The Changing Role of Software Testers

In the last decade the focus of the software testing discipline has undergone radical changes, ranging from developer-driven testing, independent yet pure black box testing, to a combination of black and white box testing. The implementation zone has been stretching from pure manual testing to a robust combination of manual and automated testing.

Factors driving these changes include market dynamics, a deeper understanding of quality and user experience, and changes in underlying product technology. We are at an interesting crossroads on what the future holds for this discipline, moving into a zone where programming skills are becoming inevitable for the tester community.

In some teams the test group is being merged with the development group, which has its own share of positive and negative from product implementation and tester motivation standpoints. A tester who has the combination of domain and technical skills on at least one stack covering operating system, web and application server, and database and programming languages will be highly sought after (e.g., the LAMP stack—Linux, Apache, MySQL, PhP).

The industry is beginning to more openly accept the need for such programming skills in the quality discipline, rather than claiming independence for the testing effort from the development effort. This is becoming a widely discussed topic at software testing conferences and in online forums to help the community understand the idea at a holistic level instead of forcing testers to take on programming classes.

Here are five things that a test team can do to smoothly and successfully ride this wave of role evolution:

1. Evaluate the current mix of testers and test developers, with a goal of having a 30:70 ratio in the next two years.
2. Encourage more on-the-job opportunities to promote the role transition, including static code reviews, defect troubleshooting at a white box level, testers taking turns in representing the team in defect triage meetings, and information training sessions.
3. Leverage internal IP (tools, test frameworks) with an increased focus on research and development. This not only reduces total cost of quality over years but also creates exciting opportunities to promote internal job transfers within the product and research and development teams.
4. Bring in the right talent. Hire people who have programming skills with an inclination toward testing and welcome developers who want to transition and build a career in testing. People who have demonstrated excellent testing skills are very important. Absorb them with the plan of in-house training on programming skills. Amid all of these, watch for the person’s attitude and passion—not for their seniority.
5. Understand what it takes to be a technical tester. Make an effort to retain the test focus without being entrenched in the programming world. To build products of exceptional quality, understand the need for programming skills while retaining the core testing skills.

Is the tester's role changing—or even dying—in your organization? Let us know with your comments below!

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