Testing & Movies & Stuff

“One piece of wisdom a writer quickly learns ~ typos keep you humble.” ― E.A. Bucchianeri “Mr. Tulliver did not willingly write a letter, and found the relation between spoken and written language, briefly known as spelling, one of the most puzzling things in this puzzling world. Nevertheless, like all fervid writing, the task was done in less time than usual, and if the spelling differed from Mrs. Glegg's,- why, she belonged, like himself, to a generation with whom spelling was a matter of private judgment.” ― George Eliot I'm sure the Spell Check tool was planned to be more of a convenience rather than an accessibility  tool, but for me, it was a life saver, a teacher, and the best reference tool ever created, besides Google. I've always been a pretty rotten speller. I don't remember a time I've ever passed a spelling test with an A or didn't manage to flip letters around as I write. Typewriters were a little easier and a comput...

 “Time is a game played beautifully by children.” ― Heraclitus, Fragments I had an interesting experience this weekend. A friend of mine contacted me and asked for some ideas to help her daughter learn about testing video games. Think about that for a minute. I've had a lot of kids, including my oldest nephew ask about game design and creating video games, but my friend mentioned testing. Testing as a career. Testing as something that happens with a technology genre most kids are introduced to first. Games and tech have had a long marriage and they have shepherded many a child into the tech industry with ideas of creating or designing games for the next generation of kids. This isn't a new thing either. A friend of mine from my second grade class showed me game designs he had created on paper after I had shown him some of the stuff I was writing. We were 9 years old. Personal computers were barely an idea then. I know he was talking about the At...

Credit: Jeffrey Veregge - http://www.jeffreyveregge.com Leap, Don't Look  Superheroes have to start somewhere. They learn over time. They have complex stories. They do things at times we all wonder about. They do things we wish we could do ourselves. A short time ago,  I wished I could write more,  I wished I could speak more,  I wished I could learn and grow my skills. I did a lot of wishing.  I wished for people to understand my viewpoint,  or at least give me credit for the good ideas along with the dumb ones. I wished my life was more interesting than it was. I wished. One day, I stopped wishing and I did. It was a small step.  Just a tiny one.  I wrote an essay for a contest about how much I loved Ministry of Testing and Test Bash. In two years, I've gone from wishing to doing.  I've traveled more,  I write more,  I've learned more and continue to do so. S...

"The true delight is in the finding out rather than in the knowing." - Isaac Asimov Somewhere in the the distant past, like a decade ago, manual testing wasn't considered non-technical. It was actually considered to be a very technical job in which someone doing the testing had to understand computers, operating systems, command line syntax to access everything from the directory to error logs, and a million other things that started appearing in the computing ecosystem. Fast forward to present day, manual testers everywhere are being called non-technical because they don't practice automation on a regular basis.  When did understanding computers become a non-technical thing?  We don't call business analysts non-technical. They produce technical writing and information necessary for developers and testers to understand how code is supposed to be created and work.  We don't call customer service reps non-technical. They deal with custome...

Don't Panic! From Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy If you are reading this not long after the event of your layoff or firing, don't worry, you aren't alone. Also, it's not the end of the world either. Sometimes the worst things that happen are a huge chance to re-evaluate everything and make bold decisions. I was recently laid off. It's not a happy situation for anyone. Some may revel in escorting people out the door, but for the most part, everybody is uncomfortable with it. There is a lot of anger and resentment that can come up. Feelings of rejection or remorse. Those are all very common. If you are on the other side of the coin, where suddenly you feel like a weight is lifted, life seems a little easier, or just more bearable, maybe you knew you should have, could have, left that place a long time ago. But some sense of duty or sheer will to prove that you could offer value and help make things better kept you there longer than you should have. It...

"Are you ready for the next evolution?!" - Master Chief, G.I. Jane I think it's finally time for me to put some thoughts out there about this "Death" of QA, of the Tester role, of Testing.  Testing is and always shall be part of everything a human does. That's simple freaking science. We test. We explore. We question. We gather information. We record data. That will never change, ever. Whether a group of people or one person does it, that question is a moot point as well. If you look at any time in history when leaps of logic, science, the arts and even industry happen, there are any number of people involved. There is always at least one. There will always be someone testing whatever there is to test however it fancies them.  Quality and the level of how well something is done will always be a concern at some level. And depending on whether it's burritos or rockets, there's a level of tolerance which everyone agrees to. When my burrit...

My personal goal for November is to answer a question first and then ask if the person wants more of a story or explanation of why I gave the answer I did. This is my personal goal based on feedback. I was made aware of the round about way I approach my answers, thinking I have to give an explanation up front for everything I'm going to say when a person doesn't have context. So for you reader, you have a choice. You could leave with my stated goal, and maybe point out to me when I ramble on too much or don't get to the point. Or you can read... "The Rest of the Story" If you grew up in a rural area, you probably know about Paul Harvey and the "Rest of the Story." They were usually fifteen minute segments which were often played mornings and weekends on many a rural radio station. Harvey would speak to his audiences with a lilting voice and an emotional tone that came through the radio.  Sometimes the stories were funny, sad, or taught a lesson, b...