Holding the cat by the tail

I thought Jack Margo’s interview by UTest was very interesting. What caught my eye was the following statement:

The days of specialists are mostly killed from the recession…you have to be flexible and know multiple disciplines to exist in today’s dev environment.  In web development alone, you need to be proficient with XML, DHTML, JS, a DB flavor, an OS flavor, a programming language and some semblance of UI Design to even handle front-end.  I have friends who knew only HTML or only PERL.  They are struggling to say the least

It made me think  the same applies to us as software testers.

Have specialists in software testing being killed by the recession? Is it necessary for software testers to be ‘flexible’ and know ‘multiple disciplines’?

Personally, I think so. Its not good enough these days to be a ‘manual tester’ or an ‘automated tester’. Instead you need to be able to do both. I don’t think that means you have to be ‘expert’ on both, but it does mean you have to have knowledge of both and a good knowledge in one area.

That’s why I’m excited about Nathan Bain and the free automated testing sessions he’s starting up.  As he puts it:

Come to meet fellow testers, share stories and experiences about tools and techniques which may, or may not, have solved testing problems on other Agile projects.

This is also a place of learning, where live demonstrations of tools will be given for FREE – no more expensive training courses for simple (and free) open-source testing tools.

What a fantastic opportunity to learn about automated testing!

To complement this, Rob Lambert has setup some free Exploratory Testing Sessions.

Both organisers have mentioned that these sessions could also be performed online.

I am not going to miss out on either opportunities. I would encourage those interested to sign up to both, either to contribute so others can learn, or learn from someone else.

BTW: two quotes were in contest to head this post. The first one was by Mahatma Gandhi:

“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”

The other was:

“If you hold a cat by the tail you learn things you cannot learn any other way.”

Mark Twain

I love both for different reasons, but I thought the second one appealed to me as a tester, hence the title 🙂