It was yet another Monday morning. I hate Monday mornings. Like most humans, I hate to leave behind leisure for work. To make matters worse, I was already in a foul mood. It all started when the clock failed to chime in time to wake me up and continued with a cup of spilt coffee. I had woken up two hours late to realize that I would be in the middle of an infamous traffic jam if I took my car to the office. Traffic snarls have become a routine in this city ever since IT became a throbbing business in the area. As I sipped my second cup of coffee for the day I realized that today was the start of beta testing. Why does beta testing always start on a Monday?
When I first entered this software industry I was really worked up. I had always dreamed of a job in Pegasus. It was easily many of my friends’ dream to work there. So I was overjoyed to get an offer when my last term ended for my degree in computer science. Most of my friends had applied but weren’t lucky enough. It wasn’t really that tough to get in though. I still vividly remember my first day at Pegasus and the moment my manager labeled me a tester. ‘What could be so wrong about testing?’ I had thought then. The pay was well above average for the industry: It entitled an hourly pay plus a bonus of $2 for every bug found. One year and two months later, I am now feeling the strain of being a tester.
My thoughts were interrupted by the ringing of my mobile. The LCD screen on it said ‘Office’. It was manager Mark. He wanted to know when I would be there. I told Mark that I wouldn’t be coming to office today and would be doing the testing from home. Ten minutes and a bumbled up breakfast later, I was sitting before my PC. To my right sat the Mac that I had newly installed three months earlier. The closed curtains pitted me against the machine. I powered on my machine. With a gentle hum, the artificial brain began waking up. Signing on to the company’s website, I found the package that was waiting to be downloaded.
While I let the software startup, my eyes fell on the Logitech Extreme 3D Pro. It was sitting there looking all rugged. My mind wandered between the keyboard and mouse to the Joystick. A split second later I got up to swipe the mouse and keyboard off the desk; in their place stood the Logitech Joystick. A game is all needed to cool down my frayed nerves. The mobile that my office has provided lay carelessly at the side as I plugged the game controller into the USB of my PC. I felt the testosterone rush through me as I slugged my enemy with an Uzi. It was a first person shooter. I had started ‘Mega Death: The Chronicles’ on my PC.
Three hours and 163 kills later, I realized that I had spent far too much time than I had allocated for the game. My stomach had begun rumbling. My quick lunch was interrupted by a call from my office. Mike wanted to know why there weren’t any Bugs listed under my name for the Beta testing. I assured him that by another hour he would be seeing my name on top of the bug list for the most bugs reported for the day. After lunch I thought about logging on the bugs, but changed my opinion to start up Mega Death again and continue where I left off.
By the end of the fifth level my wrists began to ache. By then I had been playing continuously for five straight hours, to the complete annoyance of Mike who had expected the bug list which I promised him at lunch. I was too engrossed in the game when at the middle of the sixth level, it crashed! I was fuming now. I had not saved it for the past one hour, which meant replaying it again when I start again.
It was past seven when I finally logged the bugs onto the database. I knew Mike would not have expected to see so many bugs in one day. That’s what differentiates me from all the other testers. Later I found out that not many testers had completed level five for the day. I was the first to report a crash on Mega Death. I was a smug game tester when I finally went to bed.
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