What makes a good test engineer?

A good test engineer has a ‘test to break attitude, the ability to take the customer’s perspective, a strong commitment to quality and attention to detail. Tact and diplomacy are useful in maintaining a cooperative relationship with developers, and the ability to communicate with technical (developers) and non-technical (customers, management) people is useful. Previous experience in software development can be useful because it provides a deeper understanding of the process software development, offers the tester an appreciation for the point of view of developers, and reduce the learning curve in automated test tool programming. Judgement skills are needed to assess risk areas on which an application focus testing efforts when time is limited.