Software Test Engineering @ Microsoft

Perspectives from Microsoft STEs

Differences between Encarta Premium 2006 and Student 2006

The back of the box for Encarta Premium 2006 has a nifty feature chart that I've been unable to find...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 08/08/2005

I Love the MVP Program

Encarta's MVP, Stephen Stakey, has just launched the Encarta SupportZone- you can find it here. As...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 04/15/2005

Encarta Blog is up and running!

The Encarta Team blog is now up and running with it's very first post. Take a look here! The IE Team...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 03/23/2005

Reasons to be a Test Developer

Steve Rowe has an excellent blog post on Three Reasons To Consider Being a Test Developer (aka...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 01/25/2005

Why does Software Crash #2 – The Access Violation (continued)

In our last post (here), we took a look at an Access Violation of a user mode application attempting...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 01/18/2005

Why does Software Crash #1 – The Access Violation

Pop quiz: what does this line of code do when executed? int foo = (((int)0)); If you’re an astute...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 01/12/2005

“Why does Software Crash” – The series!

Starting this week, I’ll be starting a series on the nuts and bolts of software crashes. Complex...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 01/11/2005

White Box security practice

Mike Howard has posted some examples of buffer overflows by incorrect use of "safe" string...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 11/03/2004

Difference between STE and SDET roles at Microsoft

What’s the difference between a Software Test Engineer (STE) and a Software Design Engineer in Test...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 10/06/2004

A Great Use For Blogs

I'm going to head off today and talk about something in the blog world, and not at all about...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 09/09/2004

Meet Greg @ Syracuse

Ever wanted to meet real, breathing, Microsoft employees and you're located around Syracuse NY? If...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 08/31/2004

Testing Complex Software

It's really hard to wrap your head around how complex software like Office or Windows is. These...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 08/09/2004

There's been a recent spike of activity from people posting Microsoft interview questions online....

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 07/20/2004

Concerns about Test Case Yields

Shrini K had an excellent question about the concept of a Test Case Yield. Test Cases can take an...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 07/15/2004

Encarta 2005 RTM

Have you ever read Tracy Kidder's The Soul of a New Machine? I had the chance to read it for a...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 06/21/2004

Answering Questions

Matt asked a lot of good questions in the comments about yesterdays post on the automation tools I...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 06/18/2004

I Love .Net

Wow, that's a ridiculous title. I sound like I drank the kool-aide. I guess I have, but I should...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 06/09/2004

The Limitations and Purpose of Testing

I was walking around the hallways yesterday and walked by the office of one of the test leads on my...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 06/03/2004

Looking For A Job?

I'm going to take a break from talking about testing and put on my recruiting hat. I've done a lot...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 05/27/2004

Be a Human (aka, "Outlandish Beta Suggestions")

Encarta would be really cool if came with a talking Robot toy to explain content! There are a lot of...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 05/26/2004

Why Testers Should Care About Specs

My team is still bogged down in Spec work, but we're getting close to being done. Over the past few...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 05/11/2004

Pairwise Test Matrices

I've been real busy with all the planning work we're doing now. Part of that is writing test plans...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 04/29/2004

This Beta Bug's Life

There was an interesting question on Encarta's Beta newsgroup recently. In a nutshell, it was asked:...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 04/28/2004

Spec Reviews

After Greg's last two posts I can see this is going to work out great. While Greg's product...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 04/21/2004

Interesting in Beta Testing?

Interesting in getting involved as a technical Beta Tester for Microsoft products? There's some...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 04/20/2004

Characteristics of great Beta Testers

Things have been particularly busy here for the Encarta Test team as we roll out the Beta for our...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 04/20/2004

Test Costing

Most people know that part of software planning and scheduling is developers taking a look at the...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 04/14/2004

Interacting with Customers

A reader named “Iam N” left an interesting comment about his search for a career that...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 04/09/2004

Visiting Speakers on Microsoft campus

Time for a foray into a “hidden“ perk of working at Microsoft. One of my favorite perks...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 04/07/2004

Characteristics of a Good Test Case

Let’s pretend today is one of your first days on the job as a Tester at Company X. You see the...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 04/05/2004

Languages I Use For Automation

Mike asked what languages I use when I write test automation. It turns out there's a lot of them....

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 04/05/2004

"Automated Testing Basics" Article

Well, I know I said I'd have this done on Wednesday, but I ended up writing a bit more then I...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 04/02/2004

Career Fair Tips

I just arrived back from the RIT career fair. Thanks everyone that stopped by our booth! I think...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 04/01/2004

Life Outside of Work

While Greg is off at RIT doing one of my favorite work activities (recruiting) I thought I'd veer...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 03/30/2004

Meet Greg @ RIT

I'll be representing Microsoft at the upcoming RIT career fair on Wednesday, 3/29/04, from 1:00PM-...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 03/29/2004

What Makes a Good STE

Jozo asked me to elaborate on what aptitudes make a good STE. I figure that's a good a topic as any...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 03/26/2004

Chris Joins The Team

I'm Chris Dickens, and as Greg mentioned the other day I'm another Software Test Engineer (STE) at...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 03/25/2004

Test Cases at Microsoft

Brian Lutz is a lucky contracting Tester in the building with my favorite cafeteria on campus, 110....

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 03/25/2004

Categories of Testing at Microsoft

Humans seem to have a natural tendency to categorize. Software Test Engineers are no exception,...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 03/24/2004

Comments thus far

Thanks for everyone's comments so far! I'm surprised at how quickly this blog has taken off. A lot...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 03/24/2004

Linked from JobsBlog!

It looks like I've been linked from the Technical Careers @ Microsoft blog. Thanks for the link,...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 03/24/2004

Testing at Microsoft...

Greetings! It looks like I’m the latest Microsoftie to jump onto the blogging scene....

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 03/23/2004

Disclaimer

These postings are provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights. The content of this...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 03/18/2004

Next>