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How to become an efficient Tester?

Written by Aparna Mohod | Aug 21, 2014 11:44:52 AM

A good tester is not the one who finds more bugs in testing. There are a few aspects to be considered if you really want to become an efficient tester. And here are some of the aspects discussed, that may help you in some way or the other.

Set your Testing priorities-

It is always best to test what is most important. Test the most critical parts of the application first rather than going into the minor details at the beginning. This will really ease your burden and pressure, as the most valuable bugs will be identified at the initial stages and the development team can start working on the most imperative parts of the application. It is in no way a means to ignore minor bugs, but to be more specific, it eases the understanding of PRIORITY and SEVERITY of a bug.

Your written communication skills-

A QA engineer needs the right balance of technical and communication skills, however having communication skills is more important in most cases. If you have this skill then you will be doing your team and your company a great deal of favor.

Working on your written communication skills is pivotal. Good written communication skills make things easy for both, the testers and the developers. Testers can define the bugs in such a way that developers understand it in less time.

Make your Bug report speak, attach the screen shot of every possible bug reported and provide a detailed description. How many times has it occurred, which browser, which device, when? Try to address when, where, which, why and how.

Break the code(OUT OF BOX TESTING)-

Mostly good testers follow a proactive approach, always try different scenarios and test the software from different angles. Your aim should be to find the loopholes and break the software.

Bugs- Quality vs. Quantity-

Always test for quality, not for quantity. Finding 1000 bugs doesn’t make you a better tester. I know, higher the number of bugs identified by the tester, higher the motivation level, but this is not applicable anymore. Locating the most critical bugs is more important. Assisting the developers by tracing ‘quality bugs’ makes more sense, rather than filling defect reports with hundreds of bugs and sending it to the developers to fix. It creates many hassles for both, the developer and the tester. So for testers, QUALITY is most vital than quantity.

Act like an END USER-

Quality is often defined by the end user experience. Your job is not only to remove all the possible bugs and faults, but also to ensure that the application stands at par with the user expectations and requirements. Your technical skills must be paired with the end user mind set to identify and locate the most critical bugs.

Always learn from your old mistakes, rectify them and never make them again. However, if you want to make mistakes, make the ‘new ones’. It really brings up learning. This will really help you become a better tester.

Keep yourself updated in the world of testing-

To be the best in every field, you need to keep yourself strong, motivated and updated. Keep yourself updated about the latest stuff happening in the testing world. Read about new techniques and technologies, remain alert and always try to add knowledge to your QA database. This is how you can enhance your skills and abilities. This is how you can become a better tester.

 
HAPPY TESTING!!!!!