The bugs within a tester

Hi Reader,

In the recent past, I gave many people, an opportunity to find the bugs in me.

"Yes, I made this post interesting for you, with the first line I wrote".

I am happy, about myself, for giving others freedom and chance to find bugs but I am interested in sharing *the method in which they got a chance to find bugs in me, I facilitated it*.

Sometimes, I consciously provoked it and rest were driven by daily happenings of life.

I am finding it comfortable to talk about the bugs my peers/well wishers, identified, as some bugs are fixed, some are getting resolved at high priority and the rest are deferred, since, I am more sure that, those are my features.

_ The bugs within a tester _

"Pradeep, why did you title it as *The bugs within a tester*, than * The bugs within Pradeep* ?"

I felt, if it applies to me, it applies to someone else too. I am no super human to have a bug that is unique to me, sorry for my assumptions.

Here, I give you an example of an accepted bug (bug fixed, of course) and a deferred bug. There are many such, perhaps, you can get in touch with me, to check, How good you are as a tester, by feeling good for not making mistakes, I have made.

The story of directing and re-directing

As you may be aware or not aware, there are many testers, whom I claim to help, for they contacting me personally, provided their queries are well within my reach of proposing a better solution. It so happened once that one such tester, popped up on Yahoo Messenger, and sought my permission to say something about me and with open heart and mind, I said, "Yes, go ahead". He has been someone who has been in touch with me for quite sometime, since the existence of this blog of mine, which has a great impact of my life.

He had to say "Pradeep, you write so wonderful that I have actually marketed your blog in my company, to the testers, since I feel, it makes a tester, learn a lot, beyond that, think a lot" BUT "I see you talk a lot about yourself, your achievements.... actually, without you mentioning it, people will talk about it for your blog speaks who you are"

ACCEPTED, on the spot !

Bug Fix : Well, the problem is, I spoke a lot about myself, my achievements, and sentences like "I did that, I did this, Wow, I am great" and then I asked myself, *Did I wanted to mean it?*

Answer is, sometimes "Yes" but not always and wondered what made someone think like that?
Well, it is the sense of happiness, I wanted to share, I wanted to make the people whom I am guiding/misguiding, realize, I am eligible for what I have been doing. Also, people who are very close to me know, *How I came out of my so called physical handicappiness*, which makes me so proud of myself, for even the smallest of my achievement, I am doing.

Should I correct this?
Yes, very much, if someone is saying, my blog speaks for me, then I need not waste much energy in speaking and becoming redundant loosing the genuine.

The story of arrogance

I was happy to meet a person, what made him meet me, is this blog. He is a fan ! ( of this blog and not me, unacceptable, I write it)

He is a very good person at heart, I could get it. During a conversation he said something that interested me, to listen more from him "I am one big fan of your blog, I keep checking frequently to see new content in it and yes, there is a learning" BUT "you sound very arrogant, I have seen your replies in a Yahoo group on testing, that made me draw this conclusion"

Analysis:
Could he be right?

Yes, he could be but what was my intention when I sent replies to a few threads, discussing on testing. I went back home, looked at those threads, that made me reply in a very arrogant manner.

I thought for about 20 minutes and when I felt I had done with my thinking, I wanted to defer the bug raised.
All, so called, arrogant replies, were the ones with which, I got irritated, as a passionate tester.

A sample is here -
A manager, in India, had mailed to a Yahoo group,moderated mostly by non indian testers, seeking help to *manage/face the Dev Manager who was trying to screw his happiness*. It was written in such a way that, myself, despite being poor in english, felt *I think I am a bit better than this guy*.

I replied to him in such a way that, if you were in that group, you would also have felt that I was too arrogant in advicing something to the manager but that is all you would know about that, since I replied *you deserve it*.

Truth - I was shocked to see his personal reply, accepting his mistake and seeking help from me for his improvement. It made me feel a bit guilty but I was happy to have come across a person, at managerial level, accepting mistakes and seeking help from a junior. Of course, he sought help, after going through most of the posts here.

Slowly, we started communicating and I am sure, he is improving.
I feel "Who am I to brand *he is improving*?".

When, my so called *arrogance* can bring such good people to me, I wish, having it for this lifetime. For people, who form an opinion about me and leave, you need some more patience, at least with me, if you think I can add any value to you but I feel, I can learn from you.

However, if someone posts, queries that did not involve basic search in internet to find out something, seeking help for day to day activities, I shall, work on my arrogance.

The story of "I am not good at testing myself"

She is smart, since she found the bug I was looking for. She, is my cousin, who wanted me to help her of "How to face a new tough situation in life?".
"Pradeep, I called you up, since I felt it is your testing skills which impressed me. I now feel *in life, you may not be as smart as you are in testing*", is what she could conclude.

Bug Status : Needs further investigation
Accepted partially because, I myself knew, I could not add value for her situation. How can I say "that situation is easy to handle", without me experiencing it or experimenting with it. I should have said "I do not know much, do you still want me to help you?", I took it casual, as I thought, it was personal talks and I can loaf and need not be high technical and professional.

A smart tester,need not be always smart and that too, I am a self certified *smart tester*.

The story of "Lessons from peers"

She - again, was able to identify, a bug, rather an interesting one. That added one more reason to like her (just *like*, mam). "Pradeep, you spend too much time worrying for something that does not deserve it".

Is that a bug? Yes, I thought, I can spend time, worrying more ( spend more time) for things that I have been worrying, which could make me technically more tactical.

Bug Status: Medium Severity - Medium Priority bug, will find a fix, it takes time. ( Am I worrying too much about what you said, mam?)

_ End of _ The bugs within a tester _

Well, that is not the end, some learning's, are a treasure, I would want you to experience it.

Sometime back, I read somewhere "Testers should be good enough to fix the bugs", I didn't believe it but I better believe such things, I fixed the bugs and working on the huge list I have. I am still in Beta !

I personally thank James Bach and Jerry Weinberg , who do not even know, they are inspiring me so much, to an extent that, I started feeling , *The biggest achievement what I claim, itself, is nothing, tons to do,before I can even claim of having done one*.

No, I do not want to miss out Mr Ravi Joshi, Sridhar Krishnamurhty and Girish Hampali as the ones, with whom I am in constant touch, who also make me feel the same. Thanks to you all !

Thanks for taking time reading this.

"When you ought to find bugs in you, even if you are the smartest tester, leave the job to others"

Regards,

Pradeep Soundararajan
pradeep.srajan@gmail.com

Disclaimer: Simple truth, yet, happy for being so bold. Not a single time did I think, *I may spoil my own reputation, * [ others :-( ]