The One Million Stories Behind test IO's One Million Bugs

Last week, the total number of bugs found by our community of testers at test IO surpassed ONE MILLION. While we’re incredibly excited to announce this feat, who better to do so than one of our very own Team Leaders, Aqueelah.

While each and every bug is a small triumph in itself, rather than just celebrate the bugs, we want to celebrate the testers behind them. Every bug has a unique story, and behind every bug is a tester. Testers hail from many different countries and backgrounds, and each one has their own reasons as to why they’ve signed up to test with us:

The recent college graduate struggling to find a job after graduation because everyone said they needed years of experience.

The laid-off employee who was on the job market for years because they were told their job skills were outdated.

The full-time employee looking to do more than make ends meet.

The policeman quitting his job, taking the opportunity to work full time for test IO in order to spend more time with his daughter.

The student trying to pay their college tuition to lessen their post-college debt.

The employee trying to learn new skills for a current promotion.

The spouse who gave up their job to travel across the country with their significant other, only to find out they landed in a place lacking readily available job opportunities.

And even the professional quality assurance engineer that just wanted a fun and productive hobby on the side.

The most beautiful things about test IO’s testers are their stories, because behind each story is a different skill set, level, and origin. Very often those skill sets and skill levels are based off real life experiences and not just professional ones. Behind every test cycle there are human beings who come together to find the most important bugs. These findings lead to solutions that help companies build better products and services to enhance their brands and consumer experiences.

As Aqueelah mentioned, the stories behind our testers and their work are what make test IO’s one-millionth bug all the more exciting. But, before we get to that, a quick look at some notable findings from the past.

Bug #10,000 was found by a German tester with impressive stats. This particular issue was about a missing comma and was submitted back in 2012. In her career at test IO, Susanne found in total more than 13,000 bugs and maintained an acceptance rate (bugs accepted by customers) of 89%.

We also count rejected bugs in our tally -- as was bug #100,000 -- which was submitted in 2014. It was rejected by one of our Team Leaders, who do the first quality control before the bug reports get forwarded to our customers.

Now, May 2019 (and nearly 8 years later), we arrive at bug #1,000,000! I was able to speak with the tester, Victor Dinh from Vietnam, who found this bug, to hear his story.

• Can you tell us a bit about yourself and how you found test IO?

In September 2018, one of my colleagues told me about test IO, a place where your bugs will be paid for. I was a QC team leader for a big project in only two years, but I'm just 28. I always want to learn new things as well as prove myself in many aspects.

• When you submitted the bug, were you aware that it was bug #1,000,000?

For the one-millionth bug, honestly, I did not notice it. After reporting that bug, I immediately switched to another area. But once I was told about that on our Discord community server, I rechecked, and yeah - I'm the luckiest guy today, very happy about that. One special thing is team leader of that cycle also send me his gratulations me via a comment below the bug report.

• What do you enjoy most about testing with test IO?

What I enjoy most when working here is: Hundreds of projects, every day is a new chance for you to learn new things. That is a very special thing which you cannot find everywhere when you are working in a company.

• Anything else you’d like to add?

Last but not least, I wish all the best things will come for test IO and other testers who are working here. Hopefully, I can work here as long as possible and earn some great achievements in my testing career.

Test IO would like to thank you, Victor Dinh, for finding our one-millionth bug, and thank you to all of our testers who gave us one million reasons to celebrate. We look forward to sharing a million more and beyond with you!