
well-known tools like JIRA and with help of APIs
exposed, qTest can integrate with other tools.
Using different features of qTest test teams could
Plan and organize testing activities based on
project schedule
Store and manage all your testing
documentation in one common repository
Easily view and report linkage between
requirements, test cases, test results and defects
Collaborate with other team members through
instant notifications and shared comments
View project progress and status through
dashboards, reports and custom queries
Perform exploratory testing based on scenario.
Integrate with other tools like JIRA and
Selenium
Weve learned a few things from listening to our
8,000+ users, and the one clear message that stands out
is that testers in various size teams want a testing tool
tailor-made to fit the way they work. The one-size fits
all approach doesnt work, says Vu Lam,
QASymphony co-founder. In short, the qTest platform
with various options to choose from, enable teams to
communicate better and test faster in agile
environments.
Pricing and Support
Pricing of SaaS version of qTest Project ($1/mo.)
includes 24x7 email tech support. qTest Pro ($29 per
user per month, billed annually) and qTest Enterprise
($49/mo.) additionally include 8x5 online and 8x5
telephone tech support services. Enterprise option
includes automation support via TestNG and Selenium
services
qTest eXplorer, an add-on to qTest that automatically
captures a testers actions in both text steps and screen
captures, is offered at $38/mo. Pay-as-you-go options
are available as well.
QASymphony Launches
Scalable Software Testing
Tools For Different Teams
Coverity, Inc.,
provider of
s o f t w a r e
quality and
security testing
s o l u t i o n s
r e c e n t l y
a c q u i r e d
K a l i s t i c k ,
cloud-based software solutions provider that boosts
testing efficiency. The Coverity Test Advisor clubbed
with Kalistick solution will help build tighter
collaboration between Development and QA teams,
enabling faster time-to-market, reduced software
development costs and higher end-product quality.
More on combined Coverity & Kalistck solution, the
benefits it provides to the customers, from Andreas
Kuehlmann, VPof R&D, Coverity.
ToolsJournal: Coverity makes use of Source Code
Analysis; Kalistick analyses the Test Footprint of the
executed automatic and manual tests to come up with
solutions to boost overall test efficiency. How do you
think the two approaches complement each other?
Andreas Kuehlmann: Both the Coverity and Kalistick
tools analyze the test footprint of automated and
manual tests in order to determine the impact of a
change of the software. For the impact computation,
the Coverity platform analyzes source code, while the
Kalistick solution analyzes byte code.
With the Coverity Test Advisor solution, we enable
Development teams to easily identify and prioritize
what tests to write, based on the impact of code
changes. The Kalistick solution provides a similar level
of support for test engineers (for example in QA); by
helping prioritize which tests to run.
Combined, these tools offer a more complete testing
solution - providing QA teams with insight into what
testing has been done in Development, and offering
Development teams the opportunity to provide input
into QA testing processes.
ToolsJournal: What benefits does the combined
solution provide to the customers, which each one of
them lacked individually?
Andreas Kuehlmann: The combined solution will
enable software organizations to focus on test
development and test execution on the most critical
code, regardless of whether the testing is done in
Development or QA.
ToolsJournal: Why is it important in todays scenario
that testing,particularlyefficient and intelligent testing,
should start from the development cycle and continue
till QA cycles?
Coverity-Kalistick
Solution Breaks
Development And
Quality Assurance
Barriers
Andreas Kuehlmann: By moving testing earlier in the
software development lifecycle, developers are able to
find and fix key defects and ensure critical code is
covered by an automated test as the code is written,
while allowing all affected teams Development, QA,
security and others to do their jobs more effectively
and efficiently.
ToolsJournal: How will the combined solution be
offered to the customers, will it be only cloud-based or
will an on-premise version also be available?
Andreas Kuehlmann: Coverity Test Advisor is an
on-premise solution, while the Kalistick solution is a
hybrid: on-premise and cloud-based.
ToolsJournal: When will the solution be available to
the end users?
Andreas Kuehlmann: The solutions are available
today.
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