Melvin Dong's Weblog

Qualities of a Good Tester.(excerpt from www.sqatester.com)
1. Know at least some programming.
There's a popular myth that testing can be staffed with people who have little or no programming knowledge. Since they’re testing software, without know some programming, they can't have any real insights into the kinds of bugs that come into software and the likeliest place to find them.
2. Know the application.
The ideal tester has deep insights into how the users will exploit the program's features and the kinds of cockpit errors that users are likely to make.
3. Intelligence.
The single most important quality for testers (just as for programmers) is raw intelligence, good testers, just as programmers, are smart people.
4. Hyper-sensitivity to little things.
Good testers notice little things that others miss or ignore. Testers see symptoms, not bugs.
5. Tolerance for chaos.
People react to chaos and uncertainty in different ways. If the tester waits for all issues to be fully resolved before starting test design or testing, he won't get started until after the software has been shipped. Testers have to be flexible and be able to drop things when blocked and move on to another thing that is not blocked. Testers always have many irons in the fire.
6. People skills.
You can be an effective programmer even if you are hostile and anti-social; that won't work for a tester. Testers can take a lot of abuse from outraged programmers. A sense of humor and a thick skin will help the tester survive. Testers may have to be diplomatic when confronting a programmer with a fundamental goof. Diplomacy, tact, a ready smile- all work to the independent tester's advantage.
7. Tenacity (Merriam-Webster's dictionary explains it as: persistent in maintaining or adhering to something valued or habitual).
An ability to reach compromises and consensus can be at the expense of tenacity. The best testers are both socially adept and tenacious where it matters. The best testers are so skilful at it that the programmer never realizes they've been had.
8. Organized.
There's just too much to keep track of to trust to memory. Good testers use files, Databases and all the other accoutrements of an organized mind.
9. Sceptical.
That doesn't mean hostile. I mean skepticism in the sense that nothing is taken for granted and that all is fit to be questioned. Only tangible evidence in documents, specifications, code and test results matter. While they may patiently listen to the reassuring words from the programmers ("Trust me. I know where the bugs are.") - and do it with a smile - they ignore such in-substantive assurances.
10. Self-sufficient and tough.
If they need love, they don't expect to get it on the job. They can't be looking for interaction between them and programmers as a source of ego-gratification and/ or nurturing. Their ego is gratified by finding bugs, with few misgivings about the pain (in the programmers) that such finding might engender.
11. Cunning.
Systematic test techniques such as syntax testing and automatic test generators have reduced the need for much cunning, but the need is still with us and undoubtedly always will be because it will never be possible to systematize all aspects of testing. There will always be room for that off-beat thinking that will lead to a test case that exposes a really bad bug.
12. Technology hungry.
They hate dull, repetitive work; they'll do it for a while if they have to, but not for long. The silliest thing for a human to do, in their mind, is to pound on a keyboard when they're surrounded by computers.
13. Honest.
Testers are fundamentally honest and incorruptible. They'll compromise if they have to, but they'll righteously agonize over it. This fundamental honesty extends to a brutally realistic understanding of their own limitations as a human being.