How *not* to spend a Friday afternoon

[gwywnnydd]

Researching automated test tools for UI testing in a language I'm not real familiar with.
Essentially, I'm reading documentation by and for developers about these tools, trying to comprehend if this tool does what I need it to do.

Am I *really* the only person out there who is perfectly happy in Test, than you very much, have *NO* interest in moving into Dev?

Grar :(.

Comments

[katybeth]

Am I *really* the only person out there who is perfectly happy in Test, than you very much, have *NO* interest in moving into Dev?

No, you are not alone.

[gwywnnydd.livejournal.com]

That's good to know, I don't like feeling alone :).

I hadn't realized you were in Test :).

[katybeth]

Yup. Technically Software Design Engineer in Test, but at the end of the day I'm still a tester. And happy with it.

[gwywnnydd.livejournal.com]

Ah. SDE/T, working at the "evil empire"?

[katybeth]

Yes.

[gwywnnydd.livejournal.com]

Blue?

[katybeth]

20 questions? :)
yes.

[gwywnnydd.livejournal.com]

Cool :).
Sorry, I'm just nosy :).

[apostle.livejournal.com]

Hate Dev! Make Dev Cry! Laugh At Puny Dev!

Someone made me a "Developer In Test" once. I had to educate them about the idea of Quality Assurance and how it affected the corporate market share directly. They have a QA department now.

Someday, maybe The Borg will learn these ways and stop depending on the Media Blitz to sell their shitty software to the uneducated masses. And monkeys might fly out my butt in Jamaica next week.

[gwywnnydd.livejournal.com]

The problem with the QA department at the Borg (based on my experience, which is now ~5 years old), is that the testers have almost *no* power of pushback. They are there to *report* the bugs, not to ensure they get fixed.
Which might explain why I'm not there, anymore :).

[katybeth]

It depends greatly on the group, and the managers/leads of said group. My experiences have been otherwise.

[gwywnnydd.livejournal.com]

Excellent point. I'll start adding "in my experience" before that statement in future :).

[lawst.livejournal.com]

Jason loves test, but he's starting to realise that to go anywhere with it he's got to learn code if for no other reason than to have it on his resume.

[gwywnnydd.livejournal.com]

Yeah, at least if he wants to go *up*. he could probably move laterally until he decides he's had enough of testing and, in fact, would prefer to move to South Dakota and live off the grid ;).
Been there myself a couple of times . . .

[lawst.livejournal.com]

If he ever wants to move to South Dakota and live off the grid you can expect to be attending his funeral shortly after the announcement.

[gwywnnydd.livejournal.com]

Y'know, a similar expected result is what kept me from vocalizing my thoughts on the subject . . .

But my original point was, if hew wants to move up, then yes, he needs to make code go. If he's happy with moving laterally, he could probably pull that off.

Not alone

[mothball-07.livejournal.com]

I have a lovely friend in QA here who enjoys it immensely. We tease each other mercilessly, but agree that neither could stomach the other's job for two days.

He says he would be so *sad* if he couldn't make devs cry.

One last thought.. QA has full power here. As we near release, there are daily bug lists, bug closing contests, and devs work overtime until *all* bugs are determined by QA to be closed, or QA decides (unilaterally) that they can be postponed.

We do not go live with any P1 or P2 bugs extant, and only QA has authority to touch those bugs' status. I don't think our QA teams feel like "second class" citizens, and this is probably part of the reason - they are valued and have authority.

Re: Not alone

[gwywnnydd.livejournal.com]

I am currently working at a company where QA has a LOT of power, and I (representing the total of teh QA department) have made it clear that I am willing to accept "We have to ship, even with these open bugs" decisions, but that I will NOT accept any complaints about the test department if those decisions are made. So far, it works :).

I'm just whining because I have to learn code to utilise the tools that make my job easier. I know in the long run it'll be worth it, both from teh resume boost and from saved K-hours, I just don't waaaaannnnnaaaaaa ;).