Author: kristinjackvony

My new book, The Professional Software Tester, is now available! This book focuses on career guidance for testers, including how to determine what kind of tester you want to be, how to sharpen your skills, how to get the job you want, and how to be successful when working with others. To get you excited […]

Recently I watched the AppleTV series, Silo. The show focuses on the lives of 10,000 people living in an underground silo. They know that their ancestors have lived in the silo for hundreds of years, but they don’t know why, and they don’t know why it’s unsafe to leave the silo. The silo is powered […]

One of the best developments in software testing over the last two decades is that software testers have learned to code and write test automation. But the downside to this is that sometimes testers can get a little TOO excited about writing code! This can result in tests that are over-engineered. Below are four signs […]

After many years of working in software testing, I think it’s safe to say that almost no one enjoys writing documentation. Even people who enjoy writing (like me) can find it a chore, compared to other, more interesting, activities such as creating test plans or writing test automation. But documentation is extremely important! In this […]

I’ve always been interested in health and fitness because I want to live a long, healthy life. But as I progressed farther into “middle age”, I discovered that the methods I used to stay healthy were not working for me any more. I gradually gained 30 pounds, and I realized I needed to make some […]

Most software testers know how to conduct boundary testing: for example, if the tester knows that a text field should only accept 20 characters, they will test with 19 characters, 20 characters, and 21 characters, and perhaps even 100 characters. But I have often encountered situations where a tester does not think to do boundary […]

Usually when I learn new things, like a programming language or a new automation tool, I like to take a complete course. Courses are structured for logical, incremental learning. But sometimes when I want to learn something quickly, I use what I call “The Ripping-Out-Code Method”. I don’t know if anyone else uses this method, […]

There’s nothing like a shiny new year to make people think about how they can improve their careers! Here are five ideas for software testers in 2025: I. Learn Test Automation Will this be the year that you finally- FINALLY- learn to create automated tests? Coding skills make you more employable and provide better-paying roles. […]

We live in a time where it is easy to measure things. Websites measure visits from users all over the world; YouTube videos measure views and likes; mobile apps measure crash statistics. So it makes sense that software managers would want to measure quality activities. Unfortunately, we don’t always have clear language to describe what […]

Working for a startup is fun, because a small group of people get to make all the decisions. You know the whole team well, and decisions can be made with a few simple conversations. As a company grows, you don’t know all your colleagues as well, but it’s still fairly easy to think of them […]