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Becoming a better Tester... One day at at a time...

We can all become better testers, only some of us lack motivation, or some of us have the motivation but just tend to lose interest...

One way we can tackle this, is by attempting to become a better tester one day at a time.

It's much easier to tackle each day, and do something each day that makes you a better tester, than it is to say in 1 month I want to be a better tester.  Firstly, it's hard to define how you can become a better tester, but for me, one thing that would make me a better tester is to read more blogs and learn from experiences of others. With this in mind, I've made it a challenge to read at least 2 blogs a day from a testing blog feed.

This is far easier than if I had set a goal to read 60 blogs a month for instance, it's also more manageable. If I don't do it one day, it's not the end of the world, but it's important to not lose heart.

Also, I find it good to establish a daily habit, I like to read 2 blogs en route to work on a morning, by having a daily habit, it enforces positive behaviour.

You obviously won't enjoy every blog post that you read, but once you get a feel for what blogs you like, then you can subscribe to them and read them as part of this regular reading session.

I understand that not everyone has time to read blogs on their commute, but even during a lunch break, it doesn't matter, what's important is the routine and setting side time to do this, and to help you become a better tester.

Other things that might be interesting and to help you become a better tester could be:


  • Start up a blog and post once a week/2 weeks/month (it's up to you and how you feel about writing)
  • Become more involved in the QA Community and reply to discussions on the various outlets there are (linkedin, Software Testing Club etc.)
  • Start mini projects for yourself (e.g. I've recently started one using Watin to test a website)
There really are many more, and I wouldn't like to say you should do this, as I do believe this is something that is down to the individual, and it's no point me saying you should do this if you don't really believe it will make you a better tester. :)


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Comments

  1. Srinivas Kadiyala30 September 2013 at 03:59

    Nice post, Thanks for sharing.

    Srinivas Kadiyala
    @srinivasskc

    ReplyDelete
  2. Chris Kenst30 September 2013 at 21:03

    What type of project / attempt are you making with Watin?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Gareth Waterhouse1 October 2013 at 00:22

      Hey, early says at the moment. Just getting it to interact with a website and do some basic tests with it. Once I've got to grips with it then I'll look at pushing it further etc.

      The website I've started to use is easyJet altho I may change it to asos so I can have more interactive tests with databases etc in our test environment.

      Delete
  3. F14 Team3 October 2013 at 08:00

    This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  4. F14 Team3 October 2013 at 08:02

    Nice read!

    Thanks,
    www.f14testing.com

    ReplyDelete

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