Avoid Burnout As The Only Tester, Here’s How
Don’t burn yourself out over old testing practices
Break down traditional QA silos and empower developers to own quality checks.
The responsibility for being the only tester in the team can either feel overwhelming or fulfilling or even both. Burnout is real and more people experience it without noticing. Evernote wrote an article on “The real cost of burnout” back in 2018 which, remains relevant till now. Rocking it solo as the only tester is common for many companies, so I want this article to help those individuals avoid what I’m dubbing “O.T.B.” (Only Tester Burnout).
I’ve worked as the only tester across several projects and, I personally enjoyed it. I can be meticulous when it comes to testing, so I’ve been that guy to have all of the testing funnelled through me. I’ve worked and lived those days where tasks piled up in the “Ready for testing” column, with the background noise of the team asking if a production release can go ahead.
On top of all that, I’ve also rocked it as a one-man team by building, writing, and maintaining an automation suite, and again, something I personally enjoyed. Juggling all of this work and these expectations isn’t easy, yet I managed to do so, which left me with a great feeling of satisfaction.
There’s a well known quote by Chinese philosopher Confucius that reads: “Choose a job you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life.” I attribute a great deal of me being able to juggle ten plates at once down to the fact that I truly enjoyed what I did. I embraced the ownership and responsibility to ensure that I had checked and tested everything I needed, and I relished those moments of success when I managed to fix those flaky UI test scripts.
Embrace The Team
Going Han Solo isn’t easy for many, and the traditional testing practices of funnelling all the work through a single tester are dead. Avoid burning yourself out by seeking help from the development team to check and test features.
A method I’d suggest is to incorporate Quality Assistance, which is a term popularised by tech giant Atlassian. It focuses on sharing and building the testing knowledge across the entire team and not just the testers themselves.
I know from experience that testing everything on your own is rewarding, but if you want to avoid burnout and improve testing inefficiencies, for example, bottlenecks, then taking a team approach is highly recommended.
Times Have Evolved
If there’s one message I’ve tried to convey in many of my articles, it’s that traditional testing practices are outdated and I’ll continue to hammer through this idea in favour of more efficient ways of testing.
As the only tester, you’re the expert in testing for your company and team. What you do and how you approach it will help shape the testing culture amongst you and your peers.
Avoid burnout by not bearing the weight for all of the testing on your shoulders. For example, a development team of 8 can distribute work a lot easier because of their numbers. A single tester will push through but will reach that tipping point of burnout sooner.
The workload for software development teams will continue to grow at an ever raging pace, so if you are the only tester amongst peers, remember the following:
- Ditch the Han Solo approach and embrace the team by guiding and teaching them testing practices that will help foster a strong testing culture.
- Times have changed, the scope and responsibilities have broadened for testers all over, so don’t burnout over traditional test practices.
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