Software testing as a career choice

“A career is wonderful, but you can’t curl up with it on a cold night.”

~ Marilyn Monroe

Is software testing a good career choice?

Software Testing is the Worst Career on the Planet

It’s amazing how quickly you tire of testing the same thing over again in Internet Explorer 7 because the programmers don’t use Internet Explorer and hadn’t thought to test it in that.

The harder you work at finding bugs the lazier the developers become at letting them through.

People constantly question you about why you’re still a software tester and haven’t turned into a programmer yet as though technical specialism is a natural career progression.

Lots of people call themselves software testers because they’ve played with software over a couple of years and attended a testing certification course over a couple of days. You’re grouped into the same category as those people.

Just when you think you’ve got a user story tested in three different operating systems, four devices and eight browsers, the programmer decides to ‘refactor’ their code, or switch to a more in vogue JavaScript framework, rendering all your testing work void because every screen you have tested no longer functions.

And they expect you to test it by the end of the iteration which happens to be today.

Despite what iterative development brings testing always gets squeezed and you’re expected to constantly go above and beyond to get things done, in minimal time, with an emphasis on high quality and you’ll often ultimately get the blame when things go wrong.

Career progression means either becoming a specialist ‘automated tester’ or a test manager, one involves writing code, that no one ever sees, the other usually involves writing wordy template driven test strategies, again, that no one ever sees.

But the absolutely worst thing about being a software tester is the distrust you develop in software. You constantly see software at its worst: it’s hard to believe that any software can be developed that actually works without any issues. This means you hold a deep breath every time you hit submit on a credit card form, praying that it will actually work and not crash and charge your credit card three times.

Software Testing is the Best Career on the Planet

Some days I am amazed at how much fun my job is. I get to play with cool gadgets: I have four smart phones and an iPad on my desk, use three operating systems and eight browsers on a daily basis.

I get to look at software from all different angles: from a user’s point of view, from the business/marketing view, from a technical viewpoint and try all kinds of crazy things on it.

I get to really know and understand how a system works from end-to-end, and get to know its quirks and pitfalls. Finding bugs prevents them from being released into Production and causing someone else a great inconvenience.

I develop great relationships with programmers who value the feedback I give, and business people who I work with to develop acceptance criteria and discuss issues in business terms and how they will be effected.

I get to understand code, database schema, servers and browsers. I am involved in automating acceptance tests. I get to go to awesome software testing conferences around the world to meet other testers.

I get to tell¹ my family about all the cool things I’ve tested and they get excited to occasionally see things I have worked on in the media etc.

It’s a really cool career.

Is it beneficial to attend software testing conferences?

You should attend software testing conferences

Software testing conferences are a fantastic opportunity to meet other testers in person and discuss challenges you face and come up with ideas on how to do things better. You may get to know other testers online and if you get to meet them in person at a conference it will strengthen your working relationship.

Your employer may have a training budget for each staff member, and if you’re a self-motivated learner like me, instead of using your training budget to attend actual training, or a testing certification, you can instead use it to attend a software testing conference where you’ll learn a great deal more real world knowledge. I use my training budget each year to attend one overseas conference, so I am selective in which one I attend.

One of the biggest benefits of attending a software testing conference is realizing that you and your organization are not unique in the testing problems that you face by hearing from others in similar situations, and hearing of suggestions to overcome them.

You don’t need to attend software testing conferences

Conferences are expensive to attend as often they’re in a different city/country to you and you have to pay for travel and hotel costs, as well as tickets. It will often mean time off work also, which can be a challenge to arrange as a contractor, if you’re casually employed or a consultant working on a client site with a deadline.

Lots of conferences now stream their talks live for free, and most speakers publish slides or videos afterwards, so you don’t need to specifically attend to capture the knowledge the speaker presents, but dedicating some time to do this is critical, otherwise it’ll just remain on your to-do list.

A lot of software testing conferences fill slots with ‘serial speakers’ who speak at every conference they can, often with recycled material that you may have seen in some form or another at some point elsewhere. If you read the blog of one of these speakers, chances are the content of their talk will already be available in a slightly different form.

The worst part of attending a software testing conference is having to put up with potential bad behavior of other attendees. As we all know, people at conferences can be in bad form, which has led to many conferences now having a explicit code of conduct for attendees, which makes the sensible people feel like children.

Many conferences are also drinking parties in disguise, so if you’re a teetotaler like me then you’ll often feel out of place, and bored, as soon as the partying/drinking begins.

Should testers get a testing certification?

There are numerous software testing certifications available to certify the skills of software testers. These typically involve some training followed by a multiple choice examination.

Some examples are ISTQB and ISEB

By testing certifications I mean any of these.

So, should testers get a testing certification?

Get a testing certification

Get a testing certification if you feel like getting a testing certification will be useful.

Don’t get a testing certification

Don’t get a testing certification if you don’t feel like you need a testing certification.