if you could turn back time: coaching new testers

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T12$Session!6/25/2015! !1:30!PM!!!!!

“If$You$Could$Turn$Back$Time:$Coaching$New$

Testers”$$

Presented$by:$

Christin$Wiedemann$and$Richard$Lu$

Professional$Quality$Assurance,$Ltd.$

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Brought$to$you$by:$

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340!Corporate!Way,!Suite!300,!Orange!Park,[email protected]!D!www.sqe.com!

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After finishing her PhD in physics, Christin Wiedemann started working as a software developer. When asked to test on a project, she realized she had found her true vocation. Later Christin joined the Swedish test company AddQ Consulting where she worked as a tester, test lead, and trainer, giving courses on agile testing, test design, and exploratory testing throughout Europe. Christin is a co-creator of the exploratory testing approach xBTM. In her current role as co-CEO of Professional Quality Assurance (PQA), Christin’s primary objective is achieving delivery excellence, which is closely coupled with her continuing efforts to drive PQA’s research and method development.

!Richard Lu joined Professional Quality Assurance (PQA) Ltd. in 2013. Since then, he has been keenly exploring the world of software testing, continuously expanding his testing skills, and gaining experience with various projects and project environments. His passion for testing has driven him to consider ways to engage junior testers through mentoring and training to make them valued team members.

Christin Wiedemann

Professional Quality Assurance, Ltd.

Richard Lu

Professional Quality Assurance, Ltd.

PQA Company Overview 6/8/15

©2012 Professional Quality Assurance Ltd. (PQA) -- http://www.pqatesting.com 1

If You Could Turn Back Time: Coaching New Testers

Christin Wiedemann & Richard Lu, PQA Testing STARCANADA 2015

About Us

Christin Wiedemann •  Co-CEO at PQA Testing •  Ph.D. in particle physics •  Developer

Richard Lu •  Software Tester at PQA Testing •  M.Eng in Electrical Engineering •  Traffic Calming Engineer •  Electrical Engineer Assistant

2 ©2015 Professional Quality Assurance Ltd. (PQA) -- http://www.pqatesting.com



Career Planning


Career Planning

There are a lot of “accidental testers”. • What are the potential ramifications? • What are the upsides?

Where do your new hires fit in? • Tester by coincidence? • Tester by choice?




Attracting and Retaining Talent

How do you grow and retain the talent that you do attract?

How do you attract talent to a profession that is largely unknown to the general public, and often pays less than, for example, a developer position?


Our Goal

Our Goal Advocate testing as a fun and interesting profession with great career opportunities

Share our experiences being new testers, and working with new testers

Provide tips for how to coach people who are new to testing and help them grow into smart testers




Outline

A career in testing

Challenges that new testers face

Growing smart testers

The TEST framework

Lessons learned

Summary


A Career in Testing

A career in testing



The TEST framework

Lessons learned

Summary




A Career in Testing


Testing is fun, creative and challenging

Testing takes skill, training and

experience

Testing provides a multitude of

career opportunities

A Career in Testing


Testing is often undervalued

Lack of university software testing

programs

Lower status than other roles

in IT



A Career in Testing

Why do people give

up their testing

careers?

Don’t understand the purpose of the

work they do or how it fits into the

context of software development

Not treated as part of the team

Testing is not valued internally

Don’t see a clear career path with

options for advancement

Offered better paid job as e.g. developer


A Career in Testing

Testing is a key component of building high-quality software products

The industry needs smart testers doing smart testing

But, even Computer Science graduates often lack understanding of, and training in, testing

You must be prepared to teach new testers the skills required

New testers need onboarding and coaching




A Career in Testing

Why, and how, did you become a tester?

Did you experience any difficulties when you first joined a testing team?

Does your company have

a formal onboarding

process for new testers?

Why do you remain a

software tester?


Challenges That New Testers Face

A career in testing



The TEST framework

Lessons learned

Summary




Challenges That New Testers Face

Knowledge Transfer

Communication

Finding Resources and Applying Knowledge

“Boring” Work

Team Dynamic and Work Culture


Knowledge Transfer

You might have a lot of senior people willing to teach you, but can they transfer their knowledge

to you?

Everyone on the team doesn’t have the same background and experience.

Senior people may just throw a lot of technical jargon at you that you may not necessarily

understand.




Communication


Communicating with different stakeholders

Different types and styles of communication

Understanding the vocabulary

Finding Resources and Applying Knowledge


Lack of documentation and formal procedure

What to report as a bug

Applying theoretical knowledge



“Boring” Work


Objective and

importance of testing not clear

Checking rather than

testing

Only allowed to do

scripted testing

Not being intellectually challenged

Team Dynamic and Work Culture


Working as part of a team, as well as

independently

Adapting to a different culture

Being proactive and taking initiative

Dealing with issues and conflict



Growing Smart Testers

A career in testing



The TEST framework

Lessons learned

Summary


Who is Responsible?

Team New tester

Challenge

Room to grow

Support

Role models

Know what you don’t know

Ask – but research first

Take initiative




Growing Smart Testers

Understanding the tester role and how testers fit

in on the team

Defining what makes a good, or smart, tester

Recruiting the right people, for the right reasons

Providing proper onboarding, training and career options

Hiring, growing and retaining

great testers


The Role of a Software Tester

Software tester

Why test

How to test

When to test

How much to

test




Attributes of a Smart Tester

Training

Cognitive Skills

Soft Skills

Smart Testers


Recruiting Right

New tester should have the right personality and mind set

They don’t need to have a

background in development or

Computer Science




The TEST Framework

A career in testing



The TEST framework

Lessons learned

Summary


The TEST Onboarding and Coaching Framework

T Training

E Empowerment

S Support

T Teamwork 28 ©2015 Professional Quality Assurance Ltd. (PQA) -- http://www.pqatesting.com



Training

Training

Knowledge transfer

Finding resources and applying knowledge

Mentoring, courses, conferences, self study, user groups…


Empowerment

Empowerment

“Boring work”

Value of testing

Assisting rather than shadowing

Accountability, but room to make mistakes




Support

Support

Finding resources and applying knowledge

Team dynamic and work culture

Regular check points and frequent feedback

Buddy or mentoring system


Teamwork

Teamwork

Communication

Team dynamic and work culture

“Test infected” teams

Testing part of software development




Lessons Learned

A career in testing



The TEST framework

Lessons learned

Summary


Dos and Don’ts

Don’t confuse onboarding and orientation

Don’t separate training and work – use guided experimental learning

Don’t fix new testers’ mistakes – teach them to not make them

Don’t hold it against them if they want to change careers – testing might not be a fit




Dos and Don’ts

Treat every new tester as a unique individual

Allow new testers to fail – but make sure to be there to help them learn from their mistakes

Give frequent feedback – aim for small adjustments rather than drastic changes

Learn what the person’s strengths, weaknesses and interests are

Put testing in context and always explain why


Summary

A career in testing



The TEST framework

Lessons learned

Summary




Needs of New Testers

Having tools and resources

Seeing career options and growth

Understanding the role of a

tester


Growing a Smart Test Team


Identify the challenges that new testers face

Create the right environment, and help testers to overcome these challenges

Keep new testers engaged and grow a healthy test team



Thank You


Christin Wiedemann

PQA Testing

[email protected]

@c_wiedemann

www.pqatesting.com

Richard Lu

PQA Testing

[email protected]

www.pqatesting.com