I was asked to write this for my current job’s newsletter. My family is always asking me what I do for a living, and rarely understands my response – so I thought it’d be good to reprint this here. Enjoy!
Introduction
Song – “Diary of a Madman” by Ozzie Osbourne
I mainly use my hands, eyes, ears, and occasionally feet to execute tests through the software user interface. For the most part, the code is opaque to me. Other testers have more insight into the innards of the software and many test the code by writing test code. All of these techniques are combined to test a product, and testing tasks vary depending on the project as well as the phase of the development cycle.
I recently worked on a product that was just released, and I think my typical day at the end of a project highlights how months of testing tasks performed by various test engineers generate the tools used to evaluate a software build. (Disclaimers: some things are embellished for your entertainment. Parental Advisory Warning for the playlist.)
5:50 AM
Song – “Kitty” by The Presidents of the United States of America
The “Biological Clocks” (a.k.a. cats) wake me up. I walk to the coffee shop with Hubby, take the bus to the gym, work-out on the torture device…I mean elliptical trainer, take the trolley to 23rd street, and walk the remaining few blocks to the office. Normally I avoid the crepes and pastries that line the streets of Northwest Portland, but since this is release week, I treat myself to a café au lait and crepe with strawberry jam. Oo la la!
8:00 AM
Song – “Message in a Bottle” by The Police
I launch my email. It may contain bug reports from other team members or it may contain no emails at all. Today, I have an email saying a new build, “lucky number 13,” is ready for testing.
8:10 AM
Song – “Coffee’s Gold” by Abigail Washburn
I go to the QA Lab and prep a machine. The QA Lab machines have disk images with just the operating system and antivirus software on them allowing me to always start from a baseline “clean” system.
8:30 AM
Song–“Godzilla” by Blue Oyster Cult
The bug database is my main means of communication with the rest of the team, my task list, my memory, my alibi, and my best friend. I currently use Bugzilla which is an open source bug database tool. I search for any bugs in the current project that are marked fixed. At the end of a project the only bugs that are fixed have to be extremely bad and the fix needs to be low risk. Today there is only one fixed bug. I make sure I cannot recreate the bug in “lucky build 13” and that any areas that the fix may affect are functioning properly. The fix passes my tests, so I close the bug.
9:00 AM
Song – “Smoke on the Water” by Deep Purple
I start executing the “smoke tests.” Early in the project, the test team creates a test plan that lists the details of what needs to be done to assure an agreed upon level of quality for the release. This project’s test plan consists of smoke tests, automated tests, and manual tests. Smoke tests are basic tests that broadly cover the software and quickly verify a build is stable.
9:45 AM
Song- “You Can’t Bring me Down” by Suicidal Tendencies
I take a break from the smoke tests and check Bugzilla to see if other team members reported any showstoppers in “lucky build 13.” Phew! All is clear.
10:00 AM
Podcast – Bollywood Basement
The project manager wanders into the lab to see how things are going. I’ve got my highly danceable Bollywood Basement Podcast cranked and I’m grooving in my chair. I don’t realize he’s there (for who knows how long). So embarrassing!!!
10: 30 AM
Song – “Nothing to Fear (but Fear Itself)” by Oingo Boingo
The smoke tests are done and they pass! I check Bugzilla. Whew! All is cool.
11:00 AM
Song – “Invasion of the Gabber Robots” by The Laziest Men on Mars
The QA Department has a lot of automated tests written by various test engineers. Many of these tests were modified to run in the the current project. Today I use the automated tests to quickly execute hundreds of in depth tests and verify that no major areas of the product are suddenly broken. The automated tests pass!
11:30 AM
Song – “Nine Pound Hammer” by Flatt and Scruggs
I check Bugzilla. Still no bad bugs entered. Phew!
12:00 PM
Song – “Take it Easy” by The Eagles
The Project Manager walks past my cube and I notice he is wringing his hands. I let him know that so far no showstoppers have been reported for this build, the smoke tests pass, and a subset of the automated tests pass.
12:15 PM
Song – “Hot Burrito Breakdown” by Alan Munde
Lunch!! Decisions, decisions … Do I eat my healthy home-made lentil soup, get something from the burrito guy downstairs, or do I take a real break and walk to Sushiville where the brightly colored plates of fish hypnotically wind along the snake-like conveyer belt in a way that I find strangely relaxing?
1:00 PM
Song – “Reading in the Dark” by Béla Fleck
I review the latest draft of the product release notes and email the writer my feedback.
2:00 PM
Song – “I Think I’m Paranoid” by Garbage
I run through my personal project paranoia checks. Basically there are certain issues that happen over the course of a project that stick in my mind as really bad and I feel the need to double check them.
—This is where you, dear reader, get your reward for reading this far! Choose your own ending!!—
Ending 1
3:00 PM
Song – “Raining Blood” by Slayer
The Programming Lead passes by just as I’m executing the last test and suddenly the software is frozen, I can’t reboot the system, and smoke starts pouring from the machine. I call out to him, “Ummm…there seems to be a really bad bug…could you please hand me that fire extinguisher?”
6:00 PM
Song – “I Wanna be Sedated” by the Ramones
I take the bus home. Tomorrow will be another day.
Ending 2
3:00 PM
Song – “We are the Champions” by Queen
The Programming Lead passes by just as I’m executing the last test. I haven’t broken anything all day. I tell him what I’ve covered and I think “lucky build 13” is “the one.” The team meets. We agree it is good to go. Confetti falls from the ceiling, the sun comes out, throngs of people cheer in the streets!!
4:00 PM
Song- “Coming up Roses” by Elliot Smith
After I finish clearing away the pyramid of Diet Coke cans that accumulated on my desk over the course of the day, I head home with a hop in my step and a smile on my face. Tomorrow is a new day!