As well as skill, knowledge and dedication, good testing also requires the right attitudes.

The first thing to recognize is that the role of the tester is crucial in producing stable and reliable software. You are not working in testing because you are not a good enough programmer, or as a punishment, or for any other reason than that your management recognized in you an ability for meticulous attention to detail, good creative skills and the capacity to see a job through to proper completion.

As a good tester, you are absolutely obsessed with destroying the software you are testing. You are continually looking for new and subtle ways of designing tests that will break the system. You look at the type of errors that are being discovered, learn how the developers think, and design more tests to stress the system to the limit. When you have finally given it your seal of approval, everyone knows that the chances of finding an error when that software goes into production are as close to zero as it is possible to get. You are professional in your approach, firm (but not accusing) with the developers, thorough in completing your own tasks, and aware that you are a key part of the team.