My Interview Experience and the Lessons I Learned from it

I have never attended any kind of interviews during my college days. The reason was due to rare opportunities, eligibility and scaredness. I was too scared to attend the interview. But I know without interview no one is going to provide me a job. I was looking for the job without interview or  with less competition. I hate interviews. After completion of my graduation, no way I have to go for the job. To do so I need to attend a interview. The journey started. I had a very good experience in attending interviews after the college days. In my first interview I was asked to speak for few minutes about myself,  but I couldn't able to express the thing that sparked in my mind. I was frustrated. I know my mistakes. But I had no idea of changing myself. It continued. I failed many times. Slowly attending interview had became as a day today activity to me. I haven't realized that. But, one day when I attended an interview in one BPO,  I was asked to speak for the topic they given to me. No scared, no struggle, whatever comes to my mind, I expressed through word of mouth. I felt I was so bold than others. I realized the changes. I go for an interview purposely to make myself ready to face the people without any scared, shyness, hesitation.

I failed in most(may be 50+) of the interviews. I had no confidence in me. I did some course(java, Testing). But I didn't get through. I got job in one BPO and that was my first job. Bad experience from the lead. I learned how a lead should not be? I know, I am not for that job. I quit that job and started searching for the other. Decided to search for the software job. I was a fresher( A new baby to the IT industry). So, not much idea about IT jobs. I thought only the programming is the top best job in the IT company. So, looking for that. But I don't have much programming skills. Learned without practicing. I couldn't do well(get through) due to lack of confidence in my answer. But some how I got into testing. Felt relaxed because I got a job.So,  no more interviews still I quit the job(searching for the other).

Few days gone, Things went out well. I was bit relaxed and enjoying too. But a sudden change  like a hump in the  long straight road. I was fired. Now, again I need to take my CV and have to walk for the interview. But this time I was not worried about attending the interview. I was worried about the job (role, company, and the lead). I attended some companies not much. I realized how poor some of the hiring people are.  I had a very bad experience with one hiring manager. He called me inside got my CV. Never read what I have written in my CV. He took one pen and started scribbling at  last page of my CV. His questions are
1.Tell about your self as normally every one ask. I replied with smiling face
2.Then asked about my family background. I replied
3.Then what language you know. I said I practiced manual testing. I have not practiced any script. But it is not a great challenge to me. I could learn it when there is a need for that.

 He said, Do you think Manual testing has a scope in the future. How long you could be in manual testing. I don't know you will be a fit for the IT industry. I know some thing in testing.So,  improve yourself else it will be a  tough for you to be in the industry. He suggested me to go through the book written by his boss.
I replied I don't wish to work with the people like you. You have never gone through my CV and how you know about me(about my stuff).I thought you will ask about my project but you didn't do that. I don't want to spoil my career by working with you.  I am ready to take up any challenge.  Said Good Bye. You might think they are looking for automation tester. But the interview was for the manual testing.

Another experience was that I was interviewed by two person. For some question I don't know the answer.So, struggled. but those two people who are near to my age started laughing at me, started kidding by asking the questions. Very bad incident I experienced. But I wish to meet them again.

I see most of the people who interview others feels, that the candidate has less knowledge than him/her. When some question are asked and the answer given to him/her is not relevant, then its a wrong answer for them. I have the habit of giving my own definition for the concept I know. I don't prefer to give the answer written by others( not all). I just go through few peoples explanation on some topics but never try to by-heart those sentences. I answer what I know( from what I worked with). I know that there are "N" number of definition for the question what is testing? But all the answer could not be compromised by all.  I love to question them for the question which I never answered and do homework too.
The difference I see in my interview before and after the job.
Before getting into any job
1. I was scared
2. Trusted interviewers answers
3. Felt he/she knows everything that's why they are interviewing me
4. I felt they are the  great people during the time of interview.
5. Believed on every thing that are published in the blogs, book or in any websites.
After getting into job:
1. No scaredness
2. Know what to ask when needed
3. Know how to answer
4. Learned how to refer a book
5. Seeing them(interviewer) as a normal person ( a staff in that office).

