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Dear Evil Tester

Taking Software Testing More Seriously By Using Humour

TLDR; Everyone can tap into humour when they are themselves and with their friends. Can you respect your work peers enough to be yourself with them and tell hard truths using humour when necessary? I was listening to an audio book by Grant Cardone this morning and he was talking about humour in the sales process, the author of this audio book. I was thinking, I use humour in software testing.

Dear Evil Tester: I think that if I 'learn automation' I can get a new job FAST

4 minute read - Dear Evil Tester Career Advice

TLDR; If you want a new job, then build a portfolio while you ’learn' Following on from the ‘How do I learn ‘automation’?" question. We had to ask questions to see what they would do with this newly learned ability to automate. If it was to find a job, then how long did they want to wait? And did they have a specific job in mind? If there was no job in mind, and they wanted it fast then that is not a good combination for a ‘how to’ answer to the question they asked.

Dear Evil Tester "I want to keep my testing skills up to date otherwise I might not get another job"

3 minute read - Dear Evil Tester Career Advice

Following on from the ‘How do I learn ‘automation’?" question. We had to ask questions to see what they would do with this newly learned ability to automate. And because they want to perform ongoing work and this is part of their learning plan we can answer. I want to keep my testing skills up to date This is great. You have a job, use it. If your job doesn’t offer you the opportunity to work with certain technologies or approaches -

Dear Evil Tester: I think that if I 'learn automation' I can get this specific type of job

3 minute read - Dear Evil Tester Career Advice

TLDR; Learn with an end goal in mind. That will keep you focussed. Following on from the ‘How do I learn ‘automation’?" question. We had to ask questions to see what they would do with this newly learned ability to automate. If it was to find a job, and they had a specific type of job in mind then I think we could probably answer the question. If you have a better job in mind For the marketplace, if you want to ’learn automation’ because:

Dear Evil Tester: "How can I learn Automation?"

4 minute read - Dear Evil Tester Career Advice

TLDR; Don’t just ’learn automation’. Learn it for a reason. When I attend conferences and meetups, people often ask me how they can learn to automate stuff. I then have to ask some follow up questions. This is not my normal approach for a “Dear Evil Tester” answer. A “Dear Evil Tester” answer makes assumptions and takes the question and the words in the question at face value. Because that is funnier, and allows me to address generic points.

The Making of "Dear Evil Tester"

13 minute read - Books Dear Evil Tester

During the creation of Dear Evil Tester I posted a running commentary with information about the self publishing process. This post collates the smaller posts together in an edited format and acts as a primer of the self publishing process.

Dear Evil Tester, Who is Stafford Beer and Why should I care?

8 minute read - Dear Evil Tester

Question: Who is Stafford Beer and Why should I care? Vernon asks: " Dear Evil Tester, I’m reading your post about the word “automation” and why we should stop using it. Cool stuff so thanks for that. My question is twofold: Why do you rate Stafford Beer? Where/how do you find these books? You always have interesting books to share with us and I’m wondering how you wander across them. Cheers,