{"id":322,"date":"2011-08-26T10:41:17","date_gmt":"2011-08-26T17:41:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/angryweasel.com\/blog\/?p=322"},"modified":"2011-08-26T10:41:17","modified_gmt":"2011-08-26T17:41:17","slug":"titles-for-testers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/angryweasel.com\/blog\/titles-for-testers\/","title":{"rendered":"Titles for Testers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I\u2019ve had a few conversations on twitter over the past few weeks about tester titles. My conclusion is that test titles are meaningless, but let\u2019s look at why I think that, and why it doesn\u2019t matter.<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s say you\u2019ve been testing for eight years, given a conference presentation or two and wrote a bit about testing on a blog. You\u2019re definitely experienced \u2013 given the turnover in test roles, some may even call you an \u201cexpert\u201d \u2013 you may or not be an expert, but chances are you are at least above average in the testing skills department. <\/p>\n<p>Now \u2013 your company just folded and you\u2019re looking for a new job. You go to monster.com or dice.com and&#160; you search for \u201ctest\u2019. You see a huge list of titles like:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Test Engineer (and Test Engineer II, Test Engineer III, etc.)<\/li>\n<li>Quality Analyst <\/li>\n<li>Testing Analyst<\/li>\n<li>Automation Engineer<\/li>\n<li>Test Architect<\/li>\n<li>Test Automation Developer<\/li>\n<li>Test Manager<\/li>\n<li>Director of Test<\/li>\n<li>Senior Test Engineer<\/li>\n<li>many, many more\u2026<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>OK \u2013 which one do you apply for? I\u2019ll save you a bit of work and tell you that the job descriptions are mostly the same. I\u2019ll give you some advice \u2013 if you\u2019re in the job market, <font color=\"#2e2e2e\"><strong>do not look for a job based on title \u2013 the titles don\u2019t mean anything.<\/strong> With title being out of the picture, I\u2019d suggest looking for companies and locations that interest you and applying for whatever test jobs they have available. Companies may be advertising for a \u201cTest Engineer\u201d, hoping to get someone with half a brain about testing, but would be delighted to have someone with experience. You may think, \u201cHow could I take a Test Engineer job when my qualifications dictate that I\u2019m at least a Test Engineer III?\u201d I\u2019ll say it again \u2013 <strong>titles don\u2019t matter<\/strong>. It\u2019s what you do, and not what you\u2019re called.<\/font><\/p>\n<p><font color=\"#2e2e2e\">As a side note, I give this same advice to people changing jobs within Microsoft where we have standard titles to match career stage. If you find a product you want to work on, but you\u2019re overqualified for the positions they have open, talk to them anyway. Most test managers I know are usually more than happy to up-level their team.<\/font><\/p>\n<p><font color=\"#2e2e2e\">Now let\u2019s fast forward. You have a new job, the work is challenging, and you\u2019re kicking ass. Your job title is merely <a href=\"http:\/\/angryweasel.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/WP_000136.jpg\" target=\"_blank\">tester<\/a>, and you\u2019re worried that people will look down on you because you don\u2019t have a more prestigious title like Senor Test Engineer, or Senior Software Quality Specialist, or Super Tester from Another Planet!. <\/font><\/p>\n<p><font color=\"#2e2e2e\">One last time:<strong> in software testing, titles just don\u2019t matter<\/strong>. Software testing is still a relatively new profession and definitions are still evolving for nearly every aspect of the profession. That\u2019s ok (and expected). Focus on what you do (and on kicking ass), and you\u2019ll be just fine.<\/font><\/p>\n<p><font color=\"#2e2e2e\">Or \u2013 if consistent titles are that important to you, you can go get a job as a plumber or garbage man (ahem \u2013 <em>sanitation engineer<\/em>).<\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I\u2019ve had a few conversations on twitter over the past few weeks about tester titles. My conclusion is that test titles are meaningless, but let\u2019s look at why I think that, and why it doesn\u2019t matter. Let\u2019s say you\u2019ve been testing for eight years, given a conference presentation or two and wrote a bit about&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-322","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-allposts"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/angryweasel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/angryweasel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/angryweasel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/angryweasel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/angryweasel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=322"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/angryweasel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/angryweasel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/angryweasel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/angryweasel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}