9 Signs You Are a Bad Tester

Each and every one of us tries to have only positive character traits. But sometimes it can happen that the person doesn’t pay one’s attention to the bad things that can follow his/her life.

Further, we will analyze the most common negative character traits that every bad QA engineer has. But don’t try to acquire the statements, described below. It would be better to find something positive and use it every time you come to work.

Bad QA engineer

How to See That a Tester Is a Good Specialist/Person?

First of all, you have to understand that a good tester is a person with fundamental professional knowledge, he/she is a fast learner, constantly improves technical skills, and explores the QA field looking for something new.

A person with such traits will always be successful on a project and in some corporate group (for example, favorable opinion toward such specialist will spread out of his/her quality assurance company).

And Otherwise

Now let’s take a look at another situation when the QA department consists of several testers. If we describe them in a few words or word combinations, then it would be something like this:

• Lack of a positive attitude to the work;
• Stagnant technical skills;
• Bad communication level with co-workers.

Character Traits of a Bad QA Specialist

1. Bad Communication With Co-Workers

Since in most companies the testing process starts from the discussion of development specifications and client’s requirements, the tester is supposed to establish a relationship with a client. QA should have basic communication skills. Thus, it will ensure certain and technically comprehensive communication with a client.

However, the tester should communicate effectively with developers, managers, and designers at every stage of software testing. Moreover, this communication has to be in verbal and written forms.

There are some situations that can lead to bad communication:

1. Gaps in technical documentation;
2. Fear of decision making;
3. Low level of morality;
4. Sense of vulnerability;
5. Lack of necessary level of technical experience.

2. Gaps in Technical Knowledge

Good communication and technical details of software testing make a great impression on other members of the web product development and testing.

If a tester doesn’t know even basics of technical knowledge, the software quality estimation will be put into question by the top management and ultimate customer (which is very bad for any company).

Sometimes, when developers discuss the project, they use specific technical terms and concepts. And if the tester doesn’t have proper knowledge, it will be difficult for him/her to understand the nature of discussion and express one’s opinion about development and testing methods.

Also, the following factors can cause gaps in technical knowledge:

1. Lack of practice;
2. Reluctance to develop technical skills;
3. Lack of skills development programs.

3. Bug Report Creation Without Analytics

If a tester finds some defect in software performance, he/she has to report a problem right away. It is important not only to find a bug but to describe it in detail for its further reproduction.

In other words, one should reproduce defects a few times before reporting it to the developer. QA specialist doesn’t have to write all the software problems in a bug report if it isn’t a defect by its nature.

Before one writes about a bug, he/she should analyze the nature of the mismatch between the actual result and expected program behavior. Here we have, the following tips that may be useful:

• Check the correctness of the test steps in use;
• Test the stability of the environment where the bug was found;
• Make sure that correct test data is in use.

4. Non-Observance of the Quality Control Stages

Every company has its own personalized standards and processes of software testing. They help to reach the highest quality of web product testing before the final release.

Testers who do not follow rules and in-house instructions can significantly influence the product quality. On the other hand, this causes a client’s resentment.

Here are some examples of such a non-observance:

• Skipping the sample for test items;
• Skipping the document review;
• Usage of the old document versions (because of skipping the documents review).

5. Testing based on assumptions

QA engineers use a lot of methods when they perform software testing. Such principles are based on particular technical and non-technical assumptions. And if these principles are based on the wrong idea of correct software performance, QA specialists can miss some bugs.

Do not perform web product testing in reliance on your assumptions only. You should get a clear picture of testing requirements from developers and business analytics.

If a tester isn’t sure of something, then he/she should ask again and make it clear. Otherwise, there is a chance that a missed bug causes time and/or financial expenditures.

6. Lack of “Test to Break” Attitude

Testing is primarily a process of bug searching in some system. Defects in software performance can be obvious and hidden. Testers should think well and find the most effective method of bug identifying.

From the very beginning, a tester should understand that any software has bugs and he/she must search for them thoroughly. If QA executes testing according to specifications and performs only positive test cases, then software with many hidden vulnerabilities can be released.

The following factors can influence the “Test to Break” attitude:

• Lack of proper attention during the testing;
• Checking for correct or acceptable software behavior only;
• Skipping the exploratory testing methods.

7. Stagnant Technical Skills

IT sphere changes every day, and a lot of innovations in the testing field become a common practice. QA specialist is fully responsible for monitoring the software testing changes.

It is a good practice if company management pays tester’s attention to the need to study new practices and testing tools every month.

Bad QA just carries out his/her duties and does not want to learn features of the new tools, testing methodologies, programming languages, etc. Such specialists never want to improve their current technical experience.

This stagnation of testing skills can be caused by some factors:

• Unwillingness to leave working comfort zone;
• Poor activity in testing innovations and trends;
• Feeling of the monotonous work;
• One isn’t sure that current work suits him/her.

8. Tester Doesn’t Understand Client Requirements and Wishes

Undoubtedly, that’s QA specialist who has to test correct software performance according to client requirements.

A bad tester will act according to technical specifications only, and he/she won’t use some software function in another way.

The incompetent tester will not completely understand client wishes and will be hesitating during communication with future users of tested web product (lack of technical knowledge or absence of confidence).

Every QA specialist should clearly understand and think about the end user’s opinion.

9. Technical Failure

Sometimes testers just like other team members can get lazy during software testing. If such a situation happens really often, it can violate the QA specialist’s reputation.

When QA test the product or create a bug report, they must thoroughly check written information, match the data in a report with a real result.

The most common neglects during software testing:

• Skipping a step in a test case;
• No screenshots (where they should be);
• Defect nature is described without the necessary details.

How to Avoid Being a Bad QA?

As you can see from the all described above, there are many traits that can harm a tester. Moreover, most of them can apply to any other similar career.

In order to avoid these character traits, you have to be single-minded, focused on a job, always learn new materials, and improve your professional skills.

Features of a good tester

Conclusion

You should go beyond your own capabilities, learn new technologies and tools, improve your professional skills. There are various testing tools on the market that you can learn by yourself or with somebody’s help (online courses, special meetings, and others).

If you want to make a successful career in the testing sphere, you have to avoid or get rid of the character traits, which we described in this article.