This article will explain the 8 Practical Techniques to Keep the Mind in Tune for Testing.
During a recent Software Testing interview, I asked the candidate about what he does to keep the mind in tune so that he can continuously think about new testing ideas. He was confused and answered, “I do testing”. I smiled.
While working on the same project/application/product/domain for many years, we become an expert in a particular domain or product, but if we are not careful, we lose the most important thing – The eye to test.
Yes, you read it right. When you are working on the same product every day for 2 years and when you are bored and not seeing any more bugs, my friend, it is time to rejuvenate; time to brush up the mind, and time to be a learner again.
Software Testing is not a job, it’s a responsibility. Either you are doing Manual Testing or you are writing complex Automation scripts. You are the authorized person for the quality of that particular web page/module / overall product.
To keep up with the responsibility in the highly competitive IT environment, it’s necessary that:
- You find something bad before someone else finds out.
- You see something critical before someone else thinks about it.
- You report something extraordinary before someone else has a chance to do it.
- You co-relate past experiences, learn, and use work experience to generate a fabulous output.
Most of the time, as a tester, we are busy while executing documented test cases, generating automation scripts or reporting bugs. While doing this, we are losing that skill of looking at everything with a different view.
Table of Contents:
Why Is Software Testing Challenging?
Software Testing is challenging because you have to keep yourself updated with the latest knowledge as well continuously provide more qualitative inputs to make a product better (in short, find more bugs). How can we keep up with this kind of stress? It’s not just one-time learning. It’s a process, and believe me, by following some simple practices daily, you can do it easily.
8 Practical Tips to Keep Your Mind in Tune for Testing
#1) Think “Testing” with everything around you.
When you are traveling, cooking, playing with kids, taking a walk in the garden, or when you are reading a book, observe everything around you, and force your mind to prepare test ideas to test these things. Think of at least 5 test ideas for everything around you, every time you get a chance to think about it.
Think….. how can you test a train? How can you test a spoon? How can you test a book? How can you test a jar? How can you test a cable? How can you test a remote?….. the list is endless. After following this practice for 15 days, notice a difference in yourself. You will be full of ideas. You will be able to understand things properly and will be able to correlate the items.
#2) Learn something new every day
No matter whether it’s a small testing technique or an automation tool, you must have at least one item to check off as “Learned” every day. Small amounts of knowledge, when accumulated, creates an ocean of the same. This practice, if followed, will surely show wonders in your career. Try it!!!
#3) Keep diversified interests
Nowadays, it’s expected that a quality person is aware of the development lifecycle, documentation, testing processes, programming, analysis, automation, and knowledge across different domains.
It’s not easy to learn something else while you are already busy testing something specific. But at the same time, you cannot take a risk of pulling your career chords downwards. Open your eyes and see what is happening around you. You cannot learn everything, but you can definitely have some ideas about important products/domains different than the one you have been working on.
- If you have been working on a Windows operating system, see how Linux works, read about it, and explore it.
- If you have been a manual tester for most of your career, see what kind of automation tools are available and explore it.
- If you have been doing web application testing thus far, look into how mobile application testing is different.
- If you have been working in a banking domain, understand how the healthcare domain works.
Keeping diversified interests will give you an opportunity to look at the bigger picture and understand the similarities and differences easily.
#4) Play games
There are numerous strategy games, pattern finding games, and missing letter games available for free. Use the opportunity, and learn from them. Games make your mind sharp and alert. The sharp mind is able to find something hidden easily.
#5) Read
Read whatever you can. It’s not necessary to read-only software testing books to become a good tester. If you are able to co-relate things correctly, books on any subject will be a treasure to you.
#6) Take breaks
Humans have a tendency of getting used to things. If you look at a broken piece of furniture for a long time, your mind, at one point, will start thinking about how perfect that piece was rather than the broken part. Don’t focus your eyes on the same thing constantly. Take breaks, observe your surroundings, discuss knowledge, and then resume your work. Does it make a difference? A lot.
#7) Keep a note
Every day, jot down at least five points about what you learned, what you did to make things happen, what you found, or what ideas you implemented on a notepad. It will be a treasure when you take the time to revisit it.
#8) Learn management
You can achieve success only if you can manage things better. Learn and observe from your managers – how they manage resources, clients, projects, timeline, and other hurdles.
To manage something, you need not be a manager. Start with your work and time. Try to help others and accept help when required. The management skill will grow with constant practice and will surely make the best out of you.
Conclusion
I am stopping here as I think I have covered the points for daily practice. I am not interested in mentioning points on sharing/upgrading knowledge or discussing different topics because I think every one of us is doing it as a part of our work.
Finally, try to be an exploratory tester and you will be able to fit in all the other categories.
