From gamer to quality director

I took the path of least resistance.


Getting into IT through testing is easy. Know yourself the buttons, press and fill the buttons, and if you find a bug (that is, a bug, error), then scream and run around the computer, like a fighting orangutan. A dream, not a job. The apotheosis of such a career is to become the leader of the pack, that is, not to knock the keys yourself, but to climb the tallest tree and from there follow the wards. Now and then poke them with a stick, throw bananas, and especially naughty on the heads with stones to knock - paradise, well. (Joke.)

But how wrong I was. It turned out that in order to become a good specialist (and bad to be uninteresting) in the field of quality assurance, you need a lot more than just the desire to hit the keyboard. Here you also have a test analysis with reading the software specifications, a test design with writing hundreds of test cases and checklists, skills in working with specialized software such as bug trackers and test case management systems, knowledge of the types of testing and the subject area of ​​the products being tested.

In the work of a specialist, so-called hard skills are important, that is, skills related to the employee’s immediate activities and specialty. For a tester, such things can be very different things - from the ability to correctly state the essence of the problem in a good bug report and write a good test case to programming skills for creating automated tests.
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And one thing is to test toys, chop up in Counter-Strike in the evenings away for the sake of the next report “Testing the network mode of the game passed successfully”, well, or register a bunch of accounts on LovePlanet and flirt with the girls, performing test cases “Check sending messages” or “ Check gift sending. And it’s quite another to look at the products more deeply, that is, to be able to abstract from user scenarios, separate the client part from the server part, understand the subtleties of the interaction of system components in order to see potential nodes with maximum risks, cover them with a dense ring of multi-level tests, collect metrics and improve, to improve, improve and once again improve the quality of the products produced.



Needless to say, everything is not as simple with management as it may seem at first. Now every now and then I come across ambitious specialists, who are labeled as managers, or with novice team leaders. In the course of work, it is often necessary to explain on the fingers that management is not a freebie and supervision of the work of employees, but hard work and responsibility.

So-called soft skills, that is, satellite skills, such as negotiation skills, persuasion skills, strategic thinking, analysis, time management, emotion management, planning, and much more often come to the forefront of the manager’s work. And here it is important to note that these skills are much less in demand when a specialist is working than when a manager is working, and therefore at the very beginning of the journey the following statement will often be true:

good specialist ≠ good manager

To become a good manager is a separate science, which is no easier to comprehend than to become an expert. Therefore, a specialist who has stepped onto this road needs to have patience and hard work in order to comprehend the nuances of management. Below I want to share a couple of parting words for novice managers. I hope my advice will be useful, and following them will help.

First, you need to take responsibility for the work of your team. As a specialist, the employee was responsible only for his own actions, and the right leader should be responsible for the team members. And in a disputable situation or outright failure, it is necessary to take the burden of responsibility on yourself, and not to try to shove it at your fighters, they say, it was they who screwed up, not me. Head - all head!

Secondly, it is necessary to overcome a number of internal fears and doubts, learn how to make decisions, on which the fate of the product and the team will depend. It is important to remember that you are responsible for these decisions (see tip one). For example, each manager has his own “cemetery of dismissed”. Believe my experience, the first layoffs are not easy and morally, but then it becomes easier and you can even get a taste.

Third, learn to think like the owner of the business in which you operate. Asking a working question, think not only about personal fears, possible solutions and responsibilities, but also about the interests of the company. This will allow you to make the right strategic decisions that will lead you and your company to success.

Fourth, your strength is in your team! I was very lucky with the team, I have excellent team leaders and professional experts. I can rely on them as on myself. They did not become such overnight, this is the result of painstaking teamwork, where I and members of my team equally invested. Therefore, invest in your team strength, time, money and knowledge. I assure you, these investments will pay off a hundredfold. By the way, I told about this in more detail in a couple of my reports: “ Sharing knowledge is useful ” and “ Training testers. Practical experience and advice .


My dreamteam

And finally, fifthly, be open to knowledge. Do not stop for a moment, otherwise you risk immediately find yourself in a dustbin of history. It may seem that in the management everything was invented in the days of the Egyptian pharaohs, but it is not so! Be on the wave, follow the trends and trends, be aware of new products and advanced knowledge. It should be noted that this concerns not only management skills, but also the skills of your specialists. If possible, try not to get off the ground, work and head and hands. After all, only this way you will understand the sorrows, troubles and problems of your team.

In this video, I share experiences, briefly talk about my path and a little about personal views on the management of a team of IT specialists:


To become a good leader is a worthy goal that will require from you a remarkable investment of time, moral and physical efforts. But the result will be worth it, I assure you. Dare, all in your hands and heads!