If You Could Turn Back Time: Coaching New Testers

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T12$
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6/25/2015! !
1:30!PM!
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“If$You$Could$Turn$Back$Time:$Coaching$New$
Testers”$$
Presented$by:$
Christin$Wiedemann$and$Richard$Lu$
Professional$Quality$Assurance,$Ltd.$
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Brought$to$you$by:$
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340!Corporate!Way,!Suite!300,!Orange!Park,!FL!32073!
888C268C8770!D!904C278C0524!D!sqeinfo@sqe.com!D!www.sqe.com!
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After finishing her PhD in physics, Christin Wiedemann started working as a software
developer. When asked to test on a project, she realized she had found her true vocation.
Later Christin joined the Swedish test company AddQ Consulting where she worked as a
tester, test lead, and trainer, giving courses on agile testing, test design, and exploratory
testing throughout Europe. Christin is a co-creator of the exploratory testing approach xBTM.
In her current role as co-CEO of Professional Quality Assurance (PQA), Christin’s primary
objective is achieving delivery excellence, which is closely coupled with her continuing efforts
to drive PQA’s research and method development.
!
Richard Lu joined Professional Quality Assurance (PQA) Ltd. in 2013. Since then, he has
been keenly exploring the world of software testing, continuously expanding his testing skills,
and gaining experience with various projects and project environments. His passion for testing
has driven him to consider ways to engage junior testers through mentoring and training to
make them valued team members.
Christin Wiedemann
Professional Quality Assurance, Ltd.
Richard Lu
Professional Quality Assurance, Ltd.

PQA Company Overview 6/8/15
©2012 Professional Quality Assurance Ltd. (PQA) -- http://
www.pqatesting.com
If You Could Turn Back Time:
Coaching New Testers
Christin Wiedemann & Richard Lu, PQA Testing
STARCANADA 2015
About Us
Christin Wiedemann
•  Co-CEO at PQA Testing
•  Ph.D. in particle physics
•  Developer
Richard Lu
•  Software Tester at PQA Testing
•  M.Eng in Electrical Engineering
•  Traffic Calming Engineer
•  Electrical Engineer Assistant
2©2015 Professional Quality Assurance Ltd. (PQA) -- http://www.pqatesting.com

www.pqatesting.com
Career Planning
Career Planning
There are a lot of “accidental
testers”.
•  What are the potential ramifications?
•  What are the upsides?
Where do your new hires fit in?
•  Tester by coincidence?
•  Tester by choice?

www.pqatesting.com
Attracting and Retaining Talent
How do you grow and retain the talent that you do
attract?
How do you attract talent to a profession that is
largely unknown to the general public, and often
pays less than, for example, a developer position?
Our Goal
Our Goal
Advocate testing as a fun and interesting
profession with great career opportunities
Share our experiences being new testers, and
working with new testers
Provide tips for how to coach people who are new
to testing and help them grow into smart testers

www.pqatesting.com
Outline
A career in testing
Challenges that new testers face
Growing smart testers
The TEST framework
Lessons learned
Summary
A Career in Testing
A career in testing
The TEST framework
Lessons learned
Summary

www.pqatesting.com
A Career in Testing
Testing is fun, creative
and challenging
Testing takes
skill, training and
experience
Testing provides
a multitude of
career
opportunities
A Career in Testing
Testing is often
undervalued
Lack of university
software testing
programs
Lower status
than other roles
in IT

www.pqatesting.com
A Career in Testing
Why do
people give
up their
testing
careers?
Don’t understand
the purpose of the
work they do or how
it fits into the
context of software
development
Not treated as part
of the team
Testing is not
valued internally
Don’t see a clear
career path with
options for
advancement
Offered better paid
job as e.g.
developer
A Career in Testing
Testing is a key component of building high-
quality software products
The industry needs smart testers doing smart
testing
But, even Computer Science graduates often lack
understanding of, and training in, testing
You must be prepared to teach new testers
the skills required
New testers need onboarding and coaching

www.pqatesting.com
A Career in Testing
Why, and how, did
you become a tester?
Did you
experience any
difficulties when
you first joined
a testing team?
Does your
company have
a formal
onboarding
process for new
testers?
Why do you
remain a
software tester?
Challenges That New Testers Face
A career in testing
The TEST framework
Lessons learned
Summary

www.pqatesting.com
Challenges That New Testers Face
Knowledge Transfer
Communication
Finding Resources and Applying
Knowledge
“Boring” Work
Team Dynamic and Work Culture
Knowledge Transfer
You might have a lot of senior people willing to
teach you, but can they transfer their knowledge
to you?
Everyone on the team doesn’t have the same
background and experience.
Senior people may just throw a lot of technical
jargon at you that you may not necessarily
understand.