About the Author: Bhumika Mehta is a project lead, carrying 7 years of software testing experience. She is totally into testing and loves to test everything that exists. She appreciates good ideas, innovations, and risk. Of course, she hates monotonic work, people and the environment.
Happy Testing, and as usual, suggestions and views are welcome.
Very good blog. Keep posting. Cheers !!
Good Read !!! Thanks for posting. !!! Keep Posting like this !!!
Sanjay Bansal
QA
That was an interesting read…
I’m a game tester.. Do you’ve any tips for me?
I have been into testing since last two years, working on same domain, doing same testing and was finally getting bored of testing..
But your post actually changed my views for it…
Very inspiring post..
Will practice these 🙂 Thanks
Interesting read it was. Very helpful suggestions.
I must say, this post is really worth reading it. Every idea that you considered is quite simple but is really effective if implemented.
Thanks Bhumika, for sharing such an inspiring article.
Very Interesting Article….Thanks
very good suggestions..thank you so much
Great idea i was going to implement it in my career…
thank u
Bhumika
Hi this is very attractive and impressive article.. heart full thanks for u to publish this articles..
@Ipsita, @Yan, @mohana, @Sarvesh, @Pradnya, @VJ
Thanks for kind words.
good articles THANKS for sharing . i was impressed with ur article from now i will fallow ur article REGULARLY
Great write up I must say, Bhumika…
To survive in this market of emerging trends and technologies you should keep learning something new…
@Poovarasan, I couldn’t agree more with you mate. Even I have started deep diving into automation concepts and it’s great fun when you start learning something new to step up your skills.
hi,
i have been working in testing field since last 5 years, But Only one Question..?
WHAT IS THE FUTURE OF TESTING ….?
@Poovarasan
Thanks and glad that it was helpful :-).
It was very useful & got an idea to improve further….
Interesting blog…Thanks Bhumika….I was actually in the search of such kind of blogs…..really inspiring…..Thanks a lot
Thanks Bhumika,this is really good article .
Thank u for the article.
Very inspiring post..
Thanks for the wonderful blog, by reading this article i am getting more confident on learning new things and how to become a effective tester. it is a great thing to share the knowledge and guidance thanks once again for sharing your thoughts hopefully you may continue the same path to inspire more people.
Excellent blog..waiting for more .. keep posting..its like a eye opener..
hey prashant,
don’t go for testing profile its wastage of time ,low skill,low profile . even bcom or 12th stnd pass student can do . even ur mother can do testing as she is usally doing to seperate out stones from rice.
Nice article. Thank you
Thank you for the crispy yet effective content
Very Helpful……!
You said it correct. when you are busy with your work you don’t get time to work on upgrading our self. But upgrading should not be a one day or one month process it should be continuous efforts to learn and explore new things, implement new techniques, ideas for better testing. Gone are the days when you used to follow some fixed standards for years without any process improvements. Now its time to innovate and do the things differently which works for your needs.
Excellent article… I will try to follow the things mentioned in this article……
Superb…..Really good one…..Thanks a lot
great artical
Thanks 🙂
Great points
Really these are awesome tips!!!!!
I am very thankful
@Ahmed, @Sudhir,
Thanks for your readership.
Thanks Bhumika, it’s really a very good article and post more and more like this.
Nice blog and kowledgeble information to impove test skills. thanks for sharering.
thanks a ton . Really helpful
great article, simply awesome skills of writing.
Brother, I never seen like this type of website for testing.
it is very usefull for testers
Thanks Bhumika. This was a wonderful article. I was looking forward for these kind of articles. It was totally inspiring, and the way in which you convey the message is fabulous.
@Neha, @Sitakant,
Glad to know that it was helpful. Thanks !!!
Super Blog..Thanks..
Good Article.
Explored the learning things in a way of facts
Looking Forward an another article
Very nice.. Thanks for sharing.. Keep posting..
awesome blog,especially 2,7 th points are too good , keep it up do post like these good things ,
same way you can give one set of Testcases for perfomance and automation how you will segrigate those testcases from manual testcases and proceed for automation or performance testing
hi, its helpful one. thanks a lot.
Very good article! I appreciate you and thanks for sharing such good article. You are doing great job, keep it up. I will try to follow the same.
Thanks for such informative article. Boosts up confidence:)
that was good one and it was helpful for me at the right time ere i was in need of that information ..i had this and thanks for it..
@Justin, @Ram, @Ankur, @Srinu,
Thanks a lot for appreciating the ideas and commenting.
very interesting article. very.
Hi Bhumika,
I have read few of your article,its superb,how do u think like this?i will become fan of u!! ,waiting for new one!!
Excellent! Awesome!
Thanks for sharing
I was looking for these suggestions. Good points. Specially, the 7th one. Really helpful. Thanks
Thanks Bhumika,
Its a very usefull article for all testers and i will improve my testing skill after reading your article and please post more and more testing helpfull article.
