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Hiring Great Testers
Building an Excellent Test Team
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r ng rea es ers
Process, Third Edition, a book for test managersHow do we hire really great testers?
A great employee can be ten times as effective as a
poor employee, so hiring the right people is criticala a r u es s ou you oo or n grea es ers
What skills do testers need?
How can you interview testers to make smart hiringdecisions?
Hiring Great Testers
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Copyright (c) 2008-2010 RBCS Page 2
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Qualification: Professional Pessimism
Explore depressing possibilities of failureAnticipate the worst possibilities in order to
Not adversarial, but different outlook than
developmentemem er: o assume no ng w a ur ng
testing denies the entire history of computing
Caveat: not a license to offend Dont target developers with reports
or take glee in failure
Pierre has the pessimism, but
perhaps not professionalism?
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, ,
bad news, all at once
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Qualification: Balanced Curiosity
Balance need for thoroughness in any one area withneed to cover many areas in a short time
Effective test engineers have a knack for spendingtime where the bugs are
isolation quickly
Ineffective test engineers
Write tests for unlikely failure modes
Spend hours researching trivial bugs
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Qualification: Focus
wo types o ocus pro emsPursuing issues narrow-mindedly,losing sight of more importantpriorities
Getting distracted from key tasks
-every so often
Stay focused on the goals of the
test projectThe test manager must assist A seasoned test engineer
can find her way towards
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pro ec goa s w c earsignals from her manager
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e n ng es eam s
Readin
Specifications, e-mails, test cases, etc.Writing
es cases, ug repor s, es ocumen a on, e c.
Not native language dependent
Statistics and other mathematicsPertinent technology, project, and testing skills
Technology: Programming languages and more, likeo eratin s stems, networkin , HTML Web, etc.
Application domain: banking, human factors, officeapplications, etc.
Testin : scri tin , ex loration (error uessin ), automation,
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performance modeling, etc.
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a anc ng e sGood test teams have ri ht mix of skills based on tasks andactivities
Application domain expertUnderstands intended behavior
Knows quality risks and test techniquesTest managers also need management skills
Technical uruAware of technical issues and limitations
What is the right mix forInternet appliance testing?
nuc ear me c ne es ngyour project?
Lets look at a way to measure and manageskills with a skills assessment worksheet
The appropriate depth andlength of each arrow in the
figure depends on the
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o ege ucat onIs testing a kind of software engineering?
Computer science, computer engineering, or math degreesmight be good
Accounting, business, aeronautical engineering, MBA, etc.,
might be more appropriates es ng a ou un ers an ng ow peop e use
computers?Psychology, kinesiology, etc., come into play here
Opinions differ on what college degrees a testerneeds, but a degree does demonstrate an ability to
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Various com anies and consultants
offer public and private training courseslike this one on testin
Training also exists for computer skills
usually be
domain
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,
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es er er ca on
ISTQBFoundation and AdvancedQAICertified Software Test Engineer
ASQCertified Software Quality Engineer
Probably others
Integrity, value, source of syllabi
Cost/benefit
InternationalismAcceptance (by colleagues, companies)
ualit and inte rit of the exams
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What and how much experience?
What training, education, certification, or licenses are
required?What are the hours, the dress code, start date, thecareer path, etc.?
have) and desirable (nice to have) qualifications
Hiring Great Testers Copyright (c)1998-2010 RBCS Page 15
worksheet to create job descriptions
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Career Path for the Candidate
en iring someone or a
testing position, do youassume the candidate willhappily be a tester forever?
Some candidates may haveo er career pa s n m n
Dont hire a tester whosecareer oals are
inconsistent with yourneeds and the needs of For the long-term success of the new hire,
your team, and your company, each position
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should be a step on each candidates career
ladder, not a trap to escape sooner or later
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Gathering and Screening Resumes
Sources of candidateresumes
against the jobdescription
Classified ads
College job boards
Eliminate the unqualified
Circulate those whogenc es recru ersThe Internet
Your peers!
oo e can a esto other interviewers
Current and former
contractors (but usuallythere are conversion fees
further problems
Do phone interview
Hiring Great Testers Copyright (c)1998-2010 RBCS Page 17
to the agency)Check references
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Many people inflatetheir resumes
Resumes can includesubtle red fla s
Just because a buzzwordor acronym is on aresume, does that mean
Lots of job changesGaps in employment
the person hasmeaningful mastery of
the subject?
Frequent changes in
careerCheck out these claims in
the phone interview, esp.if no description of a
o e re erences sounforced or are theyenthusiastic?
particular job where theskill was applied is listed
You may want to verify
Listen for what they dosayand what theydont
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degrees, certifications,
and licenses
Some companies have
reference checks policies
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ua ca on ues ons
true/false or multiplechoice questions about
Questions abouttechnology
es ng
Base these on yourfavorite testin books
ues ons a ouprogramming
Questions about the
ISTQB syllabus, etc.
A set of 200+ such
us ness oma n
These are not alwaysappropriate, depending
ques ons, w ananswer key, can belicensed from RBCS
on the responsibilitiesof the tester
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e av ora ues ons For the last test ou ran, did On your last project, how did
you expect it to pass or fail?
Why?
Tell me about the manner and
you decide the right amount of
time to spend writing a test caseor isolating a bug?
tone you use to iscuss arecent bug report with other
members of the project team.
managers have helped youmaintain proper focus.
Tell me about what you learned
bug report that you wrote.
Talk to me a little about what, ingeneral, you find rewarding
can help us test our product.
Tell me about a previous testproject that you really enjoyed.
about working.Tell me about your experienceson a project where you worked
at e t e mostDescribe the career you see foryourself in testing.
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ours per wee .
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u on n erv ews
the skills needed to do the job,
Give them a written test case you know will fail
Tell them to run the test case
Ask them to write bug reports on a notepad
You ma want to ive test en ineers a
requirements or design specificationdocument and ask them to write a test case
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onc us on
,
hire really great testersR m m r h r m l i ntimes as effective as a poor employee
Look for the ri ht attributesLook for the right skills
Measure and row skills
Interview smartly to make smart hiringdecisions
Hiring Great Testerswww.rbcs-us.com
Copyright (c) 1998-2010 RBCS Page 22
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For over a dozen years, RBCS has delivered services in consulting, outsourcing and training
on ac
or so ware an ar ware es ng. mp oy ng e n us ry s mos exper ence an
recognized consultants, RBCS conducts product testing, builds and improves testing groupsand hires testing staff for hundreds of clients worldwide. Ranging from Fortune 20
companies to start-ups, RBCS clients save time and money through improved product
development, decreased tech support calls, improved corporate reputation and more. To
learn more about RBCS, visit www.rbcs-us.com.
Address: RBCS, Inc.ec oa
Bulverde, TX 78163-3911
USA
Phone: +1 830 438-4830
Fax: +1 (830) 438-4831E-mail: [email protected]
Web: www.rbcs-us.com
Hiring Great Testerswww.rbcs-us.com
Copyright (c) RBCS 1998-2010 Page 23