How to Improve Tester Performance?

Many Companies don’t have resources or can’t afford to hire the required number of testers on the project. So what could be the solution in this case?

The answer is simple. Companies will prefer to have skilled testers instead of a army of testers!

So how can build skilled testers on any project?
You can improve testers performance by assigning him/her to the single project.
Due to this the tester will get the detail knowledge of the project domain, Can concentrate well on that project, can do the R&D work during the early development phase of the project.

This not only build his/her functional testing knowledge but also the project Domain knowledge.

Company can use following methods to Improve the Testers performance:
1) Assign one tester to one project for long duration or to the entire project. Doing this will build testers domain knowledge, He/She can write better test cases, Can cover most of the test cases, and eventually can find the problem faster.

2) Most of the testers can do the functional testing, BV analysis but they may not know how to measure test coverage,How to test a complete application, How to perform load testing. Company can provide the training to their employees in those areas.

3) Involve them in all the project meetings, discussions, project design so that they can understand the project well and can write the test cases well.

4) Encourage them to do the extra activities other than the regular testing activities. Such activities can include Inter team talk on their project experience, Different exploratory talks on project topics.

Most important is to give them freedom to think outside the box so that they can take better decision on Testing activities like test plan, test execution, test coverage.

If you have a better idea to boost the testers performance don’t forget to comment on!

Top Three Tips to Survive in this Recession

There are people who are happy of this recession - pink slips, reduction in IT recruitment, bleak prospects etc., makes them happy with the fact the IT industry is coming to ‘normalization’. This paper is not for those who are fuming at IT but for those unfortunates who are already into this fascinating world and wondering how to get stabilized here.

Gartner analysis till 2011 is not encouraging for all of us. But the world of outsourcing and off shoring is not going to be affected very much during the coming years. It gives us an opportunity to adjust ourselves to the new environment to survive.

Here are my top three tips to survive in this recession:

1) Upgrade Your Skills - Make a Strong Profile

When I was young my teachers used to emphasis on specialized skills. Yes even in our testing world, hitherto specialization was getting much attention and my organization was able to charge differential rates to the clients for a performance architect or automation developer. Oflate, my requirements are coming differently. Clients need a test automation architect, who is good in QTP, LoadRunner, Perl, Unix, SQL, Java etc., etc., but as things emerge, you should be a jack of all arts in all testing arena.

Unless you are multi skilled, it is going to be difficult for us to survive in the emerging context. When you are out of a project, take that as a boon period to upgrade your skills. Be in testing released certifications like ISTQB, CSTE, CSQA or tools related certifications like AIS, ASE or domain related certifications in Insurance, Banking or telecom is going to help you to improve your profile.

2) Learn to Manage Stress

One more critical skill, which we need to learn, is stress management. As we move on, we will get more work related pressure. I know already several of our colleagues never see the sun light during the project execution days and this will “improve” further due to the cost cutting and operating margin pressure on the IT companies.

All of us know that a young girl committed suicide recently due to the pressure from her managers. We need to learn to live with these pressures in life. A class on Yoga or meditation will help to stabilize your mind.

3) Be Always Ready to Face Challenges

Every other day, you can see news of IT firms downsizing employees. This is hard reality in countries like India where job security is associated with the work life. It is not the question of you being a performer or non-performer, but the question of available business and required resources.

One should not get de-motivated or depressed by these events in life. In western countries, job hoping is a regular feature in life cycle but in India we are yet to get accosted to this. If you happen to face this, take it bravely and face the challenges. Cross skill will help you during this time. One of my earlier delivery managers in insurance vertical is now CEO in a hospitality company. Life gives you enough opportunity if you are ready to take challenges and use every opportunity to upgrade your skills.

As we grow, not only our skills should grow with us, but also the certifications and membership which will give an enhanced look to your profile. Also, our confidence to face the challenges should also improve. Long back, I had a supervisor, who will become uneasy, if he did not have any problem to solve. We used to yell at him at that time and now I realize that he is my mentor in facing multi dimensional issues and problems in life.

This is right time for all of us to introspect ourselves on the current skills and move forward. Nothing is impossible if you have the determination to WIN.

Interview Tips

Interviews are a lot of work and require serious preparation. Review your recent performance and have examples of how you 1) solved a complex issue, 2) displayed leadership, 3) exhibited team spirit. Focus on accomplishments. Review in detail the requirements of this new post. Wear a nice suit
and be clean-shaved. Anticipate possible questions and have some well prepared responses. Be ready to ASK GOOD QUESTIONS.

