Is Software Testing a Boring Job?
Testers are very enthusiastic at the beginning of their careers. But when the learning curve is saturated they start feeling bored. They quickly get tired of writing the same Bug reports and executing the same test cases again and again. They simply don’t feel challenged.
Almost all testers have the same feeling in their careers at least at some point. Especially experienced testers don’t find any challenge and creativity in their work.
Table of Contents:
Does That Mean Testing is a Boring Job?
The answer is a resounding NO! Testing is not a boring job at all. Actually, it can stress you to your limitations. As quoted by Michael Bolton,
“Testing is a continuous learning process by exploring, discovering and investigating the information you have”.
If you are passionate about software testing then you will be less likely to find this as a boring job. At some point, testing can be monotonous work. But you should accept a certain level of repetition.
You can think of automating those repetitive tasks. But make sure to do your homework carefully before deciding to go for automation. It’s not the end solution for your boredom. You need to find different ways to bring some variety to your daily routine job.
If you ask any experienced developer around you, he will tell you how boring a development job is. You can’t stop doing things as they seem to be repetitive. Our whole life is just a sequence of repetitive tasks. Would you stop doing that? Certainly not. We continuously find and adapt to new things that entertain us.
You need to find innovative ways to do the same things again. You need to find and analyze why you are bored. Once you know the root cause you can work towards finding the solution.
Assume that you are experiencing this boredom. It might be temporary boredom, but you need to overcome it and make sure it will not hit you anymore. How do I do that? Given below are the things that I do when this feeling comes to mind. I’m sure these will work for you as well.
15 Things To Do When You’re Bored of Testing
#1) We’re bored because there is no challenge in our routine work. There are several ways to challenge yourself. One way I know to work best is to challenge yourself to find 5 (or whatever count you feel challenging) critical defects in a day.
#2) Stay away from negative people. They definitely create a negative effect on the people around them. Surround yourself with positive people. Do things that interest and motivate you.
#3) Get inspired with powerful long-term career goals. Where do you want to see yourself in the next 5 years? Always think about what you can do today to move closer to that goal and act accordingly.
#4) Upgrade your skills. Specialize yourself with any testing skills, or you can even specialize yourself with other soft skills like communication, time management, team building, problem-solving skills, etc.
#5) Write something about the skills which you learned in your job. Write an article/how-to guide on the subject of your expertise and share it with your co-workers or all testing teams across your company. Don’t hesitate to show off your knowledge.
#6) Always reward yourself when you accomplish your goals (For Example, when you complete test cases for a project, complete automating test cases for a module within the specified time frame, etc.) No matter how small your goal is, celebrate and enjoy it.
#7) Collaborate with the QA teams from other projects as well. Observe their routine and grasp good things from it.
#8) If you are the senior person in the team, then help others to learn testing concepts and understand your project deeply.
#9) Have an informal discussion with the developers. Discuss what they are doing, what they have developed, what scenarios they have considered, is there anything you can contribute to help them understand the product better.
Warning – Some developers don’t like to discuss things with testers (there might be something like “evil testers” in their minds). Deal politely and respect others under such cases.
#10) Declutter your desk area regularly. Clean up old requirement document prints. This applies to files and folders on your computer as well. Keeping everything (time and resources) organized is a habit of successful people.
#11) Don’t get stuck in a routine. Keep experimenting. It might be related to writing or executing test cases, managing testing teams or test reporting. Find new ways to do your job better. Bring in a new process if you think something is not working as expected.
#12) If you are bored with executing manual tests, ask your boss to assign a different task to you, maybe testing tasks like Security testing, performance testing or even automating tests using a new tool could make you more interested in your work.
#13) Read more books, articles, attend testing meetups and conferences. Explore and read articles from the STH archive! We have lots of good articles on various topics.
If nothing listed above helps you, I have a few more options for you:
(Warning – These are the solutions for extreme boredom. Doing any of these should be avoided without root cause analysis of your current boredom situation)
#14) Is that the project you are bored with? Ask your manager to switch you to a different project.
#15) Is that the company with which you are bored? Switch to a different company then.
