communication skills

I've been in the software business for a long time. I've worked as a software developer and as a tester. I've worked with lots of other software testers. One of the things that distinguishes a good tester from a mediocre one is the ability to communicate in writing.

I've been watching this forum for a month or two. One thing I've noticed in many of these forum posts is a poor ability to communicate in writing. I'm not trying to hurt anyone's feelings, and this isn't just me being pedantic. When I read something a discussion title like this one, I question whether the author is someone I would want to work with.

Some American software developers try to avoid working with Indian testers because of the perception that when an Indian tester writes a test plan or a bug report, the writing is of such poor quality that the developer can't understand it. This is of course a generalization; you will find great communicators, average communicators, and terrible communicators everywhere (including here in the United States). Nonetheless, the perception is there, and frankly a lot of the writing on QT reinforces that perception.

I think a lot of folks on this forum are serious about being excellent at their jobs. You hang out here because you have the opportunity to sharpen your technical skills. That's commendable. If you want to be great at your job though, it's not enough to have great technical skills. You can know everything there is to know about security testing, and you can know QTP or Selenium inside and out, but if you can't communicate clearly with your client, they will not want to work with you again.

I'm sorry if I've offended anyone.

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Permalink Reply by Siddiq on May 5, 2011 at 10:55am

You are absolutely right Bill. I agree with you.

Communication skills are extremely important for Testers as they are required to interact with many people.

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Permalink Reply by Firoz on May 5, 2011 at 11:12am

Hi,

i agree with Bill

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Permalink Reply by vivek on May 5, 2011 at 11:13am

Perfect Article !

Perfect Tester

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Permalink Reply by Parasuraman Kumarasami on May 5, 2011 at 11:20am

I agree with you Bill.. Yeah, of course tester needs a good communication (Verbal as well written). Thanks for sharing your thoughts. :)

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Permalink Reply by swathi on May 5, 2011 at 11:21am

u r absolutely right Mr Bill

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Permalink Reply by Raja Sekhar Pavuluri on May 5, 2011 at 11:21am

Hi Bill Smith, yes your Point is true. It resembles my story (have little bit technical knowledge but poor communications skills). Every one agree with your point and every one want to improve their communication skills. So with your experience can you suggest any enthusiastic ways to improve skills. Please .......

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Permalink Reply by Jagadeesh.Bandaru on May 5, 2011 at 11:32am

Hi Bill,

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Please share some points to improve the communication skills.

Many Thanks,

Jagadeesh.B

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Permalink Reply by Shouvik on May 5, 2011 at 11:35am

You're absolutely correct Bill. I am totally agree with your observation and your thought. Being a tester we should have good command over our communication skills, especially in written English(as English is a global language).

There are many talented and skillful software engineers in India but most of them have one issue with them. Since many of these talent comes from small cities and even from villages, their upbringing is like that they never communicated in English before landing up with a job in software industry on the basis of their talent. Again i am also not generalizing that all of Indian software engineers are like that but many of us have this problem at the initial stage of our careers. The best way to deal with it is to improve your soft skills and keep practicing and ask for feedbacks.

Bottom line is if one can master QTP or become a pro in database testing then improving on English and communication skill is not a big deal. Practice and practice hard. :) cheers