The future of testing
I spent the last week in beautiful Denmark teaching at our offices in Vedbeak. I really like Denmark. The people are absolutely wonderful, the city of Copenhagen is magnificently rich with history, and of course the beer is delicious. Of all the places I have traveled, I must admit Copenhagen is easily one of the top three favorite (and recommended) travel destinations for me. But, let me get to the point.
After a week of training some of the attendees wanted to discuss their career and the future of tester's in general. I think many still believe that testing is a great stepping stone into development roles, but don't see the long term career options available to them as technical individual contributors in the role of testing. So, let me start by stating I believe there are a greater number, and much harder problems to solve in the software testing space than there are in the software development space . Sure, the job title of developer is more sexy and more appealing to many people, but let's face it, most new developers out of university are simply fresh meat who become another cog in the wheel whilst learning the trade. And, the title of "tester" still carries negative connotations for various reasons. However, the fact is the role of testing is more demanding and provides many greater technical challenges as compared to the role of development in today's software organizations. The cost of software testing is still greater than 50% of the product lifecycle. Finding the keys to reduce testing costs and long term maintenance costs by driving quality upstream will surely reap greater rewards over the long haul as compared to the limited profits from any new widget.
So, while I am very optimistic about the future of testing, I am also very concerned. My concern stems from the fact that we have a pool of very talented, highly technical people who possess great skill and determination, yet these people's skills are sometimes bridled by managers who continue to use them as keyboard monkeys on a snipe hunt, or (perhaps worse) tell them to "automate everything" without any strategic planning or direction. I suspect this occurs because there exists some number of test managers in the industry who lack sufficient technical acumen to comprehend the potential of this new breed of testers and who are thus unable to capitalize on their capabilities. I have actually witnessed managers who let (or encourage) their technical people re-invent a wheel by building another duplicate key mnemonic checker, or automated test harness simply to demonstrate the individual's development skills. (What a waste!) I also suspect there are some managers who simply haven't thought through the long term career growth of testers to senior levels and thus can't imagine what benefits a senior tester could provide to the team, or the company.
I love software testing. It is one of the most mentally challenging jobs I have ever had, and forces me to continuously learn new skills and improve on existing skills as technologies change. I also see many possibilities for testing roles in the future such as partnering with developers to ensure the value of unit tests (because we all know that developers don't know anything about testing), determining ways to cut long term maintenance costs, developing tools similar to static analysis tools to drive quality upstream and prevent build breaks, developing test automation for SDKs or that are used by customers to validate complex configurations before the customer rolls out the system into production. Frankly, I don't yet think we know how to capitalize on the skills of our testers, nor do we yet understand the potential benefits that a team of highly skilled senior level testers can provide to the organization in terms of cost savings and improved customer satisfaction. I suspect this occurs because we only think in the scope of the next widget release, not in terms of the next 5 to 10 years.
But, if we don't figure this out, and if we continue to restrict the talent and underutilize the potential of the new breed of testers who possess tremendous knowledge and the technical skills to solve these difficult problems we will return to the days of yesteryear where the total worth of a tester is measured by the number of bugs they find. How pathetic!
Comments
Anonymous
December 05, 2006
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December 06, 2006
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July 30, 2007
With the eager and passion you contain for software testing, and the fact that you have been to denmark in regards to this. I would suggest and encourage you to come visit us the next time you are here. We need people like you :-) Cheers, Anders - BBLsolutionsAnonymous
August 01, 2007
The comment has been removedAnonymous
May 30, 2008
I spent the last week in beautiful Denmark teaching at our offices in Vedbeak. I really like Denmark . The people are absolutely wonderful, the city of Copenhagen is magnificently rich with history, and of course the beer is delicious. Of all the placeAnonymous
June 05, 2008
I spent the last week in beautiful Denmark teaching at our offices in Vedbeak. I really like Denmark . The people are absolutely wonderful, the city of Copenhagen is magnificently rich with history, and of course the beer is delicious. Of all the place