“How to get feedback as a tester. Apart from annual appraisal how should a tester seeks feedback on his performance. So, I want to understand how good or bad a tester I am.”
ConditionGOOD | DiagnosisPOOR GRAMMAR |
Treatment
This is already good enough, but since it’s Question Hospital, I will clean up the grammar.
“How can I get feedback on my performance as a tester? I want to understand how good or bad a tester I am without waiting for my annual appraisal.”
My Answer
Self-evaluation is not just about feedback. It’s also about looking at yourself. Here are some ideas for you:
- Develop a collegial network. This means a group of professional friends (not necessarily working at the same company) whom you know want you to succeed. It’s easier to take criticism from friends. A great way to build such a network is by attending meetups and conferences and talking to people in the hallways and at lunch. With a collegial network you can pose questions and directly ask for feedback about your work.
- Get outside coaching. You might go further and seek an outside coach to work with you. I have people approaching me occasionally and on a time available basis I am happy to help.
- Practice explaining testing to yourself. If you practice explaining what you are doing and why, even privately to yourself, you will get a better sense of your own skills. If your explanations are only one sentence long, or if you have trouble putting details into words, that is an indicator that you have some important things to learn.
- Notice when you are confused about testing, and resolve that confusion. Confusion is important. Sometimes confusion is just a sign that something is broken or weird that has nothing to do with you. But it is often a sign that you need to work on your skills. One heuristic I use to evaluate myself