Being and Testing

In testing everything is about being logic, organized, critical and seeing everything that’s wrong. And that could be anything.

Just the other day my colleague who is a developer/QA/BA and a friend of mine comes to me and says:
- You know, I made this dress myself! And she looks at me very proudly.
- Wow, I didn’t know you could do that, I said.
- Yes. When I was in the university I used to sew pants, dresses…with this one I still have to properly do the hem, it’s not quite finished yet…
- Well, C., I can see that the sides are longer than the mid section; did you do that on purpose? I said.
She wanted to say something but she hesitated and she just looked at me smiling. Then I realized that I could have shut up, why did I have to make that remark?

But what can I do, I am a tester, I see everything and I can't shut up. Or at least, that’s the reason I like to give when I put my foot into my mouth.

I was reading an article the other day (sorry, I don’t have the link, but will look for it) where the author says that after being a tester for a while you develop this habit of looking for errors and the negative all the time. And this reflects in your relationship with people, you’re analysing too much, you’re criticyzing all the time, you find faults, or you try to find the “root cause” of the problem.

And I thought ‘Oh, my, that’s very true’, I do that all the time, just ask my husband:)))))

I wasn’t like that when I started my career in testing but now I have to admit that I have a very developed sense of observation and I can spot mistakes or inconsistencies right away.

What about your sense of observation? Can you spot any errors in my article? :))

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Photo credits: Dan Zen on flickr.com - thank you!