A few years back, I commuted weekly from Oklahoma City to San Francisco to consult on a long-term testing center of excellence project. My hotel was near the Apple Store and I had "spare time" in the evenings, so I decided to avail myself of the free training offered on how to use common Mac applications. I was amazed as some of the functionality that was not obvious in the applications. Attending these classes reinforced to me that we all need training.
We can flail around, experiment and generally waste time and money, trying to figure things out on our own...
Or...we can take some time and learn first about what we are doing.
We in IT have a disease. I call it the "dive right in" disorder. We tackle problems even before we know what they are. Therefore, we can fail to apply the most effective solution.
Software testing has so many facets, that training is required on a continual basis. Two days a year doesn't cut it.
If your company doesn't pay for it, you owe it to yourself to find a way to self-study or invest in your own training. There are more options now than ever. Even buying a $5 used book on testing can yield big results.
Of course, I can help as well. We have all kinds of free tutorials on my YouTube channel, as well as software testing e-learning and other courses.
If you are a test manager, check out some of my in-house software testing courses for your team. If I can help give any advice, just contact me from my website at http://www.riceconsulting.com
