In the spirit of shameless self promotion…check out the new article about moi at The Glass Hammer .

I got placed in the “extraordinary life” section, how cool is that!?

Please go check it out and remember…leave comments…good ones !
Thanks
Jenn

Cool opportunity for an awesome and friendly test engineer.

Position: Sr QA Engineer
Skills:

• SOAP/REST testing experience (This is a must.  If you don’t have this experience, this isn’t the job for you.)
• Performance Testing expertise
• Tools Programming and Development

Experience: 5-7 years QA experience.

Job Number: V-TS-FS-010
Location: On-site in San Jose, CA, USA  (Sorry, there is no relocation package for this position)
Status: Permanent employee, full time
Start Date: The sooner the better!

Tasty Tidbit: This client is working on some really useful, green technology.  You could test a game but you could make a difference here!

Nice Little Nugget: The boss you will have at this site is awesome and comes highly recommended by his former team (yes, also a client). Nice person, well organized, great attention to detail, Vettanna trained and like 99.9% of QA Managers, over worked!  Do a great job for this boss and word will get around. (No, it’s not me!)

Candidates Must Be:

• Inquisitive and persistent – likes to ask questions and research answers
• Able to come up to speed quickly and handle multiple tasks in a fast-paced environment
• Able to display excellent written and verbal communication skills
• A quick learner who takes direction well. We value people willing to learn a method and not try to do things their own way.
• Team Player – enjoys working in a friendly, productive manner, as a team with engineers and other team members

Next Steps:

1. Click on the RSS link or “request email” on the right so you can be updated about new blog posts, including job ops with Vettanna and our friends and clients. (This is optional, of course. Let me be clear that following this step has no bearing on getting the job – we’d just love to see you back here again!)
2. email your resume to fs010@vettanna.com
   Subject:  “V-TS-FS-010 from Vettanna Blog”
   Include 1:  Salary requirement
   Include 2: How did you find this job op?  (twitter, linkedIn group name, ewomen, craigslist, search engine)
   Clue:  Following directions counts

Good Luck, mighty testers!  The rest is up to you.

Jenn

This typically isn’t a problem with US born testers, but we’ve been asked by several clients to coach their testers in how to talk to engineers. Here’s the scoop:

Tips For Talking To Engineers

• Engineers are people too - just regular dudes (usually really smart, regular dudes, but dudes just the same)
• Engineers (usually) like to talk about what they’ve been working on
• Smart engineers want to help you find the bugs in their stuff.  If you find them, the end result is a good product, a proud engineer and happy management.  Happy management = happy team!
• DON’T expect good help when an engineer is focused on something else. Set a time for the chat and give them a moment to transition their brain from problem solving to being sociable.
• DON’T expect good help when an engineer is stressed out, highly caffeinated and working feverishly on a deadline. Timing is everything!

Verbal Template For Talking To Engineers

So, for the verbally challenged, we bon vivant testers, kindly offer you this guide to getting started:

1. The Prelude:  Begin with a casual conversation opener to break the ice.  Starting with questions tends to feel like you are demanding and puts the engineer on the defensive. Not the best place for our buds!  Try:
   • “Hi, how was your weekend?” They answer and then you say “I’ve got a few questions about ___, do you have 5 minutes?” (yes, set an exact time you expect to require their full, undivided attention. It helps them prioritize or
   • “Got anything cool planned for this weekend?” (again asking the secondary question listed above) or
   • “Hi, I have a few questions about the ___ feature (or Spec), do you have a few minutes?” or “….can I buy you a cup of coffee?” (Yes, you buy it!)

   
   

2. The Guts:  Now, this is the part of the conversation where you actually ask your questions.  Hint: Be sure to look at the engineer first to make sure that you have their attention.  What questions should you ask?
   • See the Top 6 Questions To Ask Engineers or try
   • “Could you tell me more about ____?”
   • “I’m assuming this___, is that correct?”

