6 research outputs found
Studies on the Software Testing Profession
This paper attempts to understand motivators and de-motivators that influence the decisions of software professionals to take up and sustain software testing careers across four different countries, i.e. Canada, China, Cuba, and India. The research question can be framed as “How many software professionals across different geographies are keen to take up testing careers, and what are the reasons for their choices?” Towards that, we developed a cross-sectional but simple survey-based instrument. In this study we investigated how software testers perceived and valued what they do and their environmental settings. The study pointed out the importance of visualizing software testing activities as a set of human-dependent tasks and emphasized the need for research that examines critically individual assessments of software testers about software testing activities. This investigation can help global industry leaders to understand the impact of work-related factors on the motivation of testing professionals, as well as inform and support management and leadership in this context
International Comparative Studies on the Software Testing Profession
This work attempts to fill a gap by exploring the human dimension in particular, by trying to understand the motivation of software professionals for taking up and sustaining their careers as software testers. Towards that goal, four surveys were conducted in four countries—India, Canada, Cuba, and China—to try to understand how professional software engineers perceive and value work-related factors that could influence their motivation to start or move into software testing careers. From our sample of 220 software professionals, we observed that very few were keen to take up testing careers. Some aspects of software testing, such as the potential for learning opportunities and the importance of the job, appear to be common motivators across the four countries, whereas the treatment of testers as second-class citizens and the complexity of the job appeared to be the most prominent de-motivators
What Pakistani Computer Science and Software Engineering Students Think about Software Testing?
Software testing is one of the crucial supporting processes of the software
life cycle. Unfortunately for the software industry, the role is stigmatized,
partly due to misperception and partly due to treatment of the role. The
present study aims to analyze the situation to explore what restricts computer
science and software engineering students from taking up a testing career in
the software industry. To conduct this study, we surveyed 88 Pakistani students
taking computer science or software engineering degrees. The results showed
that the present study supports previous work into the unpopularity of testing
compared to other software life cycle roles. Furthermore, the findings of our
study showed that the role of tester has become a social role, with as many
social connotations as technical implications.Comment: 2 page
What UAE Software Students Think about Software Testing: A Replicated Study
Software testing is vital to improve software quality. However, software tester role is stigmatized, partly due to misperception and partly due to the treatment of the testing process within the software industry. The present study analyses this situation aiming to explore what might inhibit an individual from taking up a software testing career. In order to investigate this issue, we surveyed 132 senior students pursuing degrees in information systems, information and communication technology, computer science, computer engineering, software engineering, and other closely-related disciplines at three universities in the United Arab Emirates: two publicly funded and one top-notch private university. The students were asked to describe the PROs and CONs of taking up a career in software testing and to ponder the likelihood that they would take up the career themselves. The study identified 7 main PROs and 9 main CONSs for pursuing a testing career, and indicated that the role of software tester is perceived as a social role, which may require as many soft skills as technical prowess. The results also show that UAE software-related students have a stronger negative attitude towards software testing compared to their counterparts in other countries where similar investigations have been carried out in the past three years
What UAE Software Students Think about Software Testing: A Replicated Study
Software testing is vital to improve software quality. However, software
tester role is stigmatized, partly due to misperception and partly due to the
treatment of the testing process within the software industry. The present
study analyses this situation aiming to explore what might inhibit an
individual from taking up a software testing career. In order to investigate
this issue, we surveyed 132 senior students pursuing degrees in information
systems, information and communication technology, computer science, computer
engineering, software engineering, and other closely-related disciplines at
three universities in the United Arab Emirates: two publicly funded and one
top-notch private university. The students were asked to describe the PROs and
CONs of taking up a career in software testing and to ponder the likelihood
that they would take up the career themselves. The study identified 7 main PROs
and 9 main CONSs for pursuing a testing career, and indicated that the role of
software tester is perceived as a social role, which may require as many soft
skills as technical prowess. The results also show that UAE software-related
students have a stronger negative attitude towards software testing compared to
their counterparts in other countries where similar investigations have been
carried out in the past three years.Comment: 9 pagges. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:2205.07781,
arXiv:2007.1263
Comparing the Popularity of Testing Careers among Canadian, Indian, Chinese, and Malaysian Students
This study attempts to understand motivators and de-motivators that influence the decisions of software students to take up and sustain software testing careers across four different countries, Canada, India, China, and Malaysia. Towards that end, we have developed a cross-sectional, but simple, survey-based instrument. In this study we investigated how software engineering and computer science students perceive and value what they do and their environmental settings. This study found that very few students are keen to take up software testing careers - why is this happening with such an important task in the software life cycle? The common advantages of a software testing career are learning opportunities and easiness of the job and the common drawbacks are tediousness, complexity, and missing the opportunity to do (software) development. Our findings highlight the importance of depicting software testing activities as a set of human-dependent tasks, and emphasizes the need for research that critically examines the way in which software testers view testing activities