Senior QA Engineer Inna Dvoinikova talked about her first project on Upwork, which became her biggest failure.
Senior QA Engineer Inna Dvoinikova talked about her first project on Upwork, which became her biggest failure.
Inna's task was to test the system, write bug reports, and do 1 retest for $100. In reality, it took over 15 retests, 20 hours of work — and still within the specified amount.
“I started testing, described all the bugs, sent it. A day later — “do a retest.” Retested — everything is still relevant, except for one. I write: only “bug PHT-13 — fixed.” Two days later — “retest” again. Another bug was fixed. I think it’s good, they’ll probably fix it for a long time,” Inna says on LinkedIn.
After more than a month of retests, the tester openly wrote to the customer: "If your devs fix 1 bug per day, why not write to me when at least 5-10 are ready? So as not to run testing in circles."
It turned out that the man didn't want to overpay. In response, the customer wrote something like "it wasn't in the budget," "I thought it was all-inclusive," "you're QA, it's not difficult for you," etc.
Then Inna started looking for answers on the Internet on how to behave in such a case. She turned to Google, Reddit, YouTube, and various forums, and everyone there advised her to get a refund, explain the situation to support with screenshots, and agree on the scope of testing.
So the tester returned the money to the customer, wrote to support with a description of the situation, and the contract simply disappeared from the system.
Inna believes that the first projects are not about money. They are about experience, mistakes and clear boundaries. Now she has a framework - one test / technical task, and then hourly payment.
"Don't be afraid to talk about payment. Because while you are silent, you are being tested," Inna added.
She also advises against responding to clients from India if this is the first offer.
