This question in my title has been in the back of my mind all year long and I have been somewhat slow to answer it. Oh, I could make excuses...not enough time, Covid-19 lockdown, and so on. But it has weighed on me for while. And this week, I want to take the time on this Friday afternoon to answer it.
(Drum roll....)
The answer is YES!
While the answer is rather short, the background to the question perhaps requires more explanation.
I think it was late last year (2019) when I had a roadtester return a product because he said he could not do it justice given his level of knowledge. I appreciated his honesty. I consider him a quality, professional individual. But I had wished he had given me a chance to talk with him about it. I would have probed him about what he felt he needed to know to review the product. How could I help him gain that knowledge? If I had gotten him a mentor, would he have agreed to continue the roadtest?
But this experience made me reflect on who makes a good roadtester and what a roadtester needs to know. Obviously, we roadtest not only elementary products (educational/maker) but very complex products (FPGA dev boards or test equipment). Some knowledge of course is necessary. However, one does not need to be a genius to be a roadtester. A roadtest is a lot of things to different people. For some people it's a project. For other people it is a fancy unboxing. And for even other people it is a teardown-like exercise that digs deeply into the product. Each of these roadtest paradigms requires different levels of knowledge. A detailed application goes a long way in telling me what paradigm you are shooting for. But for me, I think there is room for every one of these testing styles.
I don't expect everyone to know everything about a product such that he/she never needs to ask for help. element14 does have the luck in possessing some members who are very bright, talented, and highly experienced. But my sense is that they worked at developing their expertise over a number of years. For me a good roadtester does not necessarily have to be an expert, but he/she knows when to ask for help. I think this is an area where a new roadtester needs to work on: don't be afraid to ask for help. You can do it by making a comment on the roadtest page. Engineering is rarely a isolated experience. Sure, there is the Einstein who changes the world all by himself. But for the most part, I believe engineering is a collaborative experience.
Someone (may have been Shakespeare or some famous Greek like Socarates) said Know Thyself. Learn to know and trust yourself and what you can handle. If you only feel comfortable right now with a Raspberry Pi, that's fine. Apply to those roadtests and strive to be the best Pi roadtester there is! As you learn, you will likely apply and be selected for more complex roadtests.
Good roadtesters have not only technical skills, but also have other skills that I am mindful of when I select applicants as official roadtesters or that I bring to the sponsor's attention when we meet to discuss applicants. Good roadtests participate in the community. Good roadtesters have a consistent track record. I watch for people who have a passion or great interest in what they do. I learn it from their application. These kinds of people help me and help our sponsors. Just this week I had a roadtester tell me something was not wired correctly on the kit that was shipped to him. I told the sponsor. Well, he was correct and the sponsor is working on correcting it. No roadtest or roadtester is perfect. But the perfect roadtester is someone who takes what he knows and uses his/her knowledge to the best of his/her ability.
I have a number of roadtests running this month. I encourage you to apply for one that interests you.
Randall Scasny
RoadTest Program Manager