The value of Communication skills for a tester

When we speak about the skills we normally mention the tools that we are exposed to, the language we know and practiced. But most of us don't mention about the speaking and writing as a skill( especially in resume). Most of us mention such thing under the category language we know.

Did a communication matters a lot for being a software tester? 

It depends on the organization( Sorry, people in that organization). But to me, I would say "yes". We may be good in testing the product. But,  if we don't know how to communicate(right way of telling) the problems that are found in that product, then there arise a problem. The stuff of that person (not only the tester anybody in any domain) may not be exposed to others. You may be a king of king in testing(finding the defect) a product, when there is no proper communication between the people or if you don't know how to communicate with the team, you will be cornered. It is like having the Luxurious phone with no charge in the battery. Unless you charge your phone you can't do anything with that phone. So, know the importance of communication and also learn how to communicate with the people. 

Communication doesn't mean just speaking through word of mouth even your writing is a kind of communicating. How far writing skills help the tester to be a good tester. The same as you convey through word of mouth. You may be good in testing, but if your writing is not that good, where one can't understand what you are coming to say about it, the problems arises. It is some what easy to make others understand by communicating  through word of mouth either through phone or by facing directly. But, in case of communicating through your writings it is not that easy. A real stuff is needed for that. Lot of practice( home work) should be done to have a better writing skills. When you are writing to others one could able to understand what  you are about to say and that person who read should not assume by himself.  

A tester is responsible for making(preparing) the bug report. So, if the report that you prepare should be able to explain about the history of the bugs clearly. If the report is not that clear then even the critical bugs could be left out sometimes  and the people who have left such things are not responsible for not considering that bugs. it is you (tester) because of your writing. The story is not that clear.You have not conveyed it clearly. So, they have left it. 

How I witnessed this  as a problem?

I had worked with the people who have a good communication( Speaking and Writing). But, at that time I never realized this as one of the important skills. When I worked at my client office, I was doing the work what they want me to do apart from that. I was learning things quickly( because I am  so passionate about it). But one day I was fired from that office. Surprised, confused, Shocked, really don't know what else to write..Smile..  I was in such situation after hearing this word "Today will be your last working day" .

I did my work and had done better. But how and what went wrong.? I questioned my self. I believe every problem has some solution. Then I realized that I had not communicated properly. I had tested the product and reported the problem through mail.But, I didn't communicated (apart from mail) well. Even in my mail that I have send,  I didn't explained my issues(story clearly). This made a gap between me and my manager. Then I decided I should not repeat the same mistake in the next company. May be with some new mistakes,  But not intentionally. Because I love mistakes as I believe I could learn more from it. Mistake is not a big problem, unless you fail to learn from it by repeating the same . 

This blogging is a kind of home work I do to improve my self and also conducting the meeting with my team often in my office is  to get rid of my  shyness and scaredness while facing the crowd. I believe I will be one of the best writer and speaker in the future.                                                                                   

My Contact Details:

Email: ktg.pardeep@gmail.com

Phone: 07639959901

Skype: pradeep.lingan

When to stop testing

When to stop testing ?

This is somewhat a complicated question but answerable. Every problems has some solution. Before stating to test a product one should be aware of the time given to test. Based on the time one should plan what to test and how to test. Covering the entire module in deeper(reaching every corner) is not an easy task but one could cover the entire module (the necessity features ) by using the testing techniques they prefer.

How to know whether the feature is a necessity or not? 

This could be possible only by knowing(having a good knowledge) about the product. So, having a good knowledge on the product leads to a better quality of the testing.

Testing is a never an  ending activity and  we can never assume or assure that 100 % testing has been done. Learning the product in a very short time, Preparing the test data, or test script, preparing the test report by covering the maximum modules will be a a great stuff of a tester and  it's a challenge too.

The real testing experience(stuff) matters a lot here, not the year of experience. I believe stuff(experience) is the ability of an individual not the experience letter that one holds.

We can minimize the risk of the testing by doing some "X" testing and covering some "N" modules.

