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What do Testers really do?

roesslerj on October 18, 2017

Crash test dummies or judges–what do Testers really do? I read a lot about what the job of testers is. But no one wrote about what the j...
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Hila Berger

About the developers, you wrote:
"They have a very technical view on everything. What works for them usually doesn’t work for not so technically inclined users".
How do you think that developers can help the testers do their job more easily?

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roesslerj

I think developers only need to decrease technical hurdles to testing. If a tool / feature / etc. is easily accessible, testers can go wild :-)

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Hila Berger

What do you think about unit testing?

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roesslerj

I actually think unit testing has nothing to do with testing.

Unit testing is about defining (TDD) or refining (probably internal) interfaces, and preserving important aspects of those over time (regression testing)—i.e. managing change. A unit test is best close to the code, where the tester should not be to not lose focus.

Real testing is about questioning the product. A tester represents the costumer. And a typical customer doesn't care about the code. He cares about functionality. Thus a tester should only interact with the product and not with the code—including unit tests.

What do you think?

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hilaberger92 profile image
Hila Berger

I agree that testers should only interact with the product and not with the code.
I think unit testing is a very important tool for the developers.
It can help them find bugs easily and deliver the best version of the product to the testers.
Are you a tester yourself?

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roesslerj

Unit testing is a very important tool—I didn't want to imply the contrary.

I am a developer by profession, but tested occasionally and am interacting with testers.

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Hila Berger

Which languages do you work with? do you perform unit testing?

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roesslerj profile image
roesslerj

We work mostly with Java and we do unit testing. Why do you ask?

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Hila Berger

I'm asking because I'm new to the unit testing world, and my team and I recently started working with Typemock for C#, and I wanted to get some feedback about their product... Have you heard about them by any chance?

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roesslerj

No, sorry—I haven't.

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hilaberger92 profile image
Hila Berger

Ok, thanks a lot for your answers! I've learned a lot :)

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