Wolf in Sheep's Clothing

or How I became a Were-tester

I first got involved as an expert to estimate the complexity of working with UNIX and as a consultant to choose and configure equipment necessary for the project. I then started helping to set up and support the project and work out test cases. It was really important to know the inner workings of the project, and I ended up being responsible for the whole shebang.

Is it interesting to work as a tester on this project?

Yes, I find the project really interesting mainly because I chose not to confine myself solely to system administration and UNIX related tasks. Working as a tester is no less interesting than doing any other job. That said, any job has its downsides, like fights with developers over bugs in the project, but that sometimes adds to the fun ;) I've been put on some much tougher projects, but then I test the stuff that no-one else will.

This project is unusual in that programmers took on the role of testers. Sometimes it's useful to swap roles- it gives you an insight into others' fields of expertise and gives you the chance to look at your own work from a different perspective.

There's also the chance that we'll get to do more on this project than just QA, so the extensive knowledge we gain in the process of testing will come in handy should we get involved in development tasks.

What are your hopes regarding future work at DataArt?

I'd like to see more UNIX projects, but as long as the work stays interesting, I'll be happy.

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