Matt Christie is the Test Lead at Razor, and he is here to reassure us that software testers donât just break things. Theyâre actually an incredibly important part of the software development process.
Iâve been a software tester for 10 years and I really enjoy it. My day to day is incredibly varied, and I get to work on some fascinating projects. To be a good software tester you need to have a logical mindset as we follow defined processes and I really thrive within this structure. My job is all about delivering the best possible product to the customer, and who doesnât want to do that?
Do software testers just break things?
Software testing is all about helping the team deliver a polished product, but that is rarely straightforward. Itâs a common misconception that as a software tester all we do is break things and to be honest, I donât think itâs an accurate representation of what we do.
Weâre not actually trying to âbreak thingsâ, weâre trying to find any bugs that already exist so the customer doesnât find them first! And from my experience, customers often do some surprising things with your products. They donât always behave logically or in a straightforward way so we try to replicate the unforeseen ways they might interact with your product, preemptively finding any issues they might.
So, weâre not really breaking the software. Weâre just finding the ways itâs already broken. We want to find any bugs or vulnerabilities and then feedback to our incredibly talented development team so they can fix them.
What could happen if bugs go undiscovered?
Weâre trying to ensure our clients get delivered the best possible product because if they donât, the customer experience will suffer and they might even face financial or reputational penalties.
For example, on a recent project in the login section, there was an image on the side of the page. We discovered that if you clicked on the image it allowed the user to access the restricted section of the website, completely bypassing any login verification. This is a major issue as we donât want unauthorised users accessing the whole system. Luckily this bug was discovered during the software testing process which alleviated the security risk. If this wasnât found by the test team this could have had large reputational and financial losses.
Why I donât love people saying we break things
As software testers, weâre not breaking or destroying things and to say we are, actually sounds quite negative. Weâre actually hunting down existing issues, which is a positive thing!
Weâre all on the same team, developers, testers, project managers etc. Weâre all working towards the same goal, and collaboration is key. Weâre all responsible for the quality of the work we deliver and we all want to make the best products possible, and saying weâre breaking the developerâs hard work doesnât add to the harmony.
Want to know more about how the Razor team work together in harmony and how our development process works?
Want to know more about how the Razor team work together in harmony and how our development process works?
