5 Minutes With Steve Tollafield

To make sure our products are delivered to our customers' requirements, all of our software undergoes rigorous testing. Overseeing our Software Testing team is Software Test Manager Steve, we checked in with him to find out more.

Could you tell us a bit more about your team?

Our role is to find bugs. Every software will have bugs in it. Sometimes bugs are human error, but usually it’s functionality not matching up with the programme, hardware or requirements. We discuss findings with the developers and project planners to see what we need to prioritise, but before that we make sure the bugs are easy to replicate, because if a developer can’t replicate it, they can’t fix it. It's all about Software Quality, which is a key part of maintaining our reputation as a company.

Do you have any advice for people wanting to get into software testing?

Be inquisitive. You don’t need a software degree to go into software testing. A lot of our team got their International Software Testing Qualifications Board (ISTQB) accreditation after joining us. You just need to be curious and interested in systems.

The best Software Test Engineers manage their soft skills. You need to learn how to balance being constructive without nagging, because often you're the bearer of bad news. If projects are at a deadline and you find a lot of bugs, there's a right way and a wrong way to approach people with that news.

What challenges does your department face?

There are a few misconceptions about what software testing actually involves. We're there to help and support projects and bringing us in early can save a lot of headaches and money in the long term. A misconception is that Software can be a roadblock, hindrance, or box-ticking exercise, but it all comes down to communication and building bridges. Once people understand the role, they see the value of it.

How is Software Testing developing?

Instead of testing manually, we now write code that takes control of the software, it clicks all the buttons, so that an engineer doesn’t need to do it manually. It's easier to do implement this at the start of projects, because you can build it along with the software. We’re integrating with other teams more, allowing us to help define requirements and catch bugs earlier on. 

There's a healthy amount of cautiousness around AI Large Language Model, but they could be used in interesting ways. Test management tools will be able to automatically look at existing requirements. It may also allow us to build more simulation tools, because it'll be easier with artificial intelligence, this could really speed up the process.

What do you like about your role?

I like being able to see projects grow. You get to speak to the software developers, hardware engineers, system engineers, Project Managers, so you get to see ideas come to life. Knowing you've helped a project be the best it can be is really rewarding.

Finding the root cause of an issue isn’t always easy. It requires investigation, which is quite fun as you get to play Sherlock Holmes! As a kid, I played video games, and I'd try to replicate bugs to glitch through things, and it grew from that. At the time, I didn’t know about software testing, but when I got through university and started working at computer tech companies, it seemed exciting.

Thank you, Steve.