What to choose Software development or Software Testing?

Question

hi,

looking forward to your advice

I believe this is the best place to ask this question. I am a Software developer having 1 yr experience in .Net(windows app) but somehow i am finding my work monotonous cuz wen i chose this domain i was keen on making dynamic websites but my first job didnt give me any experience in it instead i am developing some windows app using .Net framework so want to switch to testing but the problem is i dont have any handson experience in it. I believe that have to train myself on some tools before i go for it ..

Somehow i feel that coding requires lot of hard work as compare to testing

I am in a dilemma as its a start of my career i dont want to make a worng decision... I want it to be exciting ...and really want to be proficient in watever i do.

Please Please tell me whether i should stick to software development or move to testing.

Please help Thanks

Answer 1

Testing and development require different mind-sets. I suggest checking out some of the work of James Marcus Bach on testing -- he's controversial, but makes good points about what being a "good tester" means, and how different it is from being a "good developer."

Having looked into testing, you can then decide whether testing or development suits you better, and go with the route that will make you happiest in the long run.

If you are thinking of testing as a sneaky side route into development, be careful. I'm not in the web industry, but where I am, the transition from testing to development is not an easy one, even for people with a foot in the door already -- it might be better to apply for a lower-level development job, if that's where you want to end up.

Answer 2

Writing code may be a lot of 'hard work' but that hard work tends to be rewarded with better hourly rates than the software tester.

Even if you are a great software tester, with a CS degree, your salary is still being undermined by fact that most employers treat testing as a lower qualified, lower pay job.

For what it's worth, the same is also true with web development - there are a lot of people out there who cannot write code, but do 'web development'.

I think the first thing you want to assess is whether it's .NET that is your problem, or coding in general - try doing some web development at home, using one of the 'modern' dynamic languages and frameworks (Python/Django, RubyOnRails, etc), using some dynamic libraries on the client (jQuery seems to becoming a standard).

To make a valid comparison, it may be worth trying to re-implement what you're doing at work as a web app - it's easy to get excited at how rapidly you can develop a simple site using a tutorial, but your career is unlikely to be about just doing simple things.

It's possible that coding just isn't for you - I have encountered people who have tried development but never 'got it' and always found it hard.

I can't comment on whether a career in testing would be more satisfying. I know two people who moved into testing and enjoy it. I've known other people working in testing who have found it monotonous and frustrating.