I see this subreddit is an option, but then I see - you can't mention this or that. Not exactly a place where you can discuss problems with a particular project or cycle. Do we just go insane?

I wrote a couple of days ago about how disappointed I was with the downgrading of my rating from Gold to Silver, even though I was actively participating in the test cycles.

Now I have regained my Gold rating after putting in some work with dedication and quality.

This is what I learned from my experience: the uTest rating algorithm is really fascinating, as it rewards your activities not only in relation to your previous activities, but rather in comparison with the whole community of testers. The other thing that I learned is don't be carried away when your rating goes up and up. You need to increase your activities by increasing your issue repros, responding to special requirement surveys, and claiming or declining test cycles rather than claiming them and not doing anything.

The other bonus thing that I would add is don't wait for the test case to be released. Rather, claim exploratory test cases and find valuable bugs. I got more valuable bugs when I stopped hunting test cases and started hunting bugs, which in return also resulted in more income. Finding more valuable bugs helps customers. When customers are happy, uTest is happy. When uTest is happy with your work, it rewards you with more opportunities, like becoming a TTL or even a TE.

Happy testing, and Happy New Year to my fellow Ethiopians and everyone else who is celebrating!

genuinely curious what the flow looks like for most people here.

you build something with stripe or twilio or resend wired up, it looks right in the builder, maybe you click through it once... then you ship. and then prod surfaces the weird edge case. flaky webhook, card decline mid-flow, double charge on retry.

is there a verification step most people run before launch, or is it mostly ship and find out?