1. Hiring The Next Generation of Skilled Software Testers Adam White Manager, Test Engineering

2. Topics to Cover The testing conundrum What do skilled testers do? Why the different definitions? What PlateSpin does The type of testers we look for. Where And How We Find The Next Generation Our Success What weve done so far Keeping them successful Other techniques we are investigating Wrap Up/Questions/Feedback and Your Stories

3. Make sure that the product meets the requirements Write unit tests Verify processes are being followed Read stack traces and follow code execution Verify documentation Report private, virtual and working set bytes What Do Testers Do?

4. Here are a few possible reasons Education systems Testing stereotypes Lack of training Not certifications Why the different definitions?

5. What PlateSpin Does

6. PlateSpin PowerConvert OS Portability Free movement of servers throughout your data center across infrastructures Awareness of what you have Move OS, Data, and applications Continuous Server optimization

7. Our interview process revolves around 4 key areas Attitude (Read - PASSION!!!) Smarts Communication Skills Test Engineer VS Quality Assurance In-depth Technical and troubleshooting skills Systems level knowledge Passion!!! What We Are Looking For

8. Universities Mainly Waterloo Expanding to Queens, U of T, McMaster Career fairs RIM park PlateSpin LinkedIn.com Job boards Recruiters Where We Look for The Next Generation

9. Interview Process Our Interview process evolution Unstructured conversation Structured/Canned questions Free-form and structured

10. Interview Process Sample Questions Ask them to test something (anything!) Black box testing machines from Workroom productions. Puzzle Questions Many debates can be had on this Book: How Would You move Mount Fuji Surprisingly all the testers at PlateSpin love puzzles The Candidate What questions do they ask?

11. Figure out what your team culture is What do you value? What do they value? Set expectations from the beginning What are your expectations for your team? Teach them what you know!! Give them feedback Tell them when they are doing a good job Tell them when they are doing a bad job When They Arrive

12. Do they provided value to your organization? Reward them! Pay attention to their learning style Breakthroughs Trial and error Accidental learning through experiments and persistence Keeping the Team Going

13. Co-ops 25 co-ops over 4 years 4 returned for more than 1 term 3 returned for full-time. New grads 8 employees straight out of school Full Time 6 testers 10 developers Our Success

14. Resources Audition interviews (Johanna Rothman - jrothman.com) Lyndsay Machines (workroomproductions.com) Open book testing (Jon Bach) Books for Knowledge workers (http://tinyurl.com/j7jqh)http://tinyurl.com/j7jqh Books Lessons learned in software testing. Testing computer software First Break All the rules Discover your strengths Other Techniques and Resources

15. Make your hiring process fit your context Why use someone elses process? Good people tend to stick around if you challenge them from the beginning, put them in a position to grow and succeed, IF and ONLY IF you express appreciation to them! Conclusion