Hiring Great Testers Slides

8/3/2019 Hiring Great Testers Slides

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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

www.rbcs-us.com

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?

Hiring Great Testers Copyright (c)1998-2010 RBCS Page 3

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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


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,


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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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


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


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


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


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.


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

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