   
   
   Of course, there’s tons more stuff you could say, ask or talk about.  This should get you started. Once you have a couple of successful interactions under your belt, you may get wild and try going “off book” (without a script or template, talking extemporaneously)!
   
   

3. The Closing: You are now ready to wrap up the conversation.  Here’s a few ideas that will help draw the conversation to a close.
   • “Is there anything else I should know?”
   • “Wow, this was great information!”
   • “Is there anything you need from me?” (cuz it’s good to be a “giver” not just a “taker”)

   
   

4. The End: You only have one thing to say and you must say it everytime an engineer helps you:  “Thank you”.

Hope this helps get you started.

Got tips for timid testers?

We’d love to hear it!

Test on mighty tester, test on!
Jenn

When testers and engineers work as a team, your bug hunting can be more focused and effective.  Here’s six questions that can help you get some very meaty response from engineers and set you on your way to finding some lovely, beastly bugs.

• “Anything in particular that you’d like me to focus on?”

• “Where do you think this feature is likely to fail?”

• “What’s the worst thing that could go wrong?”

• “What part of this feature are you nervous about?”

• “Did anything from the Spec change once you started implementing?”

• “If I only had 5 minutes to test, what should I focus on?”

Love that “5 minute” question and pray that you actually get more than 5 minutes in real life!!

How about you?

Got any great questions for engineers that have resulted in cool bugs?

Test on, mighty testers, test on!

Jenn

Image Courtesy of Skype
If you’ve never worked at a startup before, you’ve got to checkout the pics on this site! Scroll down to see the engineer, without a desk, huddled in the corner!

And by excellent I mean, productive, professional and effective.

An excellent tester:

• Concentrates on finding the Priority 1 and 2 bugs (Vettanna trained testers typically find 5 times more than the average tester).

• Communicates clearly and doesn’t play “bug badminton”.
  
  “What is bug badminton?”
  
  You know it, it happens everyday in your company and the cost is frightening.
  
  A tester finds a bug — the engineer can’t reproduce it so they send it back — sometimes over and over again. (You can do the math of x minutes of an engineers hourly rate plus y minutes of a testers hourly rate…but it’s more than that! It’s also the cost of what the tester is not off finding and what the engineer is not off fixing while they spend the time to bat this bug back and forth).

• Colors outside the lines. Some testers just run test cases (and technically, that’s good) but excellent testers engage their brain. They question the software and the test case and they think like “joe user” thinks – not just how the Requirements Document and Specification Writers think.

• Knows the process so they can come up to speed quickly and concentrate on finding cool, evil bugs.

• Finally, excellent testers make their manager’s job easier.
  
  What? How do they do that?
  
  They know how and what to communicate (clearly, concisely and completely) about what they are planning to test and what they have and have not tested.
  
  They also think of their job (and QA) as a business system – what are the inputs we need to do an excellent job and what our the outputs out “clients” (other team members) need to do an excellent job. This minimizes the manager’s job of handling skirmishes from other team members and management!
  
  Ahhh, that’s a relief for any manager!

Your thoughts?

What else sets an excellent tester apart from the pack?

Test on, mighty testers, test on!

Jenn

Image courtesy of wireframedesign.co.uk

I just learned that our “server dude”, Rob Stewart-Douglas, passed away recently. Rob has taken care of Vettanna’s servers for at least 10 years.  He’s always there to answer a question or do what it takes to support us or our clients (no matter where in the world he was!).  So, when he didn’t return my calls or emails, I thought it very odd. So, I googled him, hoping to find a blog entry saying he was having a grand time in some exotic locale.  But instead, I found his obituary.

This wasn’t the answer I was expecting. I wanted to hear that he was on some new adventure in yet another foreign land. I wanted to hear he’d been hanging out with his son, having a grand time.  No one expects a vital, 38 year old man to, well…leave.

You’ll forgive us if our site has hiccups in the coming weeks as we transition the tasks that Rob handled so seemlessly and invisibly. The Try Testing section of our site will be down while we work things out.

Rob, you are well missed.

j.