Senior Quality Coach @ Co-Op
'Dear Mrs Aquafresh, I would like to report a problem...'
I wrote my first bug report to Aquafresh aged 7 after a tube of toothpaste broke. I certainly didn't sugar coat it and I demanded that it be fixed! Fast forward a good few years and I re-ignited my passion for writing bug reports.
Like a lot of people who work as testers I would describe how I got into it as pretty much by accident. I fell into testing. I was drawn to the job description because it sounded like it would please the logical side of my brain. Testing is a science: you come up with a hypothesis and then you try to disprove it. I never expected that testing would satisfy my creative side too. My favourite aspect of my job is exploratory testing as this is where science and creativity meet. I'm happiest when I'm performing an activity that involves both logic and art - like a human venn diagram!
I strive to bring some beauty to the craft of testing. I'm not someone who sits at the end of the development cycle in a corner criticising someone else's work. I make feedback fun, I use colourful post its, I plan fun retrospectives. I make sketchnotes of the conferences I attend, I share knowledge with my team in fun ways, I have conversations and build friendships rather than delivering lengthy feedback via email.
I do this to please my creative side but it makes people smile too. Everyone should bring some beauty to the work they do. It doesn't have to be colour. Be a flamingo in a crowd of pigeons (although I think pigeons are rather beautiful too).