How do you become a professional tester?

The role of "tester" is now one of the most popular jobs in the software industry. While programming is taught in higher education institutions, testing unfortunately is seldom found in the curriculum. But if you choose to go down this professional path, testing can be learned with some effort.

Today we talk with a Luxoft expert in the field of software testing Olga Dulkeyt.

Olga has experience and practice in testing, defect-tracking in the development of test design and test data, reviewing requirements and test documents, preparing estimates for test design, planning activities for test design, test support as well as monitoring and training of new employees. Apart from preparing and facilitating trainings, she has also developed the "Introduction to SQL for testers." course.

How did you start your career in testing?

I was always good at breaking things. When I was studying in University, I wrote a couple of programs (applications) which I had to present to the teacher. When the teacher launched them, everything worked fine. When I tried to launch it, everything broke. I was disappointed, but later I knew, that there was a job, where if you broke something that was a good thing.

Where did you learn about testing?

Most of it from the book “ Testing Computer Software” by C. Kaner, J. Faulk and HQ Nguyen. I also spent a lot of time reading various articles about testing. Plus I had a very good supervisor where I work.

How can someone become a qualified tester?

You can learn how to do anything. The question is, what resources do you have at your disposal and how long it will take you to learn a particular skill. You must also think about what learning how to test means? Testing is different. First of all you should get up to speed with the theory of testing. But practice and exercise are very important because this how you see how particular aspects of that theory apply and you start to increase your experience.

What body of knowledge should a tester have?

The ability to work with a computer. Knowledge of SQL. But in general you should have logical abilities and attention to detail. The rest will come naturally.

What should a qualified tester know?

If we are talking only about knowledge, not skills, then a qualified tester should have a clear understanding of testing concepts (types, methods), defects, as well as life cycle defects. He should know the different models and stages of software development. Command structures and the way various roles interact with each other. What requirements are, how they can be formulated and how they should be used by the tester.

What are the requirements for testers in your industry?

The same as what we talked about previously. Knowledge and the ability to apply it in practice, teamwork and the ability to work with defect-tracking systems.

Share interesting developments with people just starting their career in testing and give some examples from your personal experience.

From my personal experience you should start to tackle real tasks right away. Don’t just read the theory because if you don’t apply it you will forget it in a week. It’s more effective to use the following technique: learn about bugs, test them and experiment with solving them. It is useful for new testers to get the opportunity to discover bugs in an older system that has already been tested.

Olga Dulkeyt
Software testing consultant