Conclusion
Software testing is an exciting, challenging and fun-filled job. To
experience it, you just need to think from that perspective! We hope this article would have brought some new changes to you.
Do you also think testing is a boring job? What do you do if you get bored of testing? Please share your comments, thoughts, and suggestions.
thanks for giving nice suggestions …
@ chandrasekar : Please find short difference between SDLC and STLC..
its ………… helpful and nice thought I really Appreciate from this…………….
How to execute 1000 test cases manually in a single day? What kind of testing methodology do I have to use? Please help me with this question.
This will help our QA team. They need these tips badly.. sharing it
i am getting bored to working with same project from last 1&half years ..please help i want to switch my current org ….& try to bank & finance domain please post article to help me to geting job in this domain early
“Stay away from negative people” yeah you could say that again. Not so easy though when they sit right next to you and headphones aren’t allowed.
very exciting and motivating..
nice tips 🙂
Hello All, There is a lot of fuss about testing and test management; BECOMING TEST PROFESSIONAL IS A CAREER BLUNDER.
Reasons:
1. Developers vs tester ratio : More developers but less testers therefore few job opportunities.
2. Less salaries and few onsite opportunities. (testing is outsourced, Compare the billing rates for SAP or Oracle Fin vs Testing)
3. Easy to replace, therefore easy layoff.
4. Treated as supporting team, secondary treatment therefore less annual hikes.
5. Easy to come to a career end: keep learning new tools again and again; in Dev if you learn and work J2EE or .NET it is for life time or for 15 to 20 years. In the last 10 years several tools came into market and replaced by others Winrunner to QTP and to Selenium even though clients are skeptical about the ROIs.
6. you will be frustrated when people who passed out 5 to 6 years after you pass out from the college talk about new and cutting edge technologies that change the world – like cloud big data or great ERP and and their implantation, because you always get a chance to see the UI but can not architect the same.
7. People who worked as dev architects can go for start ups, bcz thy aware about the technology as well as business; but as a tester you may be aware of the business but not the technology and its implementations.
8. In long run, if you would like to go into Senior management companies prefer managers with development background to the mangers from testing background.
So guys if you are with less than 5 years work exp in testing, this is the right time to jump into Development otherwise you will regret for the life time!!!
if your work exp is more than 5 years, accept your destiny and drag your feet!!!
Regards,
Test Manager with 10+ exp and with PMP
Thats a really good point.
Testing is an incredibly boring , non-technical job….
the typical testing job
1. ( like a robot) execute manually ( or automated) test cases based on requirements..
2. if there is an issue talk to developer.. if the developer is a SW developer , they will blame it on hardware ( or vice versa)
3. the developers will give you the task to perform even more boring tests to possibly find the issue..
4. or they will tell you its a known issue…
TESTING SUCKS
Stages.
1 Requirements Gathering
2 Design
3 Testing team write the detailed test cases.
4 Testing
5 Deployment
6 Maintenance
SDLC – Software Development Life cycle.
Requirements Gathering : Requirements gathering is done by business analyst. Development team analyze the requirements from the design, architecture & coding
perspective.
Design : Technical architect works for the high level & low design of the software. Business analyst works for
the UI design of the application.
Coding or development :Development team does the actual coding based on the designed architecture.
Testing : In SDLC, actual testing is carried out in this phase. It includes unit testing, integration testing & system testing etc..
Deployment : Application is deployed on production environment for real end users.
Maintenance : Basically, it includes, post production / deployment support & enhancements.
STLC – Software Test Life Cycle
Requirements Gathering :Testing team also review & analyse the requirements. Testing team
identifies the testing requirements like what types of testing will be required and review the requirements for logical functional relationship between various features / modules, so that any gaps can be caught at an early stage.
Design : Here, test architect generally the test lead/manager, does the test
planning, identify high level testing points. Basically, requirement detailing is done in this phase.
Coding or development : Testing team write the detailed test cases.
Testing : Test Execution and bug reporting, manual testing, automation testing is done, defects found are reported. Re-testing and regression testing is also done in this phase. But, I don’t agree with this statement. So, if I want to relate the testing phase with STLC, I would say it it is testing of test cases & test plans i.e. is basically review of test cases, test scenarios etc..
