soren lynggaard & pusser janvit - how to hire a true tester - eurostar 2013
TRANSCRIPT
Søren Lynggaard and Pusser Janvit, KMD
T2 - How To Hire A True Tester
www.eurostarconferences.com
@esconfs#esconfs
LINK
”Everybody can test” - attitude is harmful for the hiringprocess
Testing profession is sometimes regarded as limited to acting like an end-user
HR people do not ask questions about testing - most managers do, but only few of them really understands the answers
What do you think?- about the interviewer- about the interview technique- about the candidate. Is she a true tester?
Steps in the new hiring process:
1. Determining required skills & experiences for job posting
2. Screening of applicants – selecting candidates for interview
3. Interviewing selected candidates
4. Screening of candidates - selecting the new true tester(s)
… is a term used for describing the ideal tester at KMD A/S -your company probably has different needs
… really understands the complexity of software
… can apply various testing techniques
… cooperates effectively with developers and otherstakeholders
… has a logical and systematic thinking – but is also creativein eg. explorative testing
… can quickly understand the domain of the users
… has the right tester spirit
Be as specific as possible – true testers like it
Setting the bar too low generates a lot of irrelevant applications, you have to handle
Write what you do not want (ie. exclude skills you do not need)
Establish weighting of the individual qualifications and skills
Tip: Applicants with some developer experience are often good candidates for being a true tester
Determine and prioritise desired/required qualifications based on knowledge gained so far
Evaluations of applications by looking for the preselected properties of the applicant
Stack ranking of applications
Tip: Excel is your friend (see example on next slide)
Identify questions and problems which will reveal the skills you are looking for
Include both ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ test questions
Create lists of most likely answers – AND the answers, you are looking for. This saves interview time as you only have to set check marks and keeps the conversation flowing
Tip: Search for ”Microsoft/Google/… interview questions” to get inspiration, but beware – the applicants do the same !
On-going selection of questions and problems dependent on results of previous questions and problems
Interview answers are mostly recorded by marking check boxes
The technical interview is supplemented by a HR interview in the 2nd interview round
Purpose: Getting started and determine the candidate’sperception of best bug, testing succes …
Q1: ”Please describe the best bug you found during yourlatest testing task”
Q2: ”Please describe your greatest success / failure in testing”
Purpose: to see, if the candidate can understand simple source code, document test cases and know the importanceof testing against requirements
Q: ”Please write the necessary test cases for testing this functionality”
int function mb2 ( int x )
{
if ( x == 7 )
return 10
else
return 2 * x ;
}
Inputx
Expected outputmb2(x)
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
+1 : using equivalence classes / all path coverage
+1 : structuring input and expected output in a table
+1 : consciously avoiding x=5
+2 : considering over-/underflow
+3 : asking for requirements / design
Purpose: reveal the candidate’s ability to apply basic testingskills such as Boundary Value Analysis, Equivalence Partitioning, input and output domain coverage
Q (excerpt): ”As a tester you must design test cases for a web application ”3angle”, which has three input parameters A, B, C (lengths of the sides of the triangle) and outputs this information about the resulting triangle:acute-angled (Y/N), right-angled (Y/N), obtuse-angled(Y/N), isosceles (Y/N), equilateral (Y/N), error (text)”
… see the complete problem in the technical paper
Purpose: observe the practical testing skills of the candidate
Notice the demonstrated approach
Try first without - then with requirements provided
Q: ”Please test this web application as you would normally do”
Application hereRequirements here
Purpose: Identify the candidate’s approach to act in a difficulttesting situation and handling the team’s expectations
Q: ”You have just joined a team as tester. The development of the product is almost complete, and you have witnessed the project manager giving a brief demonstration for the team. The test environment is almost ready; but some problems remain, which block the product from running. The team expects you to start testing tomorrow.What do you do?”