Testers' Life - Expectation vs Reality

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A meme titled "Tester’s Life" hilariously contrasts two views:

Reality: A chaotic barcode of black (testing) and gray (everything else testers actually do—like meetings, bug triage, and wondering why things are on fire).

What People Think: Mostly black, because apparently, all we do is “run tests” and sprinkle in some gray for coffee breaks.

Legend: Black = "Executing Tests," Gray = "Other Stuff" (aka the real MVP of a tester’s day).

Testers do everything, but somehow, all anyone notices is the part where we hit "run" on a test case. Classic paradox.

Reality: A chaotic blend of tasks—meetings that could've been emails, deciphering cryptic bug reports, convincing developers that “it's not a feature, it's a bug,” and occasionally running tests when the universe aligns.

What People Think: "Oh, you're a tester? So, you just, like, click buttons all day, right?" Sure, Rahul, that's exactly it. Clicking buttons and living the dream. Meanwhile, the real "other stuff" includes saving the project from exploding and translating developer-speak into plain English.

Rahul Parwal
Test Specialist
Rahul Parwal is a Test Specialist with expertise in testing, automation, and AI in testing. He’s an award-winning tester, and international speaker. Want to know more, Check out testingtitbits.com
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