In this blog post I am highlighting about testing institutes misguiding fresher’s by not teaching REAL Software Testing.
Today, I see these fresher’s who join organization as a Software Tester ask for questions like,
– Where is / are test case document(s)?
– Where is requirement document so that I can start testing?
– Can you please train me on the product?
– And many more which doesn’t make sense sometimes
NOTE: But there are exceptional cases as well where fresher’s have been guided properly and have been taught REAL Software Testing and they have skills which even an so called experienced tester do not have. I thank those mentors / coach / guide.
Why is this happening?
I feel that testing institutes in India are misguiding the fresher’s and when those fresher’s become Test Managers or get promoted they also look for misguided testers ( But they are not aware that they were misguided and they are misguiding fresher’s again ).
What does most of the testing institutes do?
– 100% placement < – This is a punch line which most of the institutes say. Fresher’s look for only this ( Guys, for getting some money would be like to be misguided by these kind of institutes which do not teach you REAL Software Testing ).
– Slides Monster < – First day of the course they start with GREAT SLIDES which make the participants yawn and just feel like those school and colleges )
– Certificate < – You have our certificate and you will get a job even if you do not have skills but this certification because we have a BRAND in the market. ( LOL, I feel bad for those fresher’s who just need those piece of certificate which doesn’t prove anything )
What happens at the end?
– Still looking for a job <- Again you ( Fresher’s ) do not have skills here and they keep failing in interview
– Confidence < – As there are no skills no confidence to clear the interview
– Mugging up < – Fresher’s start mugging up the definitions which might make them clear the interview but MIGHT affect their future learning
What CHANGE is needed in today’s situation?
– Proper education on Software Testing
– Educating those people who have MYTHS about Software Testing
– Mentors / Guide / Coach who have been in Software Testing field and are PASSIONATE about Software Testing
– Change in Indian Education System ( Doing well but can do much better )
– Hands-on Training – NO SLIDES
– And many others
Let’s HOPE for a change for a BETTER Testing Community in India.
SanthoshTuppad
My interests include traveling, driving my SUV, health & fitness and many others. I mentor budding entrepreneurs, testers, teams in any profession.
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10 Comments
Hi Santhosh “- Where is / are test case document(s)?
– Where is requirement document so that I can start testing?
”
i can’t understand, what wrong in these questions. These are the obvious questions. These are the reference documents to understand the application. without helping of these documents how can you start testing or understand the product..
Hi Santosh,
Well when I read the topic I did feel that you may have raised a valid question, however when I read the article I am not convinced that you have articulated well. I do not see anything wrong in the questions that you gave “as bad questions” – whats the harm in that.
@Puneet,
I do understand that these documents are necessary sometimes. But I would like to answer your question,
A product might have a web form?
– Do you need requirement document to test it? Suppose there is a Phone field and test case or requirement document says, “It has to accept digits” and you mark it as PASS in your test case document ( Even requirement document says phone field should accept digits or phone number ). But, your test case did not talk talk about validation of alphabets, special characters etc.
– To test a web form you need not want to read requirement document. You can find issues with respect to boundary value, character validation, maximum character validation, Cross Site scripting, cross browser testing, cross platform browser testing and many more test ideas.
Sometimes requirement document might mislead you and requirements document also need to be tested sometimes if they are ambiguous.
Puneet, I understand that sometimes there is a need for it. But, I strongly disagree with your point of saying how to test without test case or requirement document(s).
Let me know if you need more detailed explanation :)
Thanks,
Santhosh Shivanand Tuppad
@Shishir,
Okay, the bad was with context of – If they do not know to test without test case or requirement document. I would be okay if they say, “I know to test without requirement document, but I would like to go through requirement document to understand the functionality”. This would be okay but totally relying on test case or requirement document and saying that they do not know to test would be a bad idea is what my opinion is.
*No offense if they ask for them, I hope you understand the message here*.
Thanks,
Santhosh Shivanand Tuppad
Hi Santhosh,
I am agree with you that test a phone no. You not need a test case or requirement document. But my point is without understanding of the flow of application or without knowing the requirement of the project.. how will you start testing..
For this you need a requirement document(FRS or SRS). (i am not saying TestCase)
Puneet
@Puneet,
Example: Gmail – This could be tested without requirement document. Because, I am the customer here and also a tester who is testing it. There might be requirement documents with Google but I do not need them.
I can use heuristics and oracles to identify the issues. Example: Inconsistency with comparable product.
Suppose, after a user logs in and homepage is Outbox then it doesn’t make sense to the user when compared to comparable products like Rediff, AOL etc.
But, I agree to your point that in some cases requirement documents are needed where understanding of how it works is required. But I am just trying to say for those testers who ask requirement document even it could be tested without it which is context based.
I am not disagreeing to your point. I have also come across products which require understanding of the workflow as you said :)
NOTE: I am trying to say that if I ask a tester to test Gmail he / she shouldn’t be asking for requirement document and he / she should perform free-style exploratory testing :)
I thank you my friend for your comments which made me to clear the things which might have looked ambiguous in my post :)
Thanks,
Santhosh Shivanand Tuppad
Santhosh,
Good post. You have discussed the current problem.
The Test Cases and SRS have become eternal part of the testers, testing arsenal and without these documentation they think no testing can be done or at least good testing cannot be done.
The message from this post should open up some at least a few testers for understanding and practicing GOOD/REAL Testing.
“Testing is IMPORTANT but not any these documents.” It does not matter if we use them or do not use them for testing, it matters how good testing we have done. Dependency and biases about these documents will certainly have an impact on REAL testing.
Regards,
LN
Lakshminarasimha Mohan
@LN,
Absolutely right. Let us wait and see if there is some change that happens slowly in organizations and already some organizations are doing good ( Probably, test team instead of saying whole organization ).
Thanks,
Santhosh Shivanand Tuppad
Santhoshji i perfectly understood what u r trying to say & about the training institutes, they are not leading the freshers through the right road. But i couldnot agree to the examples u said.Also one more thing i have felt that the institue products can clear off the interview,because they r teaching some basics abt testing.(Just my view).Anyways good message..
@Nisha,
I understand which examples you couldn’t agree. Try to re-read it as my intention is different which is tend to be misunderstood :)
Thanks,
Santhosh Shivanand Tuppad
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