Being nervous is natural, especially for an important experience you are about to go through. Some suggestions:

- Review the company, the division and the people you are going to work for. Learn as much about them, their products, their vision, their mission, etc...
Study online resources for this information, but also get on the phone, even seek meetings (informal ones) with others in the company, or with those
who know the company. This is considered a normal/natural part of your job seeking homework, by the way. Learn all you can, as it’s in your best
interest.

- Have one, or more, people who you know/trust to give you a series of mock interviews. What worked generally in this area (your mileage may vary!) was for anyone mock interviewer to set up a series of 3-5 interviews, each was to be a new/unique session and to put them through a variety of typical scenario's. Each session was treated like a full and FORMAL job interview, to include suit, demeanor and complete interview set of questions, answers and discussion. Afterward there was a blunt and candid review of what the objectives for that session were (from HIS perspective), what areas they did well on, where they did poorly/badly, identification of areas of opportunity where they missed out on something good (or bad) to capitalize on, and objective suggestions for improving body language,demeanor, language, and attitude. The reviews afterward were essential to improving my understanding of THEMSELVES and what they MUST improve in order to get
through the interview. For me, this proved to be a winning move.

- Go into the interview eager and ready to experience it. Relish and enjoy every moment of it. You will get to do it so infrequently, that this is a golden opportunity to experience to the fullest. You may think I'm kidding ---I'm not. By adjusting yourself so that this IS your mindset and approach, you'll find it not only enjoyable, but very rewarding as well.

- Try this approach on being calm---think about, and continuously remind yourself in productive, enriching and positive ways that you will calmly and rationally be successful in this interview. Mentally focus on what you WANT, vice what you don't want. It’s fine to honestly self-evaluate how you are
today. What is really important is HOW will you improve? What can you do better, and what are you doing about it now? Another approach is that being nervous is your minds way of telling you to be careful. You are in control of yourself. You decide what is important or worrisome. So, tell your mind what to think and how to act. Such an improvement can occur over time when you are persistent. Think about it. Side note: I've found in life, people who focus on what they don't want, or like, as the case may be, don't see how negative that is. They really believe that by telling themselves NOT to do something that somehow, magically, the RIGHT thing they are supposed to be doing will magically occur. It doesn't work that way. I've found when you positively and actively WANT something to occur, then make that accomplishment the focus of your attention --- it happens. I believe that occurs because you've DONE something, as opposed to the alternative of attempting to NOT do something. I believe the former is a positive builder in our lives. Be optimistic.

- Be honest regarding what you can do, and only volunteer what you are bad at, or cannot do when questioned about something specific that you can't do. Its reasonable to know your limitations, and that you can candidly explain the breadth of your abilities (and limits). If you find they focus on 'stuff'
you don't know, its ok. Expect such questions and take them in stride. Follow up with your speed/willingness to learn ..


The telephone interview or candidate screen allows the employer to determine if the candidate's qualifications, experience, workplace preferences and salary needs are congruent with the position and organization. The telephone interview saves managerial time and eliminates unlikely candidates. While I recommend developing a customized interview for each position, this generic interview will guide you.

You want to ask enough questions to determine if the person is a viable candidate. Remember, you have already screened many resumes and applications to come up with your short list of telephone screening candidates. These should be your best prospects at this point in your recruiting process.

Here at SapResourcing.com, we want our candidates to reflect well on us, this means we have to not waste your time with inappropriate positions, but sometimes this in itself is not enough. The demand for candidates is high, but so is the competition for securing the most lucrative positions, in the most exciting projects.

We believe that effective interview preparation and technique, will help make a big difference whether you are trying to secure that next big career move or the SAP consultant’s three month contract worth circa £45,000 to you in income. If you look at the monetary value alone, your ability to perform well at interview, becomes very worthwhile and is a part of your skillset that you should not neglect.


PREPARATION

Preparing for interviews helps you to:

Anticipate questions and prepare answers such that you present yourself in a clear and concise manner. It also improves the accuracy and completeness of the answer. Customise your answers in line with the job requirements, organisation culture/norms and industry facts. This helps you to relate past experience to current job requirements and to provide convincing examples/experiences in relation to the organisation/ industry/project deliverables.

PREPARATION TECHNIQUE

While preparation covers all aspects, you may like to concentrate on three core areas. This does not mean preparation excludes areas such as knowledge of company, job and industry. These are also important as knowledge of these aspects show the interviewee's interest.


