Do you think that testing is an easy job? It has never been. The conflict is intense and the it’s stressful
But what makes us continue what we are doing is the love towards QA. However, many have to pay a price for that sweet love! Without even realizing it.
I talked to one of my friends lately who was going through an introspection phase of his life and said that being a tester has made him a bit too attentive towards things, rather too much he said.
He added that perfection has gotten hold of his life and has become a roadblock for many things that could have been easily one.
I took it lightly at first, owing to the nature of the conversation. But unknowingly the words got stuck inside and came out in my lone time.
Is it true that there is only a thin line between work life and personal life? Do testers tend to be doubtful or suspicious more than a normal person would?
Does our line of work affect us on a personality level?
I think it does, life situations that an individual is in for a prolonged time period will have a serious impact on his behavior.
What happens in the life of a tester as time pass by
Let’s admit it as testers; we all get pleasure out of poking things to see how things work.
And it is indeed true we all have that evil mastermind laugh when we find faults. It’s human nature.
But is it bad?
Absolutely no!
If you know how to harness such a mindset for the greater good it’s absolutely fine. I know that many of you have! Bravo! Kudos to that.
You are all indeed awesome.
But some might not be able to draw that line between personal life and work-life after-effects of their work nature will breach their personal life. Not just that,
In fact, many of my friends with whom I had conversations for the research purpose for this blog have admitted that they have become too attentive and interrogative than they used to be.
To elaborate, They started watching things around them more closely as time passed by. Their eyes got hold of the negatives and demanded perfectness in whatever they do.
To an extent, it’s good, indeed! However, perfection is a colloquial term! Near perfection is achievable and it’s a realistic goal. Making things perfect is beyond humane intervention.
Research that showed us personality has a great effect on testing skills and vice versa
Your personality trait has a great effect on your testing skills. Da Cunha and Greathead have done the research and found out that Logical and ingenious people tend to be great and code review.
Another research by Hana Almodaimeegh revealed that Locus of control (the extent to which one believes that an event is the result of external factors than his/her own effort) has no effect on debugging skill of a tester. On the other hand, social learning style coupled with experience has a high influence on debugging skills.
There is one more piece of research that can cement my claim. Beer and Ramler concluded that testers with experience using their domain knowledge are much better at carrying out the testing process than others.
What do these studies converge to?
The effect is not just unidirectional. The way your personality and skills are related, and your daily bread and butter have an effect on your behavior too.
Trait Activation theory is a legit theory to prove that our job does affect our personality
What should be done to keep that barrier strong?
Take a break, not for a kit-kat, your mind and body deserves it
Testers usually work for 8+ hours, But, at present many are working at home owing to the Corona pandemic situation and the work hours are turning out to be indefinite.
So this can take a toll on your mental health as prolonged stress is a killer. Importantly major shares of your active time are spent on scrutinizing software to find faults. So breaks are necessary to do things that have nothing to do with your work.
- Yes, it’s a pandemonium! But planning can be so effective
Stress is an after-effect of improper planning most of the time.
If you set goals and time frame for it you will get a lot of personal time than usual. Thus, you can spend a lot of time with your friends and family.
- Accept the reality! There is no way to separate both lives
Dedicated time for both work and personal life will not work positively according to many research papers.
So the right thing to do here is to create a perfect balance between work and personal life.
It’s obvious that many personal matters will come in between your work time. Deal with it! It need not be discarded if it’s that important.
- Unplug yourself! It helps!
Be it work life or personal life, sometimes indulging is something that can calm you always help. For instance, you can read a book while your daily commute to the office.
By doing so you will be planted in an imaginary world where you can interact with unrealistic characters in the book.
The process will decompress you from the stress. Too much work will consume your natural behavior and replace it with its.
- Personality conflicts are not mythical like a unicorn. It’s real! Address it
You might the coolest person. However; your work has put you under so much stress that you started changing.
Stress will soon engulf you and will make you this arrogant person that even you are not even used to.
To get out of such a situation you need to address that there is this issue. Once you address it many possible ways out will be there.
Conclusion
Acceptance of the issue, and understanding and handling it in a professional way is the only to keep that barrier strong between work life and personal life.
Third-party intervention is good, however, making sure that the person who is trying to help has the ability to help you.
We know very well that many of you testers have or have been handling the issue.
Be proud that you have managed to suppress such conflicts and have emerged as exceptional testers and good social beings.
Those who are not able to cop up, no problem, it’s absolutely ok. Personality traits do not define your skills or even how good you are at what you do.
But to be happier, all you need is a better understanding of the change and how it is affecting you.