This week I decided to research and look up the most popular Software Testing blogs.  The name James Bach came up on nearly every website, so I started to look through his page.  I came across a post called, Variable Testers, posted kind of a while ago but I enjoyed reading it.  He talked about a personal experience he had where the vice president of a software engineering company told everyone that “they need to formalize their work”.  James went on to tell the story of how he immediately raised his hand, even if it wasn’t the most appropriate thing to do that the time, and argued that his statement was completely wrong and he couldn’t possibly of meant it.  The point of this article was to make it clear that variability is not a problem at all.  He uses the example that there are a bunch of different cars on the road, but is that really a problem?  I completely agree with James.  As a tester, why would you want to be exactly the same as every other tester?  Yes, of course there is always going to be a tester that is per-say “better” then another, but does that make them bad?  Just because someone has a different way of doing something, it doesn’t make it the wrong way!  James thinks it’s absolutely insane that someone that high up and familiar with the engineering process can even make a statement like that.  I liked how James was not afraid to raise his hand and totally tell the guy off.  I can see why people like his blog so much! He is very honest, I am definitely going to read his stuff more often.

From the blog CS@Worcester – Alex's Comp Sci Blog by alexsblog13 and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

This article originally caught my eye because of the title, “What To Do When There Isn’t Enough Time to Test?“.  I have been a Software Engineer intern at a company called Innovative Defense Technologies for the past 3 Summers.  I started off my internship as a Freshman (incoming Sophomore) not knowing too much about programming, so yep, I was thrown right into testing.  I have learned through my experience as an intern that there is always something else that can be tested.  Code is constantly changing as the developers fix bugs, or add new features to the product.  As a tester in a company, it is your responsibility to be able to keep testing all of the old stuff, while also keeping up with the new.  I have become extremely familiar with the testing process, and trust me when I tell you .. there is NEVER enough time to test.

The main point of the article,written by STH author Swati S., is to give testers tips on what to do when they are running out of time, and how to prevent that from happening in the first place.  The first tip that stuck out to me was to never under-estimate how much time you need.  You always want to over-estimate to make sure you 100% give yourself enough time to test everything.  There is always the chance of you running into a problem that may take you longer then expected to deal with.  When I first started integration testing, my first Summer as an intern, I remember being very overwhelmed and feeling rushed because I under estimated how long it would take me.  Another tip that I liked, was to use a test management tool.  It is a lot easier to keep track of everything when you use something to help make life easier.  I thought the conclusion in this article was very interesting.  It states, “Finally, despite all the precautions and measures if you still find yourself crunched for time, ask help.  Most teams are willing to participate in a war room session to get things back on track.”  I can say that though personal experience this is very much true.  Although testing may not be the most fun thing in the world to many developers, most people are always willing to help when they know you are trying to get everything ready for the release!  Overall, this was a great article and I would recommend any new tester to take the time to read through it.

Links to some more blogs I’ve viewed this week:

1. What Test Engineers do at Google
2. From jUnit to Mutation-Testing
3. When to Stop Testing
4. How To Be A Productivity Junkie
5. Google Testing Blog: Hackable Projects

From the blog CS@Worcester – Alex's Comp Sci Blog by alexsblog13 and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

Hi my name is Alex Bindas.  I am currently a Senior majoring in Computer Science at Worcester State University.  I just made this blog for my Software Quality and Assurance Testing course, but may eventually use it in the future for professional or personal reasons.

From the blog CS@Worcester – Alex's Comp Sci Blog by alexsblog13 and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.