Beta test or beta testing is the intensive use of a product before it goes to market in order to identify possible errors. This term is usually applied to computer programs, games, hardware.
Unlike alpha testing, carried out by the developers themselves or by special testers, all volunteers from among potential users are involved in beta testing.
Voluntary beta testers
As a rule, participation in the beta test is not paid. Volunteers are attracted by the opportunity to satisfy their curiosity about a new product, the ability to influence its final quality by identifying not found bugs. But developers often encourage testers by giving them various unique bonuses, discounts on the purchase of the final version, etc.
For the developers themselves, attracting broad masses to testing is also an opportunity to attract the attention of potential consumers, getting preliminary reviews, one of the components of an advertising campaign.
Small firms engaged in the production of computer games often save on the beta testing process by releasing a finished product with all existing errors. The first users complain about numerous errors in the program, which are fixed in the next update.
Testers
Large, world-renowned firms that produce sophisticated software and hardware employ testers for alpha and beta testing. As a rule, this is a person with a programmer education who knows standard manual and automated methods for testing programs. The salary level, as a rule, does not differ from the salary of full-time programmers in the same company. The ability to find a non-standard way of using the product, leading to the identification of the next (better - critical) error, is especially appreciated in testers.
Typically, system testing is carried out in three modes:
- from the point of view of strict adherence to the operating instructions;
- from the point of view of complete ignorance of this instruction, based on stereotypes and intuitive understanding;
- from the point of view of intentionally non-standard use of the program.
The need for hired professional testers is explained by the complexity of the finished product, special requirements for the employee: he must act simultaneously as both a user and an expert in handling the product, and be able to analyze the behavior of the system from the point of view of a development engineer.