www.pqatesting.com
Communication
Communicating with different
stakeholders
Different types and styles of
communication
Understanding the vocabulary
Finding Resources and Applying Knowledge
Lack of documentation
and formal procedure
What to report as a
bug
Applying theoretical
knowledge

www.pqatesting.com
“Boring” Work
Objective
and
importance
of testing
not clear
Checking
rather than
testing
Only allowed
to do
scripted
testing
Not being
intellectually
challenged
Team Dynamic and Work Culture
Working as part of a
team, as well as
independently
Adapting to a different
culture
Being proactive and
taking initiative
Dealing with issues
and conflict

www.pqatesting.com
Growing Smart Testers
A career in testing
The TEST framework
Lessons learned
Summary
Who is Responsible?
Team
New
tester
Challenge
Room to grow
Support
Role models
Know what you
don’t know
Ask – but
research first
Take initiative

www.pqatesting.com
Growing Smart Testers
Understanding the tester
role and how testers fit
in on the team
Defining what makes a good, or
smart, tester
Recruiting the right people,
for the right reasons
Providing proper
onboarding, training
and career options
Hiring, growing and retaining
great testers
The Role of a Software Tester
Software
tester
Why test
How to
test
When to
test
How
much to
test

www.pqatesting.com
Attributes of a Smart Tester
Training
Cognitive
Skills
Soft Skills
Smart
Testers
Recruiting Right
New tester should have the
right personality and mind set
They don’t need to
have a
background in
development or
Computer Science

www.pqatesting.com
The TEST Framework
A career in testing
The TEST framework
Lessons learned
Summary
The TEST Onboarding and Coaching Framework
T Training
E Empowerment
S Support
T Teamwork

www.pqatesting.com
Training
Training
Knowledge
transfer
Finding resources
and applying
knowledge
Mentoring,
courses,
conferences,
self study, user
groups…
Empowerment
Empowerment
“Boring work”
Value of
testing
Assisting rather
than shadowing
Accountability,
but room to
make mistakes

www.pqatesting.com
Support
Support
Finding
resources and
applying
knowledge
Team dynamic
and work culture
Regular check points
and frequent
feedback
Buddy or
mentoring
system
Teamwork
Teamwork
Communication
Team dynamic and
work culture
“Test infected”
teams
Testing part
of software
development

www.pqatesting.com
Lessons Learned
A career in testing
The TEST framework
Lessons learned
Summary
Dos and Don’ts
Don’t confuse onboarding and orientation
Don’t separate training and work – use guided
experimental learning
Don’t fix new testers’ mistakes – teach them to
not make them
Don’t hold it against them if they want to change
careers – testing might not be a fit

www.pqatesting.com
Dos and Don’ts
Treat every new tester as a unique individual
Allow new testers to fail – but make sure to be
there to help them learn from their mistakes
Give frequent feedback – aim for small
adjustments rather than drastic changes
Learn what the person’s strengths, weaknesses
and interests are
Put testing in context and always explain why
Summary
A career in testing
The TEST framework
Lessons learned
Summary

www.pqatesting.com
Needs of New Testers
Having tools
and resources
Seeing career
options and growth
Understanding
the role of a
tester
Growing a Smart Test Team
Identify the
challenges that
new testers face
Create the right
environment, and
help testers to
overcome these
challenges
Keep new testers
engaged and
grow a healthy
test team

www.pqatesting.com
Thank You
Christin Wiedemann
PQA Testing
Christin.Wiedemann@pqatesting.com
@c_wiedemann
www.pqatesting.com
Richard Lu
PQA Testing
Richard.Lu@pqatesting.com
www.pqatesting.com

If You Could Turn Back Time: Coaching New Testers

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