Interessting,
Just a person in free time. 2 years ago i stared to test, check en proof to myself i understand every bit of the word i read.
So check again.
And i end up with same last question, how to reduce the stress, because nobody can keep up with this.
Best option is make everything free from north to south and from west to east.
And start testing!
*Where are we going?
*What if ?
*Is the basic fundamental correct ?
*How much faster will it go in a few month ?
*Where is the global development at ?
*Do people see
*What if “Ai cut be nice”
*What if Ai cut be bad”
Bhumika do you want to comment on my views on testing?
Brilliant Blog. Very interesting….Thanks for sharing
Thanks Mahesh for appreciate me.
Good article!! .Good Job..Keep it up.. Thanks..
After reading this article , eyes are wide , Willing to explore the things more than before..Thanks for the motivational article!
Testing needs innovation and presence of mind. Testing very interesting to do and you will experience lots of things if you doing it with passion.
@Devikkah,
THanks a lot for appreciation 🙂
Thanks Bhumika Mehta, Really iam in a mood at low levels and fighting to reboost on how to improve my testing skill sets.since iam working on long term project for a long time.
I bookmarked this page…this article keep inspires me
Hello,
I loved your content and I like to read your blogs. I used to find them very useful. It use to contain very informational knowledge. Thank you for sharing with us. I am glad that I came to read this.
@Revathy, @Sreenivasulu
Thanks a lot for considering efforts and appreciation. This encourages me to share more ideas.
Thanks again.
Very useful post for testing… i ll try to implement in my testing part
Really helpful…. Thank u so much.
Very Useful, inspiring and a motivating article. Thanks a lot !
good article for s/w testers in day today life. make more and more new test cases.
@Sandeep Kumar – Thanks for your kind words and readership. Tune in for more readings like this :-).
really very good
A good round-up of some great tips, Bhumika.
In the world of ever-changing technology and frequently updated version of devices and Internet of Things, “Test Everything Everyday” should be the focus.
And the good thing is – there are great number of resources available today online to learn things and always keeping yourself updated with the latest happenings and emerging trends in testing.
One point which I would like to add here is, never to be afraid of experimenting with new tools, strategies or processes – for example, found a new tool or utility that could potentially be used to make your life easy, use it, fail and retry! You will find a great strategy or a new tool by experimenting. And even if you don’t, you would know about the tool that doesn’t work for you 😉
Cheers
Sanjay Zalavadia
Gratitude !!! Nice one !!!
These are best guidelines for me , as I am fresher in Software Testing.This type of articles will help me lot to improve my knowledge.
Thank you so much ……
Superb article ma’am. So much Informative.
Really glad to know such a fabulous meaning of testing.
Thanks a lot..:)
Realy fantastic article …..thanks for sharing your views,knowledge and many more.
Friends,
I am 32 and a non programmer, working in a small software company in testing (Manual Testing) for 2 years. We just check whether the site works correctly as per instruction given to us. We do not use any testing tool and i also do not familiar with those tools. However, I have to enrich my experience and want to study testing tools. But Many of us insist us atleast of programming knowledge is required. I also want to learn any programming language for testing purpose. However, C++ only i desire to learn. Is it correct ? Please guide me. We do not have other guidence. At the same time, i have to learn C++ by self learning only. In future will it be a beneficial one for testing job ? As i am a non programmer and know only HTML at basic level. Our company is not using C++ still i want to learn it from very begining.
Very good tips…
Thanks!!!
@JF, @Monisha, @Chetan, @Kiran, @Vidya
Thanks a lot for reading and commenting.
Thanks a lot for providing such an amazing blog. I am amazed by reading your blog. I would be suggesting others also for reading your blog content. I would be glad if you can provide me blog on the software testing online course.
This is one of the best article i ever read about How to build carrier… Thanks and keep it up… Good Job..
A very beautiful blog, It’s too much interesting and i really appreciate this blog.
Thank you very much for sharing a beautiful knowledge.
Nice blog, this blog is definitely helps to others
Yes, most of the points are very helpful.
Thank you and be exploring as alwayz
Hi,
you have written a nice blog, it help me to under the better view of Software Testing !!!
it really clear my mindset of Skill Development !!!
@Sridhar, @Satish, @JesBetsi
THanks a lot.
very good and very use full info…
Thanks Bhumika, your detailed explanation very well. I’m impressed, keep on posting and sharing knowledge and we’re here to acquire. Don’t stop it
hey pratap sorry for hurting ur sentiments . but can you tell me is there any techinacal skills is really applied my tester while testing.
Thing is that Testing a Art not science , you should have good artist to do testing .not good tech guys
Very good article. Very Energetic and inspiring.
Hi Bhumika,
The article was really very informative. Helped me to think scenarios out of box. Thanks again.
