Qualities that Contribute to a Tester's Success

Bangalore: Software testing is getting increasingly more important as more and more systems need to communicate. But the question of who should run these tests arises every now and then. Norwegian course developer Confex came up with a list of what their attendees describes as characteristics of the best software testers.

Many people believe that a good software tester is a die-hard pessimist - or an optimist with experience. However, Confex doesn't agree with the myth, but they can understand how it came to existence.

Therese Sorensen, Head of Product Development at Confex mentioned that experienced testers saw the same mistakes being done over and over, so maybe that frustration was mistaken for pessimism. But they are yet to come across any pessimist in their research.

Confex researched all their courses to ensure they addressed their target groups' real needs. For their courses in software testing they've asked what qualities testers and test managers believe the best software testers should possess.

The 5 qualities of the best software testers as found out by Confex are:

Basic knowledge of software development: Understanding developers' way of thinking is not required to do testing, but to get quick results mending the problems is the key skill.

An aggressive approach: "Test to break" is a mantra for the best testers.

Understanding customer needs: Good testers understand customer/user needs.

An eye for details and quality: The ability to pick everything apart looking for flaws is what the job is all about.  

Communication skills: A software tester must be able to communicate with both technical people on the developer side as well as non-technical customers and managers.