They did all seem to have one thing in common though – very tight deadlines and budgets.  We are learning how to adapt to these needs and delivering as much value as possible within the constraints.

In these early stages it is extremely important to the success of The Crowd to ensure we engage and hire testers that we have confidence in their abilities.  The last thing we want to do is have a client disappointed that the testing has not been up to scratch.  It’s always a challenge because there are a lot of expectations for each project.

How do we choose testers?

There is one underlining statement on how we choose software testers for projects:

We need to have the confidence that you are a good tester.

Many people do not seem to understand that statement.  And the truth there is not a standard way for testers to give us the confidence.  It is up to you how you do this.

I can certainly tell you that sending your cv will not help. Nor will it help if you say you can do it for cheaper.  Having a team of testers at your disposal does not help either.

Following is a list things that help us make a decision:

• we are aware of your existence – perhaps you tweet, blog or do interesting things
• you are an active and positive member on the Software Testing Club
• you show a true interest in software testing
• you offer to volunteer your skills before applying for paid work
• your online presence gives us confidence

At the moment testing opportunities are limited.  We get more applications per job than we have availability for.

When you fill out that form to apply for a job have a think about what would make us choose you?

Hope that helps.  As always feedback is welcome.

(Note: you can also apply to be on the directory, but we are still defining the process for this.  The Directory is meant for testers we have trust in.  So part of it is earning our trust.)

The basic steps to participate on a paid project:

• We announce projects through @testingclub, @thetestcrowd and send out full details via The Test Crowd private group.
• When we announce a project there will be basic details of what is needed and what is on offer
• If you are available and interested then you can fill in a short application form
• We choose and inform testers
• You get details on the testing project/mission
• Website/application gets tested
• We review your work and communicate with client how it went
• You get paid by PayPal within 14 days

At the moment we are paying testers £10 per hour.  In the developed world this may be smirked at as not being enough. Which is a fair point.

Here is an attempt at explaining why every tester would want to take part

• it’s a learning experience
• it’s a break from the normal testing project
• projects are normally brief
• you get to do it from the comfort of your own home
• it’s targetted at the small web company who don’t usually test anything and usually don’t want to (or can’t) pay much
• it’s a chance to show small companies the benefits of testing
• it’s our first service offering, participating will help us define better services
• participating will position you in a better position to get listed in our directory or we hope there may be other better paid (and more formal) opportunities down the line
• we get to know each other and gain trust.  Good things happen when there is trust involved
• the rates of pay are subject to change, hopefully they can go up over time

Let us know what you think.

The Test Crowd is taking a different approach.

We have a crowd, but it’s really more of a community.  Everyday we interact and get to know each other that little bit better.  It is based on these interactions that we get to know one another better.  Understand our strengths as well as our weaknesses. We know that no one is just another tester with a few anonymous ratings.

We work with real people that love testing.

We call them The Test Crowd.

Well, we’re doing many good things under one roof.

• Supporting The Software Testing Club community
• Educating and mentoring testers
• Providing opportunities to earn money
• Ability to hire remote testers through us
• Or we can put you in touch with testers for you to keep
• Working together to create a bigger and better resource under the ‘Software Testing Club’ brand

We like to think that we are open and easy to work with.  If there is something you need in relation to testing and it’s not listed here just drop us a line and we’ll see what we can do.  We are new. We are experimenting in new and positive ways.  And our results so far have been nothing but positive.

It felt too complicated.

I struggled to come up with a simple pricing plan.

The Test Crowd is an evolution of Flash Mob Testing.

Hopefully it will be easier for people to understand and sign up to. And it’s not just about bringing the crowd together at short notice.

To us, it’s about using the fabulous talent there is at The Software Testing Club to benefit them as much as us.

It’s about education and helping people out.

It’s about helping testers to the next stage.

And of course it’s about helping clients gain insight into the quality of their product.

So…

We’re starting with simple remote testing services.  At a flat rate of £30 per hour.

The next step would be to create a directory of socially and professionally approved freelance, consultants and contract testers.

But one step at a time, eh?

Contact:

Location: Lewes, East Sussex, UK

Email: rosie@schux.com

Website: www.softwaretestingclub.com or www.schux.com

Mob: 07730952537

Robs education background is in English, Media, Sciences, Technical Writing and Communications.

Rob has recently been involved in more consulting and freelancing, specialising in helping Agile test teams change their outlook to their traditional testing approach to solve the growing speed and diversity of agile projects.

Rob also specialises in mentoring and coaching testers in all aspects of their testing careers. Rob has also been involved in many high level strategy reviews where he has helped teams to solve tricky testing problems such as lack of requirements, poor design, short time scales and moving goalposts.

Other Cool Stuff:

• runs a very successful blog called The Social Tester.
• is one of the leading force behind the The Testing Planet.
• wrote the content around the Tester Types
• is a regular speaker on the conference circuit. He has recently been at AgileTestingDays, Unicom NextGen and the UK Test Management events
• is busy working on other cool stuff for the testing community including various visual representations of exploratory testing, some ebooks, magazines and training courses.
• runs a testing meet called Testing Revolutions.

Tasks I’m Working On:

• Some cool project stuff
• Some fab content for the Software Testing Club
• Some presentation abstracts for future testing conferences.

Contact Info:

Location: Southampton

Email: rob@thesocialtester.co.uk