Why don’t Software QA Contractors want to improve their skills….?
The most common question I hear…from Engineering VP’s, QA Managers & Mktg Folks…why is it so hard for Test Engineers to be well-rounded?
Why is it so difficult to locate QA Professionals who ‘get it’ ?
Wouldn’t it be great, if they started their first day on the Contract – understanding how important it is to have people skills? To be able to interact with everyone important to their project – like marketing, sales, tech support, business analysts, developers, technical writers, configuration engineers, project managers and sales people?
How wonderful it would be, if they knew how to dig deep into the Swiss cheese or non-existent requirements – work with all those people who are readily available – and put in the effort to reverse engineer the documents until they’re mostly testable requirements….without someone having to hold their hands!
QA Engineers who – on day one – can be handed whatever documentation is available, and create a Test Strategy, (which would eventually yield a Test Plan/Cases), and be able to ask the Important Questions about the pending (or existing, late) project they’re assigned to….so they can add value immediately.
Why don’t today’s QA / Test Engineers….in large part…know what it takes to ‘hit the ground running’ on day one – especially the Contractors – so they can stay employed for longer duration(s)…and have the option of being hired full time?
How do we find the folks who really ‘get it’ – who understand how to deal with difficult team members without creating bigger problems – and help their developers by providing endless troubleshooting information for the defects they uncover….all documented in easily reproduced bug reports?
Where are those Pros who understand the importance of Risk Based Testing; those Test Engineers who realize there’s Never Enough Time to Test Everything – so they focus on the High Risk Areas of the Code first….identifying the critical issues early on…allowing Dev to produce fix builds more quickly ??
To all those questions and more – there is only one answer: QA Training
When you find QA Professionals – they’re the ones who take their roles seriously and attend whatever Training is available – because they know it’ll add value and clarity to the books they’ve been studying over the years.
The Professionals understand: spend a day with an Industry Giant – someone who has spent decades doing what they’re trying to Improve Upon – and those Lessons will be applied Directly to their Job!
Training, Ladies and Gentlemen, is what separates the QA Engineering Professionals from those who are simply making a living – it’s the Pros who you’ll see making a difference – 🙂