Deployment : Final testing and implementation is done is this phase and final test report is prepared. For this statement as well, I don’t agree. For software / application deployment is basically, when it is installed for real use. So, this way, STLC, deployment would be when test when test cases getting used i.e. execution of test cases.
Maintenance : Most of people say – Maintenance testing is carried out in this phase. My definition for this is – updation & maintenance of test plans, test
case required for the testing of support requests & enhancements as a part of maintenance.
Hi,
Currently i am working as a S/W tester in small organization. Here we are not using any testing tool i have been working in this organization for past 7 months i want to improve my testing skills. can you please suggest any testing tool which gives me the better carreer.
Nice article, I followed the same while discovering new bugs.
Keep postings !!
Thanks
I will read articles when i feel bored which helps me in understanding views of different testers.
Kudos vijay…nice article…thanks for sharing…..
good article keep posting
Very good thing. Most of those i already do. Good article.
point#14 and 15 seems to be really helpful.
Nice Article.
I HAVE DONE B.TECH IN CSE AND I M FRESHER PLZ TELL ME IF THERE IS ANY JOB RELATED TO SQT IN PUNJAB….THNX
Its not like people are getting bored to field where they are working, they always get bored due to repetative task they are handling in day to day life, I think this article gives u more advice how you should approch to your job and then decide your carrier.
I think changing job or carrier is not a solution if you are getting bored, I agree with other points….
Really Nice article, I normally followed points 1 to 5 if i will be getting bored in my daily work.
Keep postings !!
Thanks
Good tips
Nice article,Reading your article is also one of the way to get relief from boredom
I have been manually testing software for over 20 years. Fortunately, I’ve had the opportunity to test a variety of applications and platforms for more than one company. However, in the past 8 years I have worked on the same application for the same company, and I am getting bored.
I was strongly encouraged this year to learn and begin writing and executing automation scripts on the same application. Although, this new opportunity might appear to provide some relief from the boredom, it does not appeal to me in any way. As a result of this required change in direction and my lack of enthusiasm for
coding or writing automation script, I am growing even more bored.
Reading points 14 and 15 here have made me much more aware of where my boredom really resides.
Good information here. My testing team regularly does #9 (Have informal discussion with developers) when we have a team review of our test cases.
I am always asking the developers what areas we need to really test hard and if they think our test cases are effective in that area. We have been working as one team for several years and recognize that with effective coding and testing we all win.
Really Nice tips.
Even I followed the same tips
Because of that I never bored with my job
I love to do job and discoveries
fhfhfhfdhdfsh
I take a break when I get bored.
Useful Tips
Great Article, Awesome, Kudos! to Author!!. I got inspired to move a bit. Really i got bored, i will take action now as mentioned 16 points.
I definitely consider changing career. How can make use of my UAT experience to start a new career (non IT). Any tips?
Nice Article, What i do when i get bored is i try to read different article other then testing which help get out of bored mood and gain knowledge of other things…
Nice tips hey
great article !
really helpful article.
Hi,
whats the difference between SDLC and STLC….im waiting for your replay…..
@SB, as far as I know in some countries Software testing engineers have higher salary than developers
I equate regression testing as a form of quality assurance. I believe there should be no other higher-paid job in a company. These people are the ones who guarantee that the client gets what they are paying for. For obvious reasons, that’s a good idea.
However, after working 20 years with the same software application that makes small incremental changes countless times year, having to do full manual regression testing each time gets really really really old. I’ve read all of these articles and “advice”, but I find it impossible to believe that anyone in this industry sticks around for more than 5 years working on one thing, let alone 20+. In 20+ years of testing off and on, I think I found 2 or 3 minor issues, and maybe one slightly more significant.
With improvements to how software is written now, where different modules are in-a-way sandboxed, the reasons for regression testing seem to become less important.
Because of that, I believe we should create a new method of testing, taking into account improvements in programming/coding.
Oh, and regression testing. What a horrible name. So many bad connotations with the word regression, so much that every time I hear it, I want to run in the other direction.
