Bloggers Club March 2022 - __________is an underrated skill in testing

Hey! :wave:

For the next 3 months I’ll be setting the topics for bloggers-club.

This month I challenge you to write about:

___________ is an underrated skill in testing

How to get involved

  • Write a blog on the above topic any time in March , by the 31st :writing_hand:
  • It can be as long or as short as you want it to be
  • Share a link to the blog on this thread :eyes:
  • Receive lots of support, encouragement, and love from the community :heart:
  • It’s possible you’ll get a shout out from the Ministry of Testing Twitter account @simon_tomes :grinning:
  • I’ll also help promote from my Twitter account :nerd_face:
  • If you want to get reminders to submit your blog, RSVP below :calendar:

2022-03-15T23:00:00Z2022-03-31T21:28:00Z

12 Likes

Pretty neat topic, I think I need to find some time and try to put something together. :smiley:

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Thanks!

I’m looking forward to learning from our community and seeing what skills they see as underrated :nerd_face:

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Is it ok to vlog, rather than blog?

I’m enjoying recording more than writing these days.

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Thanks for resurrecting this group. @deament
Great way to get some ideas and enough urgency to write something. :smiley:

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Of course. You might inspire others to communicate their ideas in visual form too :nerd_face:

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Hope this month’s topic triggers something for you

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Well, I went from no idea, to recording and uploading in a very short amount of time!

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Was too scared to give it away so I write a ridiculously vague clue in the tweet.
Kept trying to find a way but started to overthink it :sweat_smile:

I do like the part at the end where you ask people to distinguish that X is bad,
Vs their experience with X is bad

3 Likes

That is a great topic!

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Testers often create metrics. This is an underrated skill and I have posted about it this week: Are metrics always helpful? an example of a success and a failure – TestAndAnalysis

7 Likes

I like how you acknowledge in your post, one’s ability to choose the metrics can be affected by their context.

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I set aside some time, to share a few thoughts on this. It’s really a great topic to write about, kudos for coming up with it!

Here it is:

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This is a great post, @mirza. Thanks for sharing it. :slightly_smiling_face:

It reminded me of @lee.hawkins 's post https://www.ministryoftesting.com/dojo/series/exploring-exploratory-testing/lessons/cultivate-your-credibility-with-oracles-and-heuristics. The power of going a little bit further (being proactive) with your Oracles to build credibility into your reasons for sharing your observations.

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You’re right, being a tester isn’t just about being reactive and providing information but about trying to think ahead - it took me a few years to learn that eh

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My answer is ‘Testing’ is an underrated skill in testing. In my blog post I discuss the challenges the role faces when so many testers aspire to develop automated tests instead of ‘testing’.

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It’s interesting to see how, in your team, everyone wants to get in on the TA action while hands-on testing tasks were being left alone.

I guess that’s what people think is most valued? (Or am I misunderstanding it?)

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I don’t think it was a case that the hands on testing tasks were not being valued, I think it was a case that they want to do something different.

After years of working in testing, some testers may want a change. To some, test automation seems like the obvious direction to take. The problem is, the opportunities aren’t always there and if they see the opportunity then they want to grab it. If they see a test automation task, they want to put their name on it before someone else does. If they pick another task because its higher priority, then they may lose that opportunity.

Managers should provide the opportunity to all testers who want to work in test automation. By providing testers with the confidence that they will be given these opportunities, they were more willing to take on the higher priority work.

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Great read!

I’m the first to admit I haven’t been actively involved in giving code reviews when I’m in teams - have only asked for them.

Been lacking the confidence to do so, so that’s something I should work on tackling when I’m back from mat leave.

1 Like