Things to be focused before shipping the product to the client

1. Number of modules covered

2. Number of bugs found

3. Time to fix those bugs

4. Meeting the client requirements to some point.

5. Defect rates fall below the specified level.

Things to be focused while shipping the product to the client

1. The critical bugs  are fixed and tested again

2. The risk in the product is under acceptable limit.

Testing is never an ending process We can not test till all the defects are found and removed. It is not possible at all. At some point, we have to stop testing and ship the product to the client. So, one could stop testing after performing the above mentioned task within the available time, budget, etc.

My Contact Information:

E-mail:  ktg.pradeep@gmail.com

Phone: 07639959901

Skype:pradeep.lingan

Twitter: pradeep.lingan1

How you call a missing requirement? Is it a bug or suggestion or an enhancement?

When I asked this question "How you call a missing requirement?  Is it a bug or suggestion or an enhancement?" at one of the social media, I got an awesome response from many testers. Different people have shared  different opinion for that question. Few says its a bug, few as a suggestion and some says is an enhancement. some apart from these categories. It is common that people have a different opinion. But I felt there are no unique answer to it. So, this make me to feel and call testing as an "Orphan baby". That's why  people have a different name like (bug, defect, error, issue) where everything comes under a category called as  a software problem. Also there are "N" number of definition to all of these though it is meant for the same thing.

What is a missing Features(module): 

Features that are missed out(not listed) in the document. It might be due to some reason

1.Like intentionally left out.

2.May not be  aware of it(not discussed)

3.Known(discussed but, forgot to document it).

When I say its a missing Features? 

When we analyse the document and when we feel that some "X" features should be added so, that it might not cause a problem to the product or it might add a value to it (if the missed features are added), etc.

Is it possible to document all the features? May be or may not. its totally depends on the  people concerned. But it gives a clear picture only when all the requirements are documented.

When the requirements are  missed and it is found in the analyse phase of SDLC. I would say it is a suggestion or an enhancement rather saying it as a bug. When the requirement are known and if it undocumented then it could be an enhancement.

For the question  which  I asked some replied as  

"How could you not have requirements missing?"

"Could ask a question".

"How do you know if is it a missing requirement and not an intentionally left out feature?"

"Pradeep, you will never have *all* requirements documented."

"I believe that if the issue is generated from a Use Case that wasn't considered, it's a "bug". If the missing requirement is something that "ought to be" in the product, its an enhancement suggestion that should be addressed prior to release."

"Ask the question orally. discuss the issue see what you come up with. Then if you believe it necessary sum it up in an email."

 "Does it really matter since "it depends" is at play here. A bug or suggest or other data is information. ET and testing are about providing information to the stakeholders."

 "I call missing requirement 'not knowing' - so, not sure if that fits in bug or suggestion."

" I think i understand what you're saying. I would personally call it as a suggestion/question in my subject header. I will bring it up with customers, development team, etc.. to see if there is another better name can be suggested!

cheers,"

 "One place I worked, we (testers, BA, developers, ...) did not call the item a "bug report", "an error report" or anything like that. We call the "software action report" (something the team needed to address). We had fields where the team could enter if was a programming error, design problem, requirements issue, and about 4 o 5 other classifications. The team could agree how to classify things. This information formed the basis for a taxonomy analysis to improve both the product under development and our testing. In general, I use taxonomies to improve my mental model of how to test, what test design approaches to use, and creation of patterns (attacks) which I can reuse to find "actions". This is a driving consideration in Whittaker's books and soon my book/classes on test attacks to help ET."

"Requirements and functional analysis are testable stuff as well as code is, so if there's something incorrect like missing use cases then it is a bug to me."

When the missed features becomes a missed requirement?

The features are called as a missed requirement only when it is discussed with the client(the owner of the product) but not documented or it is documented but not developed. Other wise when one report that feature as a missed one, It could be  either a suggestion nor an enhancement. After being approved from the client those suggestion could turn out as a requirements.