I am so much fed up of testing, that I want to erase the word testing from my life and career. I dont know development either. Can someone suggest anything other in IT area itself that will pays lot.
i completely agree with the word” regression” drives one crazy. Its a regressive word.
Testing is a always challenging JOB, if some feels bored because of routine tasks, may be the two options they can choose, one build skills to scale up to test architech if interested in tech side, two build poeple management skills or project management skills
What if there is no Testing Team In an Organisation & One guy with one Years of Experience in Software Testing (Manual).
Nobody is there to guide. its a sincere request to All Readers please provide some suggestions
Thanks.
good artical………
i have 4 year exp in software testing and i am not bored from my job. in testing job there are many challenges, work with different team and project in a time. so you always keeping new thing in your life. in any case if you bored then you try to learn new thing in your work or upgrade your skill.
so after 4 year exp. i can tell you testing is not a boring job and it is not a easy job. every day found a new defect is not easy. it may required good skill in a person and that person is you……………
best of luck all my tester friends
@ Vina, Maqsood – Great to hear that STH articles help you to get relief from boredom.
@Chandrashekhar
yes its possible to cover up 1000 test case in single Day.Please Find below simple technique which help you to come out from this problem
make Simple groups of that 1000 test case.
For Example let say i have six module and each module have Add/Edit/Update functionality.
So Do one thing that group the same scenarios which need to cover up and apply it in test case.
In short group by same scenarios for different module makes easy to cover maximum test case.
hope this technique helpful to you.All the best
let me know if any Query.
Good Article….
@ Anil – Hope you will soon get out of this boredom with these tips and find testing an interesting work.
@ Krishna, Ashok – Thanks for sharing your views on how to overcome testing boredom. These are also really nice ways to handle boredom.
@ Mr Rahul, Usman, Deepa, Vinod, Vaneet, GV Sairam – Glad you like this article. Hope it will be helpful for you and your team to get motivated.
Reading your articles is also one of the way to get relief from boredom..
Neat list. It covers most of my favorites – try out automation, try reading books, do write occasionally (or rather, make it a regular habit to write)…
There’s only one item I would like to add. Tool development. Identify, design, create, implement and educate those around you on tools – tools as such may not make things great – but knowing about the right tools, and using them at the right place is what makes it valuable. Evaluate existing tools. There’s tremendous scope in this. Once you have this expertise in your quiver, you’re safe – safe from boredom, forever.
Hi all,
will anybady help me b’cos i am serching the job as i wan improve my S/W testing knowledge.
Well i don’t think that Testers get bored after a saturation point. I must say that if a tester feel bored or saturation point in his testing career then this field is not for him/her. Actually there are a lot of challenges in QA/Software Testing domain, Testers play a key role from Planning to Deployment, Unit to Integration, System to Acceptance, Methodology to implementation it is not just about test case writing only. I respect and welcome views from all readers/IT-professionals but being a part of a QA team/community i proud to be a Tester.
i had a doubt,some peoples working in small companies after getting 1yr exp,they are moving to some mnc companies,
in small companies they followed diff methods or procedure for testing and in mnc, following different methods how they can manage…..
Sb,@Test Manager with 10+ exp and with PMP
i appreciate your frank opinion sir :).. What you said is sooo true…
Nice article vijay Really i got inspired …… i love my testing profession … got one yr exp … very interesting field … u r my roll model vijay
great article !
Real nice article to kick-start again! When i get bored, I most certainly read more articles on ST and sometimes on other topics that interest me. Really helps
PS: I like the pic in your article.. what a true image of a tester 😀
Hi
This article is really very useful. Got an enthusiastic to think differently and explore.
Thanks
Thanks for sharing such good tips.
@ashok: thank u….
Hi Vijay,
I have chosen as a testing carrier with my involvement & done my task regularly. But still am not satisfied with this. Because I am working on maintenance project, so myself I didn’t write any testcases since I joined, also executed earlier written testcases only. It means not boring the testing job, but little fear about my future.
Shall I follow your point #14? Is it correct manner to ask PM regarding project. Could you please suggest me something?