You can start right now and you’ll get your first software testing project in the next weeks. For the following guidance I’ll assume that you have no previous knowledge of software testing.
1. Register at uTest
Register an account at uTest and verify your email address.
2. Fill out your profile
In the next steps, you can choose your testing preferences, your skills and the software/hardware you have.
While being logged in your uTest account press “Expand profile”.
Project Preferences
Choose how many hours you’ll be available for software testing per week.
Tick the types for software testing you want to do. Security and load testing require special skills, so as a beginner you should tick functional, usability and localization only. Your choice can be edited later at any time!
Choose the type of hardware you have. Don’t forget about your mobile phone or gaming devices such as Playstation. Later, you will have to add each device you own individually.
Leave bug fixes activated. This enables you to also participate in tests that verify if bugs have been fixed or not.
Save your settings.
Testing Expertise
At testing expertise, you can choose your skills related to software testing.
If you have no idea of software testing, tick “Fn, Ln, Ux”. This stands for Functional, Localization and Usability. These are the tests you can do without special experience and I recommend every beginner to start with them.
In Functional you should choose “Novice” for each of the following tests:
- Manual – Exploratory Manual – Test Case Writing Manual – Test Case Execution
Those are the only ones that don’t require prior experience or special software.
In Usability set “Usability report creation” to “Novice”. If you get a job like this, you’ll have to write a small report (with guidance), whereas everything else requires special experience.
Leave Localization testing blank for the beginning.
Choose your language skills under “Language” and set them to the level you are in the language. You can set your level to “Expert” in your native language. I’m native in German, so I’ll obviously tick that (although it took me ages to understand German comma rules 😛 ).
Don’t forget to tick your foreign language skills even if you are just on a beginner’s level!
Save your progress.
Hardware and Software
At hardware & software you have to add all devices you can run tests on.
Pick, for example, your Desktop computer with Windows 8 64-Bit, your Samsung Galaxy Nexus smartphone, your PlayStation 3 and so on, until you added all hardware and the software that runs on it.
Make sure to tick “Web”. This is related to website tests. You’ll be able to do that as well since you are obviously browsing on a website right now 😛
This task should be quite straight-forward.
One thing that I do recommend is to tick as many browsers as possible. It’s very easy to quickly install an additional browser, however, this will make you the right candidate for way more tests!
If you are having Internet Explorer, Chrome, Opera and Firefox you’ll be a possible candidate for nearly every website test a company could run.
Save your choice.
3. Gain your first experience with software testing
You’ve set up your profile with all necessary information.
uTest will contact you within a week to invite you to a “Sandbox” testing. This has nothing to do with playing in sand, rather this is an example testing project very similar to a real software test. This will show you what you need to consider and how the general testing process works.
Be careful here, as this will also be used to rate your testing level. You have to read exactly what they want you to do and follow their instructions, then nothing can go wrong. After finishing this, the real jobs will start coming in.
I don’t want to leave you completely in the dark, so I’m now outlining the general testing process.
I cannot give you a real example of a software test. This is related to NDAs software testers often have to sign (means I’m not allowed to share any information about the companies running tests or I have to pay a huge fine).
4. The general testing process
You’ll get an email to your inbox whenever there is a new software test available.
The subject line will be “You’ve been invited to a paid testing project for [company name]“. Make sure those emails are not getting thrown into the spam folder by adding no-reply@utest. com to your contact list.
Read the requirements
When you get such an email and have the time available, click on the link in the email that says “Review this test cycle”.
You have to log in your uTest account and you’ll be shown what exactly your task would be if you would accept this job.
Read what the scope of the test includes, this means which areas of the software you should test and which not. Check also the attachments and the chat to see if there are further things to consider.
If you want to participate in this test, you have to press “Accept” quickly because the number of testers on each project is limited. First come, first served!
Submitting test cases and/or finding bugs
The requirements will usually state if your task is about finding bugs, submitting a test case or both. Let me explain the difference between those at the example of ProfitArmy. com.
Findings Bugs
When you would participate in a test cycle for finding bugs on ProfitArmy. com, e. g. in a functional test, your task would be to check my website for things that don’t work. For example, you’d find that a link in the footer is not working.
Before you can file a bug report, you’d first have to check if another tester was quicker and already reported this bug. uTest is only paying once for each bug.
If no one else reported this bug yet, you’d state in your report where you found the bug, how this bug can be reproduced (“1. Go to profitarmy. com 2. Scroll down to the bottom of the page 3. Press “Privacy Policy”) and document the bug with a screenshot. However, the customer might have special requirements for the bug reports you should know by now.
This bug then has to be approved by either the company or a uTest employee. They will also determine how critical this bug is, as critical bugs usually will have a higher payout for the tester.
Submitting test cases
When participating in a test cycle requiring you to do a test case, your task would be, for example, to sign up for my newsletter, open your email account and verify your email address.
You would then have to tell me if there was an issue, like that you didn’t receive the email asking for verification.
Often, companies want software testers to file several test cases, so in the example above, I could want you to do a test case with using a Yahoo email address and another one with an Outlook email address.
I remember doing a test case for a company that wanted to test if their software interferes with different antivirus software. My task was to download and install the software while having an antivirus program like Avira Antivir running.
Software tests with test cases are my favorite ones. The reason is that you’ll even get paid if everything works correctly, whereas you have to find a bug to get paid in the bug finding test cycles.
5. Rise up in uTest rating system
All testers are rated based on their activity and the quality of their tests.
There are six different levels, in ascending order: Rated, Proven, Bronze, Silver and Gold. The higher you get up in the levels, the more you get paid for each bug.
Each rating is always for one field only, so you could be Gold level in functional testing but only Bronze in usability testing.
The levels are seen in relation to other uTest testers, e. g. the top 3% of all functional testers have the Gold level.
The following factors are taken into account for calculating your level:
- Lifetime participation: how many reported and approved bugs Recent participation: active in last three, six or twelve month Reliability: reporting correct bugs and test cases Quality of bugs: the more valuable your bugs are, the better
To increase your tester level, you have to work frequently and submit as many “expectionally” or “very valuable” bugs as you can.
Also, you need to reduce mistakes by reading the requirements and filing bug reports the way the customer wants them.
You shouldn’t accept a test cycle and then don’t work at all. Also, if you know you are not available for testing, decline the test so others can jump in. This will also produce a positive impact on your rating.
6. Expand your software testing career
Congrats! You’ve learned everything you’ll need to start your software testing career.
The next step is to gain more knowledge. You might want to specialize in a certain field, write better reports or just learn more about the uTest community.
The go-to place is the uTest University. Here, you’ll find hundreds of courses on software testing related topics. Work through some that interests you.
Whenever you need help or want to exchange with other software testers, you should visit the uTest forums.
