Exciting Career They Don’t Tell You about at School: Software Engineer in Test
From Anita Borg Institute Wiki
SDET talk This is a rewarding and fun field to work in, but you don't hear enough of it in general. They hope that students will learn enough about it today to want to do it as a career.
What is software: integrated into most of our world: personal info, delivers utilities, controls nuclear warheads
Examples of why testing is important: GPS, doesn't always give a very great route: testing can help make sure that doesn't happen. Copying doesn't necessarily calculated amount of time properly, which could have been fixed by tester. C# wanting to close windows OS before it can proceed; tester should have caught that!
How often do you see software failures? How often do you see airplane failures? Wouldn't it be better to make sure we were as reliable as airplanes?
Software quality looks at all of these things: functionality, usability, reliability, security, localization, integration, performance, accessibility, scalability
Popular quote: Quality is never an accident
How did the panelists first get introduced to testing: Almost accidental. Started as aeronautical engineer in the 80s, and was exposed to testing at that point, which is very important. 6 years later she ended up in Australia and there were IT jobs but no aeronautical, so she ended up in testing. Later she ended up in Seattle and then ended up at Microsoft. Has now shipped many projects. Combined love for testing and training, and she created her career for herself. Often they hire at MS smart students with an aptitude for testing even if they have no experience.
Math background, very passionate about teaching. Got credentials in Europe and then found out they didn't couint in US. Hired as support engineer for an airline, but started finding bugs and nuances that really annoyed her in the software. She started reporting them, and then she got hired into the QA department, then moved on up to QA management over time.
Background in molecular biology and genetics, but realized at PhD that she didnt' want to be in the lab her whole life. Went to Oracle, and discovered that QA was a great fit for her: you look at a system, do tests on it, and predict what will happen, which is how things work in many fields including biology and software. You don't always get what you predict, which is why testing is important.
Started as customer support engineer, and had instant gratification from solving user problems. Wanted to apply her computer science, did development for 4 years, reached a point where she was tired of coding. Solutions engineering to look at big picture, looking for standard situations, and finding solutions for customers. She is now doing trial testing in house before they go out to the customer.
Took a job while preparing for grad school in tech support. Microsoft was about to come out and they had a competitive OS called Oasis, did development, support, testing, everything. She saw the impact of the problems with the software on the customers as a support person, and realized that their errors financially impacted the companies using thier software. Decided testing was important, Read a book titled "The Art of Software Testing" that talks about different methodologies. Claimed that 15 years from then it would be a lot more difficult to find enough QA engineers and it would grow over time; she knew it was somthing she cared about and it was a growing field, so for the past many year she's been in QA. Loves opportunities to learn, that it is a growing field, that she's had responsibility for many different team sizes and many different aspects of the system. She has also done hardware QA.
Developer job vs testing job:
Developer creates the product, tester ensures the product works. Developers are often limited in their testing skills and abilities, the testers make sure everything is done the way it's supposed to be done and check very deep areas on the software. Security, stress, reliability, etc. testing is all the tester. The tester needs to be able to code to test the product well, and be able to understand the software to test it properly, and since you have limited time to test you need to be familiar with different techniques and when they should be used. Tester is also the customer advocate, which is crucial. They both need the same coding and technical skills, it's really different on how they focus on the software. Developer thinks about small piece of software, tester keeps the big picture to make sure that little changes won't break everything else.
What other roles are in QA discipline?
QA wears many hats: planner, writer, inovator, technical expert, customer advocate, coordinator Communication skills are key, especially with interpreting what the developer is saying.
There is the usual QA that tests the software as it is being developed, but there is also alpha and beta testing to determine the user experience issues. These are tests related to how the user uses the software, usability, and is basically an early field trial. This is different from the development testing.
You do more than just find bugs. You want to work on process improvement, design of the software, and make sure that the bugs don't end up in the software to begin with. There is a process specialty you can do, as well as testing automation and test tools which is in BIG DEMAND. These test management systems need to be in place and are developed by this type of tester.
You don't have to be a manager to move up in the discipline; you are paid as a manager, but you are considered an expert in the field and treated that way. You can make a great testing career even if you don't want to eventually move into management.
Aren't testers inferior?
Not anymore!!! It was like that a loooong time ago when software was simpler, and there weren't really testers around. Now, we know that testers are crucial, that they use different skill sets, and they are very desired. Do want you have a passion for, whether it's developing or testing.
What is the threat of outsourcing in testing?
Seems that you can't get the quality you expect if you outsource testing, which is the feeling in the industry now. Repetitive work will get outsourced, but not the interesting and more fulfilling work. Unlikely that will be outsourced.
Research in testing?
Fastest growing field in development, Sticky Minds is a great website to look at for information about testing. A lot of work is being done on this field, and there are some great books you should read. It will be available here on the wiki.
RESOURCES
Recommended Books
- A Practitioner's Guide to Software Testing by Lee Copeland, 2003
- The Art of Software Testing by Glenford Myers, 1979
- How to Break Software: A Practical Guilde to Testing by James Whittaker, 2002
- Software Testing: A Craftsman's Approach, 2nd ed. by Paul Jorgensen, 2002
- Automated Software Testing: Introduction, Management, and Performance by Elfriede Dustin, John Paul, & Jeff Rashka, 1999
- Just Enough Software Test Automation by Daniel Mosley & Bruce Posey, 2002
- Managing the Testing Process, 2nd. ed. by Rex Black, 2002
- Surviving the Top Ten Challenges of Software Testing: A People-Oriented Approach by William Perry & * Randall Rice, 1997
Recommended Conferences
- STAR West [1]
- STAR East [2]
- Euro STAR [3]
- Better Software [4]
- Software Testing & Performance [5]
- Practical Software Quality & Testing [6]
- Pacific NW Software Quality Conference [7]
- Software Development Conference and Expo [8]
- Quality Assurance Institute [9]
Recommended Websites