What Are Your Most and Least Favourite Aspects Of Software Testing?

· 2 min read

This blog was originally posted on Medium.

Sprint 7 in the Bloggers Club is a fun one, I could write about this for ages but I’m going to try to restrict myself somewhat here!

Least Favourite Aspects Of Testing

  1. Missing bugs. Despite all the advice to not shoulder the burden of the guilt with this, I always do. I hate missing bugs, particularly if the customer is the one who ends up raising it with you. I feel like I’ve done a terrible job and that everyone thinks I’ve done a terrible job, even if this isn’t the case.
  2. Raising Bugs. Despite 1 above, I don’t enjoy raising bugs. It’s that look on the developers face “Is she going to ruin my day or just ask if I want a cup of tea?” I much prefer to find potential issues before a line of code is ever written but that’s not always possible.
  3. The debates that often become battles about what value software testers actually provide. If people don’t see you raising bugs, you’re clearly no value, right?

Favourite Aspects Of Testing

  1. Exploring. I love exploring a product to learn how it works. My first few days in a new job are usually when I ask to be told nothing about the product and let me explore. This helps me gauge how intuitive the product is for users before I start getting biased by what it should do or being there too long to notice the little things that are just not nice for a user.
  2. That feeling you get when a customer gives you good feedback about the product that you helped the team deliver. Things like “Where has this been all my life? I love this product!”, okay slightly over dramatic, but you get the idea.
  3. Community. I was previously a developer. It often felt like Google was my only friend when I needed help. I could not believe the community that software testing had when I first found it. I’m usually only ever 2 or 3 degrees of separation away from finding an answer to my questions. It’s good to have people you can talk to when you’re a lone tester and it’s especially good when those people help you get answers quicker so you can move past obstacles faster.

Loving participating in the Bloggers Club and looking forward to reading the responses from others.