Developer Vs Tester Vs Program manager Vs Support Analyst

I remember discussions on particular function (Dev, Test, Support, Program management) is good.

• Testers aspiring to become a Developer
• Support Analyst moving into Tester roles
• Tester moving into Program Management roles

Which function is good and easy to work with ? I remember gladiator movie motivational talk "Those who like what they do, They are always proud of doing it". Always, the other side looks green. You will experience unique distinct learnings in every function.

Program Manager

• Understand business
• Convert Business Requirements into Clear, detailed Functional Spec
• Meet the schedule with allocated cost and Schedule
• Meet the deadline or beat the deadline
• Explain and cover all possible use cases for intended functionality

Architect

• Architect the System
• System is Robust, Scaleable
• Follow defined guidelines, ex-SOA Guidelines, DB Guidelines
• Plan for Technology Adoption and Migration for current application to Latest Platforms

Developer

• Follow defined Coding guidelines in developing the System
• Design, Develop and Deliver Design Documents
• Provide Supportability and Monitoring in the System
• Cover all Unit Test Cases and Basic Integration Scenarios
• Development function is the primary impacted function in adopting a SDLC model (Waterfall, Scrum, Peer programming)
• This mindshift change/ Frequent builds depends on the model adopted
• Keep track of upcoming technologies/trends and evaluate it

Tester

• Gatekeepers of Quality
• Verify the Design
• Validate the Functionality
• Test Plan, Test Execution, Bugs, Verifying Fixes
• Test Supportability and Monitoring aspects of the Application
• Performance Testing to benchmark the system based on provided hardware configuration
• Test Automation

Support Analyst

• Production Monitoring
• Deployment, Downtime management
• Managing Enduser queries
• Hardware Migration/Upgrade

Every Job has its own learning. I have worked for Support, Dev and Test Functions. All 3 roles I had good learnings. Its important to understand and appreciate the work delivered by each function. "What you hear, you forget; what you see, you remember; what you do, you understand.. - Unknown Author"
Note - DBA Role, Business Analyst, Onsite Coordinator, Project Management in IT Service Companies I don't have any exposure to it......

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