At TestBash Autumn we had our first ever Fireside Chat with @davadora - Dave Harrison. This Fireside Chat , hosted by the fantastic @gwendiagram was aimed at learning more about Dave and his 25+ years career in software testing.
During this session, @karenlewis asked the following question we didnāt get to ask Dave live:
What would you say are the main qualities and/or skills a tester should build on as they progress through their career?
What about you? What do you think?
Thanks to @karenlewis for this question. Iād offer the following to consider:
Curiosity: having a drive to continue to act on what could be random observations during testing activities, and continuing to ask āwhyā when you see something that you believe is worth investigating from your testing. Some of the coolest defects that I helped to discover over the course of my career were not found during a predictable path. It took some in-depth effort to get the system behavior properly defined under that rather unpredictable path.
Commitment to learning: I mentioned during the talk that if I had thought 30+ years ago that I had all the technical knowledge that I would need for a successful career, I would not have had a successful career. Iām not trying to be intimidating with the following statment, butā¦there is always something new to learn, itās just a matter of planning and prioritizing the time for self-development. Speaking of timeā¦
Time Management: I wish it were different, but the great majority of my career has been in places where there is always more work to do than actual people to do it. This requires a sound approach to how you are going to spend your day, or your week when it comes to work assignments. And, of course having a āPlan Bā when something goes wrong or is delivered late is a good idea as well.
Interpersonal skills: Something else that I spoke to during the talk. Iām not saying everyone needs to be an outspoken introvert in testing. Iāve worked with excellent people on technical projects that were very judicious in their words. What I am trying to say that I believe software and systems development remains a āteam sportā and that each team member has the challenge to seek out and establish optimal communications approaches with their peers.
I hope this provides some additional insights beyond what Gwen and I discussed during the talk. I welcome additional responses here, along with any other questions.
āDH
I hope this is ok, but being short on time and rather a lazy typist, Iāll just post a video of a presentation I did earlier this summer at EuroSTAR on this precise topic. Itās only 30 minutes long, but go to 8:30 to skip the fun intro and get to the meat of it.
As testers get more senior, aside from (what I think are) the obvious ones such as certain technical skills, communication skills etc. I would say itās good to focus on influence/learning how to sell your ideas, learning how to read people, learning how to see the other perspective (and how someoneās experiences can make another person ALSO right) etc. One thing I keep telling my team is that if youāre having a discussion with a stakeholder, thereās no point in being right if you and the stakeholder canāt get on the same page.
If you want to communicate and share what you have learned or persuade at a wider level, I would also say public speaking skills - itās great for oneās profile at work to be able to share your ideas in a clear and convincing way.
The longer I work in this job the more I think that testing really requires a certain mindset. Sure technical and social skills are necessary, but what differentiates a tester is the will to test (and not just to put a checkmark on a bug ticket): exploration, curiosity and a will to destroy 
(but in a productive way).
Thatās why I saw several tries to get by without dedicated testers fail (āOur developers will also test, itās easyā)