What makes a Tester to become a Best Tester ?

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Permalink Reply by Dustin Andrews on 17 July 2008 at 7:27pm

Advancing in test is a journey with many possible paths.

Testers find bugs.
Good testers finds more bugs.
Better testers find better bugs faster.
Best testers prevent bugs in the fist place.

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Permalink Reply by Ramkumar Muraleetharan on 20 July 2008 at 6:03pm

A good tester is one who thinks "Out of the Box" and has broad vision.

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Permalink Reply by Romy on 25 July 2008 at 8:13am

If you are a tester, QA executive or want to come in testing field,
see in which of following qualities describes you.

What makes a good test engineer?


A good test engineer has :

. A ‘test to break’ attitude,
. An ability to take the point of view of the customer,
. A strong desire for quality, and an attention to detail.

. Tact and diplomacy are useful in maintaining a cooperative relationship with developers,
. An ability to communicate with both technical (developers) and non-technical (customers, management) people is useful.
. Previous software development experience can be helpful as it provides a deeper understanding of the software development process, gives the tester an appreciation for the developers’ point of view, and reduce the learning curve in automated test tool programming.
. Judgment skills are needed to assess high-risk areas of an application on which to focus testing efforts when time is limited.

What makes a good Software QA engineer?

The same qualities a good tester has are useful for a QA engineer.
Additionally :

. They must be able to understand the entire software development process and how it can fit into the business approach and goals of the organization.
. Communication skills and the ability to understand various sides of issues are important.
. In organizations in the early stages of implementing QA processes, patience and diplomacy are especially needed. An ability to find problems as well as to see ‘what’s missing’ is important for inspections and reviews.

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Permalink Reply by John Overbaugh on 27 July 2008 at 12:47am

The most important element of a good tester is a break-it mentality which allows him or her to dig deep into a project and root out issues. The worst testers I have interviewed never tested beyond the state functionality/requirements.

A 'best tester' has found the balance between creativity and focus. They use creativity in ad hoc/exploratory testing, yet they remain focused on the goal: shipping quality software.

See my blog http://thoughtsonqa.blogspot.com for the series "How Can I Become A Better Tester", Romy. It'll answer your questions (although curiously enough, I see you took a fair amount of time to answer your own question for yourself).

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Permalink Reply by SivaPrasad on 28 July 2008 at 4:21am

Keen obseravtion.
Tester should know in an dout of the application.
Testers have to prove that application is not functuioning as specified.
A ‘test to break’ attitude,
. An ability to take the point of view of the customer,
. A strong desire for quality, and an attention to detail.

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Permalink Reply by Ido Schacham on 29 July 2008 at 1:16pm

There are many qualities for a best tester as mentioned above and below. From vast technical knowledge, through excellent people skills, the break it mentality is a good one indeed.

To me one aspect that makes a great difference is awareness. An eye for the details, letting go of previous expectations and patterns, being able to connect to various points of view, catching the even smallest of odd behavior (which is usually a bug), and more.

I'm going to shamelessly self promote my blog post about it epically entitled The Zen of Testing, hope you like it!

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