Software the Agile Way....

Technical proficiency -  automation can free the time of testers to do more exploration, which allows discovery.   Investigative curiosity Observational skills Communication skills Writing skills and bug advocacy Domain knowledge Willingness to learn Social skills Humor Practice "Testing is questioning a product in order to evaluate it . Software testing is about revealing the unknown." Source-  http://www.ebaytechblog.com/2013/01/31/becoming-a-world-class-tester/#.VTNlhNKeDGd http://java.dzone.com/articles/3-technical-skills-every

Automation Testing Automated tests are important, but they can't always address the complexity of finding potential problems related to usability, reliability, performance, compatibility and other quality criteria. Automated tests can't ensure the documentation matches the final product. They don't typically cover test scenarios past common use (like disfavored use or extreme use).  Automated tests are great for testing specific aspects of functionality, but for complex applications they aren't so great at testing the platform dependencies (external hardware or software, deployment configurations).  They don't often address issues related to operations (dealing with how data ages, alarming/alerting, logging, etc.).  And automated tests aren't often focused on relationships between the product and time (concurrency, changing rates or transactions, or delays on input). Exploratory testing: Exploratory testing to help inform the project team about p...