Entries Tagged 'Soft skills for testers' ↓

Recession – Retrospection – Re-skill

This is a guest article from Gunasekaran Veerapillai.

I was very much impressed by the wordings from C K Prahalad, the management guru on facing the current challenges – “Time to be different, not just efficient”. In my experience in this IT world, the current recession is worst than the 9/11 aftermath and this is going to last for some more years before this industry stabilizes. When I had been to my family doctor last week, (he is taking care of me for the past 15 years), he casually but emphatically mentioned that IT has created a different world to this younger generation, which is impacting the normal life in countries like India.

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Many companies and institutes are making group discussion as the first criteria for screening the candidates for face-to-face interviews. And there is reason too for giving huge importance for Group Discussion. First thing Group Discussion is used for mass elimination! And second thing group discussion selection criteria’s are based on actual company requirements.

Communication and Group Discussion skill are two relevant soft skills that are must for software testers.

Why group discussion should be the first criteria for selecting software testers?

Software tester requires communication with different people like team members, managers and customers. So interpersonal skill is very important for tester.

Yesterday one of our readers mailed me about her problem. She is very good at work but when it comes to taking credit for her work, someone else is taking the credit.

Why this is happening? She is lagging in interpersonal skills. Lagging in communication. She might be proficient in many skills, but what if she isn’t able to communicate her thoughts in front of her seniors or evaluators? Simply, she will lose the credits of her own work!

Making a good impression while speaking in meetings or interviews is the basic skill every professional should have. Let’s see how you can make this impression.

What skills are judged in group discussion?

• How good you are at communication with others.
• How you behave and interact with group.
• How open minded are you.
• Your listening skill.
• How you put forward your views.
• Your leadership and decision making skills.
• Your analysis skill and subject knowledge.
• Problem solving and critical thinking skill.
• Your attitude and confidence.

Do’s and Don’ts of Group discussion:

1) Keep eye contact while speaking:
Do not look at the evaluators only. Keep eye contact with every team member while speaking.

2) Initiate the GD:
Initiating the GD is a big plus. But keep in mind – Initiate the group discussion only when you understood the GD topic clearly and have some topic knowledge. Speaking without proper subject knowledge is bad impression.

3) Allow others to speak:
Do not interrupt anyone in-between while speaking. Even if you don’t agree with his/her thoughts do not snatch their chance to speak. Instead make some notes and clear the points when it’s your turn.

4) Speak clearly:
Speak politely and clearly. Use simple and understandable words while speaking. Don’t be too aggressive if you are disagreeing with someone. Express your feelings calmly and politely.

5) Make sure to bring the discussion on track:
If by any means group is distracting from the topic or goal then simply take initiative to bring the discussion on the track. Make all group members aware that you all need to come to some conclusion at the end of the discussion. So stick to the topic.

6) Positive attitude:
Be confident. Do not try to dominate anyone. Keep positive body language. Show interest in discussion.

7) Speak sensibly:
Do not speak just to increase your speaking time. Don’t worry even if you speak less. Your thoughts should be sensible and relevant instead of irrelevant speech.

8 ) Listen carefully to others:
Speak less and listen more! Pay attention while others are speaking. This will make coherent discussion and you will get involved in the group positively. You will surely make people agree with you.

9) No need to go into much details:
Some basic subject analysis is sufficient. No need to mention exact figures while giving any reference. You have limited time so be precise and convey your thoughts in short and simple language.

10) Formal dressing:
Do not take it casually. No fancy and funny dressing. You should be comfortable while speaking in group. Positive gesture and body language will make your work easy.

Follow these 10 simple rules to easily crack the GD.

Let’s have some bonus tips for Group Discussion success.

Here is an embedded Power point presentation on Group discussion topic.
Thanks to “SoftLogic Technologies” for providing this presentation to our readers.

This article will guide you on some advanced Unix commands. Also comprehensive guide is provided for each command for its use giving examples. The topics covered in this article includes advanced Unix commands with examples, Difference between symbolic and hard links and Unix variables guide.

Download the article: Advanced Unix commands

Thanks Meenakshi for sharing this article for our readers.

If you have missed previous article on “Unix basics for tester” series, you can see the basic Unix commands article here.

If you are good at Unix operating system then you can share some more ‘useful Unix commands with examples’ in comment section below.

Jobs: I have updated the QA jobs section with new opening. See the details on below link:

• Test analyst openings in Rave technology.

Have you been facing problems in interviews? Do you fear to deliver any speech? Do you hesitate to speak in your company meeting? Do you have problems explaining your views to others? Do others disagree with you even though you are right?

If answers to these questions are ‘yes’ then it’s time to improve your communication skill. You should be perfect in all ways of communications like verbal, presentation skill and written communication.

Poor communication generally leads to disagreement and misunderstandings. Even in romantic relationship if you are poor at communication, chances are high that you will break up with your boy friend or girl friend.

Good communication skill is a must for software testers. You might have seen this line in every job requirements especially openings in QA and testing field. As testers require communicating with different project team members including clients, communication skill plays important role. If you want to win the arguments (I mean arguments that are right) and find the common solution for your problems with your subordinates then you should be able to express your views effectively.

As a part of ‘soft skills for testers’ article series I am sharing detailed power point presentation on “How to improve communication skill”.

Keep in mind these simple rules for effective communication:

• Listen carefully when others are clarifying their thoughts. Don’t interrupt others in-between.
• Do not speak too fast. Slow down while speaking.
• Speak clearly. Your pronunciation should be loud and clear.
• Make eye contact with whom you are speaking. This increases chances of mutual agreement.
• Read, read and read. For better communication and effective words in your speech your vocabulary should be very strong. Reading more and more will increase your vocabulary.

Besides these 5 golden rules for effective communication here is PPT presentation on improving your communication skill.

Main topics covered in this PPT:
1) What makes a good communicator?
2) Process of communication
3) Active listening
4) Using non-verbal communication effectively
5) Presentation skill while appearing for an interview.
Thanks SoftLogic Technologies for this presentation.

Update: You can also download the first PPT on communication skill.