A couple of weeks ago we made a big change to the Testlio community. We decided to make registration to Testlio invite only. We also noted that there will be many other changes to the way the community works, today we would like to announce another big change. We are removing the tester rating from your profile screen! This may come as a shock to some of you and many might actually disagree with our decision, but before you go to the pitchfork emporium and chase after us, please read through our thoughts on this and how things will change. Why are we doing this? The core of Testlio is its community. You are our most important part of our company. Seriously, no one is more valuable to us than you. Without you, we would have nothing. Our community is the most important part of us, and when you value something or someone, you should seek to take care of them and make them better. The tester ratings did not do this. The ratings that you had previously seen had actually hurt the feelings of our testers and made them question their skills. We don’t want any of our testers to feel this way if they’re a part of Testlio. Remember, if you’re a part of Testlio, then that means you’re one of the best. No exceptions. We want to make sure that we are creating an environment where testers can thrive. In order to do this, the best approach is to focus on actionable feedback. After every test cycle you will receive feedback from a test lead explaining where you could improve and what you did well. If you act on this feedback, then you will without a doubt become a better tester. After talking with many of our top testers, we found that a common trait among them. It’s that they don’t even care about their rating. This isn’t because they already had a high rating, but rather because they focused on how they could improve. This is the kind of mentality that we value at Testlio. If you strive to become the best and stay at Testlio, then always act on feedback and seek to improve. No number will ever be able to provide that information to you. “What if I don’t get a lot of feedback on how I can improve?” If you don’t get any actionable feedback, then it likely means you did a good job, so keep it up! We will always stress our test leads to give feedback for every tester to make sure you all do better. Every issue will have some level of feedback and if you have points where you can improve, then every test cycle you participate in will have feedback. “My rating tells me how good of a tester I am” This is 100% not true. I want to stress again, if you are in Testlio, you are a great tester. There are many different ways to test, and your rating doesn’t tell you how good you are as a tester. The rating you receive is a collective report of how well you act on the feedback you receive. Your rating doesn’t tell you how good of a tester you are. How you act on your feedback does. What will this change? Nothing. Seriously. You won’t receive more or less invites to projects from this change. Operationally, nothing inside of Testlio will change. The only thing that can change is your focus on acting on the feedback you receive. It’s up to you on how you want to act on it 🙂 Conclusion If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me on the Testlion Slack group or willie@testlio.com.