Technical Preparation

Key areas to pay attention to pre-interview are:
Does the role require technical skillsets that I already have or need to acquire?
What are my key examples of work in this specific technical discipline?
What are my areas of strength, relevant to this role?
What do I anticipate are the most important technical skillsets for the client?
How can I best demonstrate my ability in those key skillsets?
What technical questions can I ask that will demonstrate an appreciation of the interviewers typical technical issues/problems? (Especially useful if you know the key project objectives in advance).

Operational Preparation
Preparation in this area concentrates on the use of technical knowledge in a project or work environment.
This shifts from being able to demonstrate technical knowledge, to demonstrating the role that you have performed and can perform in a work environment or project lifecycle. The interviewees experience during usage of technical knowledge. This could vary for different roles. For example; Programmers would need to know about debuggers, profilers, tool or utilities etc.

Analyst /Designer Would need to know methodology (SSAD, OOM), standards (IEEE, ANSI, CUA), environment (utilities) etc. Project Managers Would need to know have technology awareness (versions, new releases), available techniques ( tools, standards ), quality assurance (measurements, test management), configuration management (version control, change management) project management (planning, organizing reporting), user requirements and contractual obligations. The depth would be an over-view of all levels for technical knowledge.




Personal Preparation
This area would include presentation of positive traits and habits. In addition to this it is important to concentrate on developing appropriate communication skills, again, how you say something can count for a great deal. This is hard to prepare for, they are registered by the interviewer through your use of language, demeanour, mannerisms and delivery of your responses to their questions. If you maintain a professional, positive and focussed outlook in the interview, you should be fine. Typical criteria that are being looked at by the interviewer will include:

Presentation skill.
Confidence level
Comprehension Brevity
Logical & concise responses.
Command of language
Power of expression
Closing an Interview.
Keep it simple, brief and professional.
Ask if the interviewer has any further questions or would like further information (references, certificates, technical assessments).
Confirm that you have enjoyed the meeting, you are very interested in the role and company, would readily attend another interview or can start on (date) if offered.
Is there another stage, when is a decision to be made?

Thank the interviewer for their time and that you look forward to hearing from them soon.

Post interview.
Don't be too discouraged if no definite next stage is mentioned, they may have to discuss with colleagues. Keep positive. If you get the impression that the interview is not going well, don't let that show as you may have misread the situation.

Localization Testing of the UI

Also keep an eye on the behavior of applications that run processes in a system-such as operating-system services-rather than in a user's context. When a system process queries its user default UI language settings, it might get a result different from what a user's process running at the same time will get. This can cause localization problems, inconsistency in the UI that the user sees (if parts of it are generated by the system services), or even problems in functionality. In order to avoid those problems, always check an application's behavior with different default user and system UI languages. The settings for UI languages should also be different from those used in the development environment.

For example, assume you have a machine with MUI installed and a user whose default UI language is different from that of the system. Suppose a fax service waiting for incoming calls is running continuously and that, when a fax arrives, the service displays a notification message to the currently logged user (if there is one). You must ensure that the message be in the user's language, which might not necessarily be the same as the one returned to the fax service when it queries its default UI language.

In particular, localization testing of the UI and linguistics should cover items such as:

• Validation of all application resources.


• Verification of linguistic accuracy and resource attributes.


• Checking for typographical errors.


• Checking that printed documentation, online Help, messages, interface resources, and command-key sequences are consistent with each other. If you have shipped localized versions of your product before, make sure that the translation
  
  is consistent with the earlier released versions.


• Confirmation of adherence to system, input, and display environment standards.


• Checking usability of the UI.


• Assessment of cultural appropriateness.


• Checking for politically sensitive content.


• Making sure the market-specific information about your company, such as contact information or local product-support phone numbers, is updated.

Platform in Localization Testing

Any language version of Windows XP or Windows 2000 can be selected as a platform for the test if the product is properly globalized. Of course, in the case of localization testing, the localized version of the operating system can be a wise choice, since that's the most likely environment for your application in the real world. However, a globalized and localizable application, even after it undergoes localization, must be able to run on any language version of the operating system and with MUI installed.

You should run the application with MUI installed when your application implements an MUI behavior, through pluggable UI, satellite dynamic-link libraries (DLLs), or some other technique that adjusts the UI language to the user's preferences. MUI allows the user to switch the UI language of the operating system and thus you must make sure your application matches the operating-system settings. You should verify the behavior of the application when the user's default language of the UI differs from the other locale settings. By doing so, you'll immediately see any problems in the way resources are loaded and processed.