How to Recognize a Good Software Tester from the Lot

What Your Testers Need to Be

1. Be inquisitive. Good testers find it exciting to explore unknown domains. Finding bugs is their passion and therefore are not afraid of being in any unknown situations.

2. Be 'The Mr. Fix-it' Guy. Good testers like to solve issues and therefore never back out till they find out the root cause for the non-functioning of the application or software satisfactorily.

3. Be persistent. Good testers never take no for an answer. They keep on trying till they uncover all the bugs in the application or software. They make use of every possible means but will never accept defeat.

4. Be Judicious. Good testers exercise good judgment. Before the testing actually starts they decide upon issues like what to be tested, what kind of testing to be done and if a bug is discovered they double-check it so as to make sure that it is worth to be filed. They take utmost care not to waste valuable time and resources unnecessarily.

5. Practice tact and diplomacy. When a tester exposes a bug it is actually pointing a finger at the programmer who has written the code. A good tester knows how to handle the situation tactfully so that he doesn't rub the programmer/programmers in a wrong way. He manages crunch situations delicately so that the atmosphere remains calm and cool.

6. Be Persuasive. Sometimes the defects filed by the testers may not look serious enough to be fixed. Good testers know how to convince others with his cogent remarks and also demonstrate why the bugs need to be fixed.