11 Ways You Know You’re a Tester

This article aims to explore the attributes of a proficient tester. The focus of this article is to analyze the qualities that make a tester effective.

A total of 11 criteria can ascertain if someone is qualified to be a tester. Let us delve into the details regarding them.

Characteristics of a Real Tester

#1) When a bug, seen but not reproduced, makes you sleepless.

While testing the application related to online transactions, you observed that there were two debits for a single transaction. You have tried several times to reproduce it by changing the system, the browser, the credentials, etc., but failed to reproduce it.

As a tester, you know it’s a critical bug and if seen in real time, will affect both the customer and company. And when that thought of ‘how to reproduce the bug’ makes you stressed, then yes, you are a tester in the real sense.

#2) When the developer marks the bug you reported as “Not able to reproduce” two times in a row and every time you run to him to help

Being a tester, one needs to develop patience. Yes, no one likes the person who finds faults in others’ work. Therefore, a tester needs to improve communication in every sense, be it written or verbal.

If a tester gets frustrated at being asked to help with the issue reproduction, there are very few chances to get that issue fixed. As a tester, you are not supposed to just report the bugs, but at some level, you need to track them and try to get them fixed.

To do so, providing all relevant details is mandatory. However, don’t be disappointed even after you provide all relevant details and the bug is labeled as “Not able to reproduce.”

Keep a positive attitude and help the developer reproduce it. Next time, the developer will make sure that he has tried all the options to reproduce the issue before asking you to help.

#3) When you get a new idea of testing the application, while shopping in the supermarket.

You are exploring the newly opened supermarket and see a section called Live Coffee. You will check out this section out of curiosity. After seeing almost all the coffee brands available in one place, if you get an idea of providing a unit converter on the front page of the website you are testing, which is intended to provide a weather forecast for any part of the world, then yes you are a tester.

#4) When you can visualize the whole working product while testing a specific module.

While using the staircase, if you can understand that the stairs are the only way to reach the different floors of a house and how the house would look, if the stairs are made of different material or different shape, then you are a tester.

Because when a tester tests the healthcare application module to calculate the sugar level, he knows this calculation is going to be an input for the next calculation and the final calculation is going to be the user’s sugar level. You will never make a mistake in testing it thoroughly.

#5) When you argue at every level possible to delay release because of these critical random bugs, observe.

Let’s say the application is going to be released tomorrow. After getting the final build, you did a round of testing to ensure it was perfect and you saw the system crash. You tried to nail it down, but no success.

After trying five times, there was a system crash again, but after that there was no issue. When you informed your project manager, he asked you to calm down and not stress about a random bug. He conveyed to the team and management that we are ready to ship the product.

In this scenario, if you can show guts to argue, communicate with every stakeholder about the risk involved and able to earn sometime to investigate, yes my friend, you are a tester.

#6) When you like, participate and encourage you to generate new ideas.

As I have always said, the primary duty of every tester is to generate test ideas. And believe me, when you practice that religiously, you will always get better at testing. How does this idea generation happen?

My hobbies include playing strategy games and participating in chess competitions. Ask the team to have a 15 minute break, gather in the cafeteria, and ask random questions like how would you know if the tea has sugar or not. The answer can be anything, but it will definitely generate a variety of ideas. This will help in boosting up confidence as well as the thought process.

#7) When you are habituated in writing summary points, every day.

A tester, who can describe his day in five points, has learned documentation well. Yes, during the daily job of testing, we find many issues, report them, track them, test different modules, and create test cases, etc.

Ultimately, whether asked or not, if you accustom yourself to writing them down as bullet points, you will be an achiever. Because to be successful in any field, it’s necessary to understand what you are doing, why you are doing so, describe it well and get an idea about the future work. And trust me, by writing that summary report every day, you will get all those answers.

#8) When you note down your learning and apply it without fail.

Missing an issue is not a problem, but missing the same issue again is a big problem. Everyone makes mistakes but those who learn from it are the ones who improve.

And as we are prone to make multiple mistakes, it’s better to document our mistakes and relevant learnings. And looking at it in the future, you will realize how much you have improved.

#9) When you keep a sharp eye on what changes were made to the new release and can think of what could have been affected.

It is crucial for a tester to clearly understand the changes that are expected for the build they will be testing, as well as the manner in which these changes have been implemented. Even if you do not get a clear answer from the development team, always demand the information.

And once that information is available, understand what has been done with the application and how the changes are going to affect the whole application functionality, overall.

Ultimately, if you can understand that changing a track from station A to station B, by turning it via station C, is going to increase the travel distance by 117 km and it will not be acceptable by the travelers, then yes, you are a tester 🙂

#10) When you believe that learning is the only option to be better.

No one knows the alternative to learning. If you do not learn, you are prone to be cast off. Never get satisfied. Always learn more, implement it and see the difference. A real tester is the one who knows that learning test case management is equally important as test case execution.

Suggested Read =>> How To Improve Your Testing Skills

#11) When you feel proud of whatever you are doing because you know it’s the best.

Yes, that is the most important characteristic of a tester. No matter how you are being treated, you know you are doing the best job in the world because you are helping to improve something/someone, for good.

About the author: This article is written by STH team member Bhumika M. She is a project lead, carrying 10+ years of software testing experience. She is totally into testing and loves to test everything exists.

And with this, I conclude this article by claiming, “Yes, I am a real tester”.

I would like to hear the same quote from you too, dear readers. Please post your feedback about this article in the comments section below. We would love to hear from you.

Happy testing!