By: Stan Lee Itzcoatl.
How can I hire the best QA talent?
In the 80s there was a comedy movie about a robot called “Short Circuit”. In the movie, the robot read entire books in 10 seconds and demanded “more input”. When hiring for your testing team, look for people that demand “more input”. Look for people with critical thinking skills.
What should you look for when searching for QA engineers? It really depends on your precise situation. I personally take a number of things into consideration, but the most important for me is someone that has good critical thinking skills. What is critical thinking? Here’s a simplified definition: critical thinking is the process of evaluating all available information so as to reach a decision or action. Let’s discuss how critical thinking can help with testing and how to look for critical thinking skills from your candidates.
Critical Thinking and Software Testing
Critical thinking and testing really are a match made in heaven. In the testing world you dream of finding job candidates that ask questions and dive as deep as they need to in order to reach critical information. Testing requires that someone be persistent in trying to reach the root cause of issues. Testers must be able to analyze all information and perhaps use it to generate even more questions.
A highly technical tester does not always equal critical thinking skills. I’ve managed testers that had impressive coding skills, but lacked critical thinking skills. Their work suffered because they were quick to write code but not to analyze and dissect the problem in order to create the best solution. Critical thinking allows testers to first and foremost process information and make a decision as to whether they need additional input. These skills are fundamental when putting together a testing strategy for small and large efforts. You need to be able to understand what you are testing so that you can test it. It sounds silly but it’s true.
How Do I Look For Critical Thinking
There is no definitive way to measure critical thinking skills. Certain interview approaches do help in observing whether a candidate has the basics for demonstrating critical thinking. Open ended interview questions help in terms of giving the candidate a white canvas in which to display their thought process. Vague or high level interview questions regarding certain scenarios also help. For example, a simple question like how would you test a soda vending machine. Standing together and white-boarding a topic together is also a favorite of mine. It can be a very simple topic, but the point is that the candidate needs to show the ability to ask questions about the context of the testing, the technologies, etc. You are looking for someone that analyzes and iteratively goes deeper into the next layer of information.
It is fine for a candidate to say they don’t know the answer to a question, but you want to see them ask additional questions to gather more information. That is a good sign. In trying to conduct your critical thinking analysis of candidates, you’ll also be able to see how they communicate their desire for more information and how they handle the pressure. Remember to be fair and respectful of your candidates. You don’t need to play the games some companies do by trying to breakdown a candidate with impossible trivia. Critical thinking is not about answering trivia questions properly, it’s about gathering “more input”.
Stanitz LLC provides a full range of software consulting services including development, QA testing, technical SEO and more. If you need assistance with creating a QA team then contact Stantiz today. We focus on speed and results.
