I'm quoting from memory here, so kindly forgive any inaccuracies: Dogbert receives a letter informing him that he has jury duty, and complains bitterly that he hasn't time for it. Dilbert reminds him that it's his civic duty, which is does nothing to mollify him. "You get to play God with other people's lives." points out Dilbert. "Well, they should say that!" snaps Dogbert, scowling at the letter.
La Crosse isn't large enough that the schools can viably offer programs/certificates in software quality assurance, so screening testers is a bit more challenging. And, sadly, it doesn't seem to be the kind of vocation that kindergarteners aspire to have when they grow up. Rather like taxidermy. And beekeeping. (NQSFW--one effenheimer involved)
But maybe all the trade needs to bring more of the brighter lights to it is the cachet of destroying things--but in a disciplined way. Maybe something on the order of the controlled demolition teams. Or the old adage "Military engineers build bombs; civil engineers build targets." That sort of thing.
The attitude does matter, I think. Case in point: For my very first programming job, I came on board very shortly after the rollout of a new order processing system (a.k.a. "The GUI"), which was a fiasco from the get-go. I wasn't allowed to touch the code, b/c it had been outsourced, and we were making the vendor deal with it. The testing pattern involved me making a preliminary check before installing "The GUI" on the PC of one of the customer service reps, one who was none too amused by its endless deficiencies. But once she saw it as a challenge to "break the GUI," and started taking a certain--completely understandable--joy in it, we made a fair amount of progress. Initially, "the GUI" colored her opinion of me, but once I started addressing her as "Lady M--- GUI-breaker" or "Lady M---, She Before Whom All GUIs Tremble," (with the appropriate courtly bow) we got along quite well--to the point where right before I left on my last day, she called me to gleefully sing, "I broke the GU-I!!!" like a little kid.
And so I think that the Software QA trade needs to emphasize the blowing up aspect of things. Contrary to the notion of what QA people are supposed to be like (meaning, methodical as accountants), you don't necessarily want purely linear thinkers. Why? Because users aren't necessarily linear thinkers. I know that users have occassionally done things with my code that has buried the needle on my "Illogical" meter. For that reason, I think that you need a chaotic subtext to the personality. So why not market the job to the Crazy Harry that lurks inside the mild-mannered software tester?
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So. About that hiatus... The cough and congestion I whined about last Thursday blew up into something far more deblilitating. I did make it into work yesterday, but it took pretty much everything for the day. As if I need another reminder that I don't appreciate health and the absence of pain nearly enough.
