How can testers change that perception?
McKay: The less experienced developers feel like they’re being attacked. The more experienced developers say, “Thank you for finding this before it shipped.” But you can get in this adversarial role of “You people are just evil. Why would anyone do that to the software?’ And to some point, yes, we are sitting back there rubbing our hands saying, “I bet I can break this.” But that’s our job, to break it before the customer does. So it’s a necessary evil. We do bring a different mindset than the developers because the developers are creating, and they sometimes look at us as destructive rather than trying to help them build the best product they can, as a team. McKay’s tips for hiring good software testers Attitude. More than anything that’s what I hire for. I can teach someone the technical stuff if they’re smart, but I can’t teach them to have good negotiating skills, to be diplomatic, to have an attitude of interest and curiosity toward their jobs, and to really care Perfectionists. B
