I’m getting some responses (in comments, and email) that paint ofthewolves.com — or at least my description of it — as segregating the community around software testing. Although I could entertain this perspective (Why have two playgrounds?), I get the impression that the young software testing community is underrepresented, and could use a place where information is targeted specifically to — and possibly from — them. This doesn’t mean the whiz kids will go off on their own and create new testing techniques that we won’t share with the older generation; instead, it’s specifically targeted toward sharing our ideas and cultivating information that may be interesting to us — that is, cultivating it because I’m not sure it exists elsewhere. This could be: What to look for in an entry level testing job. What troubles occur transitioning into the software testing workplace. What skills are needed when beginning a career in the testing world. I’m not sure I can answer all these questions from my experience, but I think there’s value in putting them all in one place.

In some sense, this idea is an attempt on my part to find out if there actually is an “us.” My impression of most people in the software testing world is that they were thrown into it unexpectedly, yet have since chosen to make it a career. I rarely see people who have chosen it early on, or have recently graduated and have found it to be their passion. In my experience, I often get confused looks when I tell people I want to be a tester after having such a rich programming background in school. With ofthewolves.com, I not only want to share this experience with the world, but I want tell others teetering on the edge that this decision is okay, that there are others like you and that it is something you can make a career out of. To me, this is recognition, not segregation, and will eventually help the community as a whole.

Now. Behind this dramatic exterior is an implementation that still needs to be crafted. It may be that this blog presents informal case studies of the troubles new testers face. It may be this blog targets information toward nervous graduates who don’t have the testing equivalent of “Programming websites with Rails.” It may be that this blog inspires highly experienced testers to reflect back on their transition and spotlight the things they went through. I’m not sure, at this point, as the idea is still very young. Yet, I think it’s important to get others involved, to see if this idea has any value and to see if something good can come of it.

Lastly, as a more personal interest: I refuse to believe I’m one of the only up-and-coming software testers in my generation. If there are more out there, I want to give them the spotlight as these are the people I’ll be working with in the future.