Every now and then, on testing blogs, forums, lists and in the workplace, I hear the classic tester's lament "why are we second class citizens?"

Get over it!

There are really only two possible scenarios, if you feel like a second class citizen as a tester.

First, there is the remote possibility that you are a highly skilled tester, who adds significant value to the project, yet you are not viewed as valuable as the developers. I've got news for you - if that's the case, it's time for you to move on to a place that will appreciate you.

Second, and more likely, is that you did it to yourself. I think we testers as a whole sometimes play the victim role. We got bad or no requirements from the BAs. We got code that did not meet the requirements from dev. We got no time in the schedule for proper testing from project management.

This "second class citizen" lament has been bugging me for a while. And I'm not the only one. Matt Heusser recommends critical thinking and asking the tough questions:

As an industry, we seem determined to complain that we are treated as second class citizens.

What do I think are the keys to getting first class?

Well, one place to start is the questions above.

Alan Page, however, takes a more hard line stance, closer to my own viewpoint:

What really bugs me (believe me, I've had to edit the "bad" words out of this rant more than once already) is when people change the meanings as an attempt to raise the value of test, or show that test "has a seat at the table", or is a "first-class citizen".

I have to tell you, I'm sick and tired of testers whining about not getting respect.

If you want respect, you have to give respect and you have to earn respect. 

Well said.

Now, I will readily admit that, earlier in my career, testing was not as fun. Back then, I did encounter some "second class" scenarios, where QA was not taken seriously. On those early projects I had to fight hard to earn respect. Some of those projects certainly viewed test as a necessary evil. I can still hear the refrain "just QA it" from one assignment. To this day, I have not a clue what that is supposed to mean. However, those projects are few and far between nowadays. I cannot remember the last time a developer did not take me seriously. I have been an integral team member on a number of projects, collaborating with developers on test plans and execution. If you are smart and get things done, you will earn the respect of developers and management alike. In my opinion, the adversarial relationship between dev and test is more cliche now than reality. Am I saying that you will not encounter a developer who does not respect you? Of course not. As long as humans are involved, anything is possible. But while it is possible to come across a few people who do not respect test, if you feel there is some organizational or cultural bias against test where you work, it may be time to look in the mirror.

Second class testers, step your game up!

    * Are you holding up your end of the bargain and doing the necessary leg work before logging a bug? Are you researching the spec, digging through the app's log file to glean additional information, writing clear bug reports with impeccable repro steps as including detailed descriptions of what you were doing, what you expected to happen (should be) and what actually happened (as is)?

    * Are you keeping up on the latest testing techniques and technologies? Reading blogs? Writing a blog?

    * Do you exhibit a critical and questioning mind when it comes to your application's business domain and technology platform? Are you going through the motions with your testing? Or are you really trying to understand how this thing is built? I like the analogy, I want to attribute it to a thread on the software-testing yahoo group, of test to building/engineering inspectors. How can you test something you know nothing/little about?