Are you an unconscious incompetent tester?

02 March

What does personal development mean for a tester?

How does going on a course help a tester?
What value is gained by the organisation sending their testers for training on a certification course?

Some testers have been doing the same job for years and figure there’s nothing more they need to learn about how to do their job. They’ve already worked out the best way to run their testing and things are ticking along just fine.

In the words of Karen N. Johnson, “Really?” (Ed’s Note: add correct inflexion here). Are they really testing in the most efficient and effective manner? Are they doing it in the best way? Yes, they may be or then again, they may not be. But how do they know if they haven’t been out there, keeping up with the latest techniques and buzz? Maybe something new has popped up? Unless you keep yourself informed of what’s happening in your profession, in your industry, you may wake up one day and find yourself living in the dark ages.

According to how we learn, this is considered the “unconscious incompetence” stage – the blissfully ignorant stage where you don’t know what you don’t know. The next stage is “conscious incompetence”. This is when you are aware that you don’t understand or know how to do something. Maybe a technique or buzzword you haven’t heard before – what does it mean? For example, a state transition diagram – you might have heard the term mentioned in passing on a blog about how it helped the author to successfully create test cases but you don’t know what it is or how it can be used in testing. This is conscious incompetence – you know you don’t know. Now you’ve recognised a gap in your skill or knowledge.

One way to address the gap is to get training, go on courses or workshops. These days it can be in either a virtual or real classroom. Once this happens, you move into the “conscious competence” stage where you’ve learnt something but to apply it requires you to consciously think about it.

Attending training courses allows for a more structured learning style, a one-on-one with trainers, an opportunity to network and learn how other organisations approach the same thing, and to benefit from other testers’ war stories. I might seem a bit biased here, seeing as how I’m currently a testing trainer for Software Education, but actually, as a tester, I was attending courses way before I started teaching them.

However, I agree that this is not the only way to learn and there are other ways to get into the “conscious competence” stage. You can use online resources like online courses or read test articles or join weekend/weeknight testing sessions (http://weekendtesting.com). You can even do it the old fashioned way and read a real book from cover to cover (for those of us who don’t have kindles or e-book readers).

It’s important to keep up to date with what’s buzzing around the testing space so that you can identify potential gaps in your knowledge – so you know what you don’t know. There might be something out there that could make your job easier or heaven forbid if you are made redundant or moved onto a new job then hopefully, the knowledge gap is not too big to bridge as you’ve been keeping up with the latest stuff. If you’re the one who’s doing the hiring, this might help you know what to look for in your candidates.

How do you keep updated? Why not attend conferences, join local interest groups like TPN (Test Professional Network), network at other testing events, stay tuned to blogs, use online resources, follow test experts on twitter, and subscribe to newsletters or testing user groups likehttp://groups.google.com/group/software-testers-new-zealand? There are heaps of things you can do as a test analyst to stay connected and informed with the testing community.

For those of you who are curious, the last stage of learning a new skill is the “unconscious competence” stage. For example, after attending a 3-day testing course you’ve gone back to your workplace, applied the new knowledge gained until it becomes “second nature” and you no longer even realise you’re doing it.

Organisations who invest in providing testing courses for their testers not only create more loyal employees (“my company’s paying for training, I guess I’ll stay on”) but provide an opportunity for them to learn how to be more effective and efficient in their testing which equates to saving the organisation money by doing more with less. Additionally, if there is certification involved then this may let them know that their testers have mastered the knowledge required and can now move to apply it to the benefit of the organisation.

Yes, I know having a certification does not necessarily mean the individual can apply the knowledge but hey, it does mean that they have mastered the theoretical knowledge. They’ve learnt it, they know how and when to apply the knowledge (hopefully), and at the very least they’ve been exposed to it. That’s a step in the right direction.

Testers – go out there and seize control of your self-development! Challenge yourself. It’s up to you to set up your own training needs and work towards fulfilling them.
Employers – empower and enable your testers to further their training and increase their knowledge.

Thank you!

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