Feedback's are most welcome

My Contact Information:

Email id: ktg.pradeep@gmail.com

Mobile: 07639959901

Skype: pradeep.lingan

Encouragement : A tool for success

The definition for success varies between people. The word "Success" is what all people expect to have in their life and work hard to have it. Success is not an impossible dream.At the same time it is not an easy task. Success of a person based on their dream and their goal set.

How encouragement will help people to see success?

What is encouragement?

It is an act of giving a hope or support to the people to do their work better.

Where one could get it? Is it easy to get it from others?

I would say it depends on the situation, environment, and the people. It is not as easy to have it.  Sometimes even though you work hard, there won't be any support for your work, which will lead you to lose hope and confidence in you. So, I see encouragement as one of the tool for the success ( doing a work much better than before).

How this helped me to do my work better? 

When I started my work (Testing) some of my colleagues encouraged me in some ways.They had some hope on my work. This helped me to do my work much better (not to impress them, just to prove my stuffs). This helped me to improve myself (my interest) in many ways.When I started,  I just used to test an application, report issues. This was my task. Later on few people encouraged me to write blogs. Their support made me to write and  publish more blogs. So far 19(excluding this article). I feel this was a considerable count to me. I wonder how I got addicted( as a hobby) to this.This happened just because of some of my colleagues and readers of my blog post. I see people from different countries  reading my articles  and replying to that. I felt this was a great encouragement to me.

Followed by writing article, I decided to publish an e-book and I did it. I got an appreciation from  a people(whom I know already). But I was surprised to see a person whom I never met before.This guy contacted me through Skype and said "Congrats" for my book . There are some kind person. Because,  though he don't know me, but still want to appreciate me for my work. Yes, this person name is Ajay Balamurugadas (who has written 120+ articles and 6 books so far). His appreciation gave me a great hope and made me to do my work better.

Encouragement is a boost to a life. If there is no more encouragement in ones life either in personal or at work, life becomes tasteless( meaning less).So, I wish people to keep encouraging the colleagues or people whom you concern. When they do a good work encourage them with an open heart.This would help them to do their work better and best.

"Discouraging a wrong work is a kind of encouraging a person to do a right work"

                                                                                                       -Pradeep Lingan

Is Testing an Orphan baby?

How you see a software testing. I believe all people know the father of various languages. Do you know who is the father of software testing? Have you come across such question? I hope most of the people who were and who are in the software testing(software tester) may not asked or realized about this kind of questions. even me too when I started. Few might had such question but may not have discussed with the people. Then how I had this soft of question in my mind. This happened when I was chatting with my friend  ( who is also a software tester).One day we were making a general discussion on testing. So, at that time we got this kind of question.

Why I felt testing an orphan baby?
It is because I see people use to ask questions which I never heard about it. I see there were no fixed(standard) testing types, approach, etc. When ever people ask some questions like cone model, bug fix testing etc, some use to comment for that.So, for the people who are new or the people who are not aware of testing types or approaches believe that there exist such kind of things.So, people used to give their own name for their own inventions(name). That's why some faces difficulties in answering a questions during interviews and even the testing professional has lots of confusion due to this.

When I posted such questions in a social media like (linked in, twitter) I got some considerable answer from one of the tester.He replied as " Not if you know how to grow a baby". The answer might be confusing . But, then I realized "Orphan"doesn't mean that the child without parents/guardian. If there are people to take care of a baby, then the baby is not an orphan baby. So, who can take care of the baby's growth? The people(tester) who cares, who knows how to grow a baby, not all(if one don't know how to do that).

How to care for a baby's growth?
Baby is grown and it's still growing. But to show a better path, it is a responsibility of  an individual (testers) not to post or have a new name like cone model, black viper etc.. So, know whether the model, types or any other approaches or anything related to testing really exist and is followed in an organization. If we really don't know then we can't be a good parent or guardian to that baby. Obviously we can't show a good path to the baby's growth.
Before we follow or answer to some thing make sure it is an existing one.Otherwise no one can stop the occurrence of such types of methods and models.

My Contact Details:
 E-mail: ktg.pradeep@gmail.com
Skype: pradeep.lingan
Phone:07639959901