Sometimes I Feel Stupid as a Tester
Published by Eric Jacobson on Jul 8, 2009 at 12:57 PMAs a tester, while striving for the impossible goal of perfect software, I sometimes feel stupid. How valuable am I to the team? Do I really have any hard skills different than the next guy? Am I a testing failure?
I feel stupid when…
- production bugs have to be patched (the kind I should have caught).
- devs talk about code or architecture I don’t understand.
- non-testers log bugs.
- I have to execute brainless tests that the guy on the street could execute.
- I can’t remember if I tested a certain scenario and my executed test documentation is incomplete.
- the team celebrates individual dev accomplishments for feature sets and QA is not recognized.
- my bug is rejected by dev for a legitimate reason.
- I read a software testing blog post about some tester with 95% of her tests automated.
As a fellow tester, maybe you have felt stupid at times too. Feeling stupid is not fun and eventually will lead to disliking your job. I guess there are two solutions; 1.) find a new job or 2.) try not to feel stupid.
I talk my way out of feeling stupid as a tester the same way I do outside of work during conversations with doctors, physicists, CEOs or other potentially intimidating experts of some field. I remember that everyone is an expert at something…just something different. In the examination room, the doctor may be the expert at prescribing the treatment, but put the doctor and me at the bottom of a 300-foot-deep pit in a wet cave, and suddenly the doctor is asking me for help (I’m a caver).
When it comes to testing, we don’t know the same things the developers or BAs know but we shouldn’t feel stupid about it. It doesn’t mean we should stop learning, we just need to put things in perspective instead of feeling inadequate. Faking your knowledge is way worse than saying “I don’t know”.
Don’t second guess your skills as a tester.
In a future post, I'll tell you when I feel awseome as a tester.
RSS
You need the bad to have the good.
YAY! It's not just me. Thanks for making me feel part of a group instead of all alone in a fog of stupidity.
What if we adjusted some language here?
When I find out that "production bugs have to be patched (the kind I should have caught)", I might feel embarrassed. But I also feel human. I'm not perfect.
When I read "devs talk about code or architecture I don’t understand", I feel intrigued and excited, and maybe a little innocent. That's okay; they weren't born knowing this stuff either.
When "non-testers log bugs", I feel good that at least someone found the problem, and that we know about it now. I would like to have found it. Oh well; I hope I've learned something for next time.
When "I have to execute brainless tests that the guy on the street could execute", I feel disempowered. It doesn't take long for me to work my way out of that problem. Plus, I feel motivated to observe something more than what the brainless tests tell me to observe.
When "I can’t remember if I tested a certain scenario and my executed test documentation is incomplete", again, I feel human. I'm not perfect. Ideally, I feel humble.
When "the team celebrates individual dev accomplishments for feature sets and QA is not recognized", I feel resentful. Or I can choose to feel confident that they couldn't have done it without me. I don't need another coffee mugh.
When "my bug is rejected by dev for a legitimate reason", I feel like I've learned something.
When "I read a software testing blog post about some tester with 95% of her tests automated", I feel proud for them, motivated to learn more, but confident that my approach is the best one for me in my context. I also wonder what bugs found by other people are going to raise feelings in them.
I'm not saying that anyone is wrong to feel a certain way; people will feel as they do. But there are always alternatives when we try to think congruently with the state of the world and ourselves.
---Michael B.
Eric,
Nice post. I think you have encapsulated how many testers feel.
There are indeed skills that each member of the team possess that the other don't. A good team is one that recognises that.
I think it is natural for testers to feel stupid at times. O'm glad I'm not alone.
Michael,
That's some damn good therapy. Thank you, doctor. Should I call you in the morning?
Seriously, the next time I feel stupid, I will try to convert that feeling into said suggestions.