Originally written at my LinkedIn on September 6, 2016. I had just finished my first job with software testing.

I was thinking of writing this article when I read this other here Do software testers need to learn coding?. They complement each other.

I hear sometimes at work: this is not my problem, I don’t need to know that, it’s not my task and I don’t care. Yes, you will not meddle in the task / work of others, but a project where several areas are involved, we have to get a sense of the role and what makes each project area. This sense needs to be deeper if these areas work directly with each other.

In my case for example, we test the results software. Keeping simple, there are two different companies, one for getting and one for dissemination of results. So I have to deal with two different ways of working (very different).

At the beginning I was told to just do my job (manual testing). Anything needed to be made in the system, was necessary to call someone or open a ticket. This sometimes caused a break in testing, because we depended on others to continue.

Over time, I learned the processes and procedures that helped me to improve my testing and save time. Many defects opened to a system was in fact from another, which have the previous processing. Unfortunately this was not taught and had to run back on its own, on trial and error, asking people who knew more (or should), sometimes with vague answers.

Black box testing is sometimes taken very seriously. You test only what you see, no idea what's behind. By analogy, if your computer crashes is not better you understand how your work tool works? You do not need to know how to fix, but this knowledge will help you to argue with the technician who may want to fool you or make a kludge.

Anybody know anything about internal combustion engines? Of couse! Anybody know how to fix an internal combustion engine? No... (The Big Bang Theory)

We are not only in the testing department, or development, or software sales. We are in the software delivery business, and to deliver the best quality software, different areas and companies should work integrated as a single team.

"Teamwork is not when everyone works together, but when we trust each other." (Unknown)