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10 keys to a happy tester

Apologies for the lack of updates recently, I've been very busy (kids, work promotion), but I've also got a few blog posts lined up for the next month or so, which i think you'll enjoy, here's one of them for you!

I was thinking the other day over what makes a tester happy, and I thought I'd write down my findings, and share them with you, this isn't necessarily what makes me happy, but more around what I think can make any tester a happy tester :)

1 - Grow with your testing - Always look to progress as far as you can, never stop challenging yourself.
2 - Relationships - Relate with your other team members, become personable with them and talk to them about day to day stuff and not just work.
4 - Extra Mile - Go that extra mile to make things work, people will respect you for it, and people will do the same for you if you ever need it.
5 - A difference - Making a difference makes you feel valued and makes you feel part of a team that is delivering good to the world. Delivering value to the business helps make a difference, and makes you feel important.
6 - Team - Work together and don't work against people, working together as a team will reduce the stress on you and help you enjoy your work more.
7 - Try new skills - Learning new skills is hard and challenging, but rewarding. I read the other day:
“If you are willing to do only what’s easy, life will be hard. But if you are willing to do what’s hard, life will be easy.”  
and I think the above can be applied to testing and learning new skills, if you learn a new skill, sure it might be difficult and challenging, but it will no doubt make your testing a lot easier.
8 - Enjoy testing. 
9 - Aspiration - Aspire to be the best you can be, no matter what level you are at, aspire to be the best *insert job title here* ever!
10 - Enjoy testing. - It's that important that I've put it in twice!

I guess you can apply the above to most roles, but I've tailored it specifically for Testing, but I'm sure others could easily apply it to development etc!

Do you agree? Anything else you'd like to add?

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Comments

  1. Srinivas Kadiyala26 November 2013 at 06:07

    Great...Thanks for sharing...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Mauri Edo26 November 2013 at 12:22

    Nice but... where's number 3? :-)

    I agree with 9 but I am progressively learning to not be too hard on myself and allow myself to fail in order to progress, I guess that could be a good number 3 maybe.

    Cheers!

    @Mauri_Edo

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Gareth Waterhouse27 November 2013 at 00:19

      And that my friend is why you're a tester right!? Good spot!

      Delete
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