We asked testers, devs, and others what they think about testing… Here are some of their answers!

First of all, why are we asking ourselves this question: What is a software tester? 

Well, it’s September 9th, which means it’s Software Tester Day! According to the Computer History Museum, on this day in 1947, scientists who were testing the computer, the Mark II Aiken Relay Calculator, found a real moth between the contacts of the electromechanical relay and one of them uttered the word, “bug.” In their report, they noted how they had to “debug” the system!

Now, “debugging” software relates more to finding errors in code, but is debugging all that testers do?

What is a software tester, anyway? 

There’s no one good definition or even name for a software tester. Many call us testers, QAs, quality engineers, SDETs, etc. While there are many different types of testers, at the core, they have the same goals and share certain unique qualities. 

Continue reading to see how various people from differing roles perceive software testing!

What Does it Mean to Be a Software Tester?

“The client usually tells us that we’re the barrier against evil! For me, being a tester means that there’s going to be someone on the team concerned with releasing quality software. We try to make it so that the end users find the least amount of issues. Therefore, they feel satisfied with the product.”

Barbara Salinas, Software Tester

“To be proactive and curious. This is because the testing profession advances and develops very quickly compared to others; new work methodologies, tools and different approaches always emerge. A tester must know a little bit of everything to have an overview of the project in which they’re working.”

Guzmán Burone, Software Tester

“Being involved in software projects where your main goals have a direct impact on product quality.”

Andréi Guchin, Test Lead & Performance Engineer

“To be a software tester is to make a tiny contribution that can lead to a much larger impact that’s hardly imagined. We often fail to take into account the impact that we have when we discover a bug or pass along information regarding an application’s quality. We don’t realize how many lives are impacted by our work. For example, if we test a health and wellness app and we test it well, we’re contributing to the users’ quality of life, which (far from being minor) is something enormous.”

Nicolas Reina, Software Tester

“Being a software tester is a very great responsibility. It means having the opportunity to contribute to the team and to the business with the possibility for professional growth and stability in one’s life and family. A constant challenge.”

Arcadio Abad, Test Lead

“It means that your work area is focused, within the development of software, to the questioning of its quality, in many aspects.”

Danny Gutierrez, Software Tester

“Responsibility, challenge, opportunity.”

Federico Toledo, Chief Operating Officer

“Being responsible for, together with the team, that an application is well-received by its users. A happy end user means an application that actually gets used in production. 😃”

Carolina Matonte – Testing Instructor / Mentor

“What is a software tester? Someone who’s able to display the necessary ingenuity and creativity to test a software product in as many ways as possible.”

Axel Arzuaga, Software Tester

“Personally, being a tester is a life philosophy. I can’t imagine the software world without testers.”

Diego Gavilanes, Software Tester

“Being a person with the desire to learn continuously, who’s creative, thoughtful, capable of adapting to change and working as a team.”

Oscar Maksimchuk, Software Tester

“Caring about the quality of the products; that the client has the best experience when using the systems, improving processes, making technology more friendly. Being methodical, curious and detailed.”

Alejandra Viglietti – Customer Success Manager

“Being a bridge between the needs and requirements of the client, with what the development team delivers. Nothing trivial!”

Ricardo Poleo, Software Developer

“In my opinion, being a tester is promoting technology as an agent of change. We seek quality from many points of view, not only by finding bugs, but by thinking and rethinking processes, methodologies, good practices, among others.”

German Nan, Software Tester

What Does a Software Tester Do?

“In theory, testers provide information on the status of the software’s quality at a specific moment to help with decision making. On a day-to-day basis, we become indispensable in a good software development process, since we’re the ones who can give the team that feeling that the work will turn out as best as possible. For each validated flow and for each error, warning or risk reported, the team gains in confidence and the system in quality.”

Arcadio Abad, Test Lead

“Software testers provide information on the quality of the product being analyzed, both in problems found (bugs) and possible risks. All of this is done from the perspective of the user and their experience using the application, as well as that of the business. In this search, testers analyze and propose opportunities to improve the product, the process, the team.”

Federico Toledo, Chief Operating Officer

“Software testers test, document, spot improvement opportunities in processes, provide support, etc.”

Danny Gutierrez, Software Tester

“It depends on the role you play within your team for a given project. But we do a bit of everything, from team management to designing and executing test cases. Whatever role you play in a given project, it’s important to spend time learning about the business of the application you’re testing. From this knowledge, the contribution that can be made to both the development team and the client and the end user is greater.”

Carolina Matonte, Testing Instructor / Mentor

“Software testers are not only in charge of reporting and following up on bugs, we also have to assume a more leading role in the quality of the product. We cannot be seen only as those who “break” the developers’ work, but we have to be a sieve in the quality filter.”

Pablo Flores, Software Tester

“A software tester defends and promotes the quality of the software that is being built. They use their skills to build strong relationships within the team, do requirements analysis, learn about the business as much as possible, run tests, lead good practices, propose methodological improvements, ask questions that have not arisen before, and much more.” 

Diego Gavilanes, Software Tester

“They evaluate that the functionalities that have been developed not only comply with the client’s expectations, but also do not break with edge cases or unexpected events. Testers prevent the storm before it happens!”

Ricardo Poleo, Software Developer

“A tester seeks to find that there are no gaps between what the customer asked for and what is delivered and that the final product also has as few errors as possible.”

Alejandra Viglietti, Customer Success Manager

“First of all, a tester runs tests over the system and prepares quality reports, but there are many types of tests (performance, automated, accessibility, usability, etc.) and many more activities that one can do to boost the quality of a product or improve a team’s development process.“

Luis Zambra, Software Tester

What’s the Value That Characterizes the Work of a Tester?

“I dare to name two: 1) Attention to detail, 2) Proactivity.”

Nicolas Reina, Software Tester

“Quality.”

Andréi Guchin, Test Lead & Performance Engineer

“Communication and commitment to the team.”

Guzmán Burone, Software Tester

“Curiosity, creativity, nonconformity, detail.”

Arcadio Abad, Software Tester

“Empathy, Curiosity, technical humility, communication, clarity, commitment, critical thinking, knowledge, attention to detail.”

Federico Toledo, Chief Operating Officer

“Diversity of approaches to a system, thinking outside the box, the edge cases or blind spots, among many others.”

German González, Software Developer

“Organization.”

– Juan Pablo Sobral, Software Tester

“Empathy and responsibility.”

Alfonsina Tironi, Software Tester

“The quality!”

Alejandra Viglietti, Customer Success Manager

“Curiosity.”

Pablo Richieri, Software Tester

If you couldn’t tell from this article, the question, “What is a software tester and what do they do?” has many answers!

At least it does at Abstracta, because being in testing means quite a great deal to us, and many things to different people. It’s more than finding bugs. It’s working with other people who are passionate about creating an awesome team culture and processes that help to achieve incredibly high quality products.

Tell us, what does the term “software tester” mean to you? Leave an answer in the comments!

Happy Tester’s Day!

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