11 Ways to Know That You Will Be a Good QA Engineer

1. When a Visible Bug Keeps You Awake

While using an application related to internet transactions, you noticed that there were two trades for one transaction. You tried to reproduce but failed. You tried to reproduce it several times, changed the system, browser, credentials, etc., but nothing comes out. As a tester, you know that this is a critical error, and if you see it in real life, it will affect customers, the company, and other things. And when the thought of how to reproduce the bug robs you of sleep – yes, you are a real tester.

2. When a Developer Is Unable to Reproduce the Reported Bug and Each Time You Run to Them to Help

As a tester, you need to build patience. Yes, no one likes a person who finds mistakes in other people’s work. This is human nature. Therefore, the tester must learn to better communicate in all its forms, be it written or oral. If a tester gets upset when asked to help reproduce a bug, then the chances of fixing the bug are actually reduced. And as a tester, you should not only report a bug but at some level track and try to fix it. To do that, you need to understand every relevant detail. Even if after you do this and the bug is still flagged as “Unable to reproduce”, don’t be discouraged. Be positive and help developers replicate it. What is the result? Next time, the developer will be convinced that they tried all the options to reproduce the problem before asking for your help.

3. When You Have a New Idea for Testing an App While Shopping at the Supermarket

You are exploring a recently opened supermarket and you see a section called “coffee”. You get curious and go check out what this section has to offer. And after seeing that almost all coffee brands are available in one place, you get the idea of presenting the converter on the home page of the website you are testing, and the page itself is designed to provide weather forecasts for any part of the world. In this case, you are definitely a tester.

4. When You Can Visualize the Entire Working Product While Testing a Specific Module

Imagine you are using a staircase. You realize that this staircase is the only way to get to another floor of the house and you think how the house will look or how it will be affected if the staircase is made of a different material or a different shape. That’s the way a tester would think. This is because when the tester checks the life support module used to calculate the sugar level, they know that this calculation will be the initial calculation for the next calculation, and the final calculation will be the user’s sugar level. You cannot make a mistake in testing; will you test thoroughly?

5. When You Argue at Every Possible Level to Delay the Release Due to Some Critical Random (Traceable) Errors

Let’s say the app is due to be released tomorrow. After the final build was done, you did another round of testing, just to make sure everything was working perfectly, but then you found the system crash! You tried to reproduce the error but had no success. After five attempts, the system crashed again, but after that again there were no problems. When you run to the project manager to report the problem, they ask you to calm down and not panic about an accidental error. They communicate to the team and management that we are ready to ship the product. And, in this scenario, if you are willing to show the courage to argue if you can talk to every shareholder about the risks, and if you can knock out some time for additional research, then, yes, my friend, you are a tester.

6. When You Enjoy Participating and Contributing to the Creation of New Ideas

The main responsibility of every tester is to generate ideas for testing. And trust us, when you practice this carefully, you will always test better. So how does idea generation work? Well, for example, while playing strategy games, solving crosswords, Sudoku, or participating in a chess tournament. Ask the team for a 15-minute break, gather in a cafe, and ask random questions, for example, tea with sugar or not. The answers can be about anything, but it will certainly create a cycle of ideas. This will help boost your confidence and speed up your thought process.

7. When You Are Used to Earning Points Every Day

The tester, who can rate their day at five points by the end of the day, has studied the documentation well. Yes, in our day-to-day testing work, we find a lot of problems, report them, track them, test various modules, create tests, and much more. But in the end, if you train yourself to write them down as points, you will become more successful. This method is necessary to understand what you are doing wrong and analyze why you are doing it this way. Imagine it and get a picture of your future job in your head. And trust us, if you start writing such a summary report every day, you will have answers to these questions.

8. When You Write Down Your Mistakes and Apply This for Training

Skipping a bug is not a problem, but re-skipping the same bug is already a big problem – this is what we always point out to our students. Everyone can be wrong, but those who learn from it – progress. Since we tend to make a lot of mistakes, it is better to document them and gain relevant knowledge. And, looking at them in the future, you will understand how much you leveled up the skill.

9. When You Closely Follow What Changes Are Made for a New Release and Think About What Might Be Affected

A tester needs to know what changes are expected from the build you intend to test and how these changes were implemented. Even if you have not received a clear response from the development team, always ask for this information. And once you get this information, understand what has been done with the application and how these changes will affect the functionality of the application as a whole.

Ultimately, if you realize that changing the path from point A to point B, by turning to station C, will increase the distance by 117 kilometers and will not be acceptable for travelers – then you are a tester, cheer up!

10. If You Believe Learning Is the Only Option to Get Better

No one knows any alternative to learning. If you don’t study, you tend to be rejected, and trust me, nobody wants that. Always find out more, implement it, and see the difference. A true tester knows that learning how to manage the test is as important as doing the testing itself. I hope we got this point across.

11. When You Feel Proud of What You Are Doing Because You Know It Is Best

Yes, this is the most important characteristic of a tester. No matter how you are treated, you know that you are doing the best job in the world because you are helping to improve something for the greater good.