Thanks a lot for sharing valuable ideas…:)
Nice article. Thank you
Thank You very much for this valuable information…
@Bhumika mem
hiii mem..
today i read your article…i totally surprised becoz i m understand other meaning of software testing just like test cases,test plan,unit,integration etc.
but aftr i read ur article i start the thinking “testing is everyone”….thnx bumika mem i will definitively to improve this idea…nd good article mem….
This was great…thanks
Just going through your post and is quite instructive, though I am just about to go into testing cos I got an opportunity for a training, pls what advice do you have for me. Thanks
Thank you ..so much Bhumika for valuable information…thanks a lot.
Thanks for this valuable post. Not a tester, everyone should follow this above article to improve their own skills.
As a Manual Tester, i was doing the same kind of work last 3+ years and i got bored. Just few months back i started to learn automated testing tools. I’m was take any guidelines to learn the automated testing. But now, i got clear picture. Once again thanks for this article. 🙂
hi…….
this article was very helpful. who are working as testers this tips are very useful. boasting our mind a lot .thnx a lot
Nice article. Thank you
Hi bhumika maam,
I want to hear from you please tell me.
Which one more effective
1) Testing with testcases
2) Testing without testcases
@Sachin, @Akhil, @LiveKindLiveFair, @Ruchi,
We are thankful for the readers like you. Thanks you for those encouraging words.
Excellent article!!! Thank you for such great work!!!
@Latha, @Tester, @Prema,
Thanks a lot for commenting. Those little words are source of encouragement.
Thank you so much for the tips,i am a developer and shifting to testing,its really helpful..
Nicely written..! Thank you!
It’s a very good blog,and I get a lot of knowldge and how to keep a good tester.Now I want to know how to improve my skills of designing test cases,more importance is how to improe my thought about test case.I’m a black box tester,and I have study several commom testing techniques like equivalence partinion class?Boundary value analysis?state transition technique?and cause and graph , I know how to use these methods to design,but when I interview,I don’t know how to describe.Could you give me some suggestion for me?
thank you
Great write up Bhoomikaji.. very inspiring
first to very very thanks to you mam..! your article is no nice encourages me and quite impressive…actually m a begginer in testing industry…m inspired very much.
mam can i have you email id actually i want to contact you atleast once for proper guidance..so mam pls contact me if possible..if not than its ok…
really thanks to you for this article
This is very nice article!
Good work from the team as this will help us to explore our ideas and Testing Skills..thanks a lot…
Thank you so much for charging the new energy. It will help all of us.
Superb writing….This shows brilliance in you….good man(May be I am not a appropriate person to say this but still)…keep writing…n Thanks for sharing…
@Sawan – Thanks a lot for those kind words and I am glad that it was helpful. Tune in for more posts like this.
Happy Testing :-).
Good post indeed.
@ Prashant – i think if you read the above bullets , you will surely understand what testing means … Be a tester by choice ..
@ Jack – you say testing can be done by anyone !! you think developers are doing some rocket science out there??? if you feel even a 12th standard passout can test and find bugs , just imagine what a crap code someone has written !. A tester is more exposed to technologies end to end than a developer. so think before passing out such statements.
Really,This is very helpful for us.Thank u so much for this blog
Impressive article. Gave an Idea for the Beginners.
@srinivask,
Thanks a lot for commenting and sharing idea.
thank you to share such important information with us. software testing is new for me I want to learn Software testing
ya this article is great lesson to survive in Industry.
Apart from the tips which was mentioned in this article
Hi Bumika,
I am a Manual tester for more than 4 years, can i know some of the tips to grow into it
Simply amazing. The essence of a true tester is beautifully explained in simplest of the terms. Very effective and definitely easiliy applicable tips. A comprehensive article on what a tester’s mindset should be.
Simple, yet inspiring!
A good read for any professional.. or any human being for that matter. Keep learning. Being stagnant, well, smells 🙂
nice article helpful for both beginners and experienced as well
Awesome post…. everyone (tester) must follow…
@Vidya,
well said.
Thanks for stopping by and commenting.
The article is helpful.Thank You.
hi its really good & helpfull..
Thanks 🙂
@Vely, @Shailaja, @Rajaselvan,
Thanks for sharing your views and glad to know that its helpful and you liked it.
hi I am starting my career as software testing professional.please suggest me how I can plan my studies and work practise so that I can be benefitted early and smoothly.please mail me…
Thanks and regards
Alok Kumar
Hi Alok
I want to start my career as s/w testing too (Manual).Can you please suggest me were can I start
thanks in advance
nice tips
Compititions ARE not so hard, you should to break it.
this helps mea lot.
Very Nice.
What a way of approach !!!
This really changed my thoughts towards testing.
keep posting.
@Nitin, @Vasanth, @praks, @maneendra,
Thanks and glad to know that it was helpful.