How do programmers test?

Throughout my career, first as a programmer, later as a Project Manager and a software house’s CEO, I met a lot of programmers, with whom I had pleasure and trouble working.

How do programmers test?

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Already at the beginning of my career in the world of IT I noticed a weird for the time regularity. Every time when we finished a stage of work on an app and there was the time to submit it to either the testers or to the client, something seemed off. There was a mistake, something didn’t work as planned. I wondered how it was possible. I spent so much time testing the code and everything seemed to work!

As someone with little experience, I wasn’t able to find the reason for why it was happening. Only after a couple of months did I realize where the source of the problem is. I’m not sure if you’ll find it surprising, but to me, it was like enlightenment at the time.

This regularity appears more often among programmers who are only starting out. People with more experience come across it more rarely, however, there are some cases, especially when they’re working under time pressure.

The tasks which are coming back to us are the nightmare of every IT project and that’s why I always explain to my teams to carefully check the code they’re writing. It’s better to spend more time on writing a code that is going to work properly than to make multiple corrections. This situation is frustrating, not only for the programmer but for all people involved.

Test in a way you were the final user, not in a way it simply works

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The perfect project doesn’t exist, and I do not believe that it ever will, but I want the project QarbonIT works on to be stress-free both for the clients and for the programmers. A calm, healthy atmosphere makes it not only easier to work also to lead the work. What is more, the customers are happier and more eager to use our services again. The less task coming back, the better the condition of the project and the people involved. That’s why I tell my programmers to test in a way they were the final user, not in a way it simply works.