BETA Testing

[Joshua Walden]

Just out of mere curiosity-what sort of traits and qualities do you all look for in a BETA tester?

I have had the good fortune of being many a part of a Beta (ESDG, Majestic, Alpha for MSFS and Heatblur's F-14 in DCS). It s always amazing to see the specifics people look for when seeking them out. 

Random thought had popped up when you had mentioned specific Beta testers had been giving good feedback regarding the Sharklets model. Thanks! 

[Sabine Meier]

6 minutes ago, Joshua Walden said:

Just out of mere curiosity-what sort of traits and qualities do you all look for in a BETA tester?

I have had the good fortune of being many a part of a Beta (ESDG, Majestic, Alpha for MSFS and Heatblur's F-14 in DCS). It s always amazing to see the specifics people look for when seeking them out. 

Random thought had popped up when you had mentioned specific Beta testers had been giving good feedback regarding the Sharklets model. Thanks! 

Some are mechanics rated on the airbus, others are pilots rated on the airbus and then some other folks that have a good community reputation I believe. Some of these people are in the introduction guide. But most importantly fslabs contacts who they want as a tester. Not the reverse.

[Joshua Walden]

No I figured Koen. Hence why I was asking. I also figured there would be a myriad of real world rated individuals. The Bus, from a type perspective, sounds like an amazing aircraft. Im glad I get to enjoy it here. My next type will either be the A320 series or B737-we will see when hiring resumes. I've been plowing through my Masters in Aviation Safety lately and that had a deep dive on the Alpha protections on the Bus. 

[Sabine Meier]

10 minutes ago, Joshua Walden said:

No I figured Koen. Hence why I was asking. I also figured there would be a myriad of real world rated individuals. The Bus, from a type perspective, sounds like an amazing aircraft. Im glad I get to enjoy it here. My next type will either be the A320 series or B737-we will see when hiring resumes. I've been plowing through my Masters in Aviation Safety lately and that had a deep dive on the Alpha protections on the Bus. 

MSc. In Aviation safety sounds lovely. We all had hoped this year would be not like this. But good luck with the masters degree.

[Ray Proudfoot]

4 hours ago, Joshua Walden said:

Just out of mere curiosity-what sort of traits and qualities do you all look for in a BETA tester?

I can only answer that as a beta tester on various products I have been invited to test over the years. Try the illogical. Do things that make no sense to see if the software is robust enough to cope with the unexpected. I don’t mean fly an aircraft in a dangerous way. You need to have a decent knowledge of the aircraft you’re testing if it’s an aircraft.

But when I was testing weather programs I would keep adding cloud layers way beyond what was normal to see how the program coped if memory was exhausted.

If people think of beta testing as a chance to get the package free of charge and just make a few useless reports you are of no use to the developers at all.

[Stu Antonio]

Some additional contributions to the topic, if it is of interest: