I previously talked about a person's 'innate curiosity' and 'inquisitive nature', and how this trait lends itself to being in the QA/Testing field.  In response to this post I got a comment along the lines of "is this capability of a tester innate or learned?"  Which my response is going to be a non-committal 'well... yes and no'. 

Yes, it can be learned to a degree.  There are different lines of thought process that can be taught that relate to the tasks involved in testing work.  We experience this all the way through school in classes on Mathematics (Proof Theorums), hard sciences (Chemistry, Physics), Psychology, and Philosophy (Logic and Critical Thinking).  We learn how to 'pick apart' a system (be it biological or non-biological) and prove whether it works or not, why so, and how.  That is why I have met a lot of test professionals with non-CS degree's like Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Philosophy, and Psychology.  They were taught to be thinkers and researchers.  The skills were taught in these types of disciplines, thus it was a nurture type of situation.

Now... No it can't all be learned.  There has to be some innate mindset that needs to be present.  Personality characteristics are what help drive a person to go towards the disciplines that teach the additional skills and help refine them.  Speaking for myself I was always a curious child, I got into things (and a lot of trouble) and always enjoyed pulling things apart to see how they work (my fathers favorite lawnmower was a victim of this curiosity; got it apart alright, just couldn't get it back together correctly again ;-) ).  Also, I have a degree in Zoology and got into computers out of interest (and economic need).  I was always more interested in the analytical/mathematical side of the discipline (genetics, population biology, epidemiology) and didn't like the classification stuff (what is the difference between a bufo woodhousi and a rana pipiens, there both frogs and who cares).  So there was a 'natural' ability present in me.  When I first got into the software industry I was a programmer, doing a lot of maintenance work.  I debugged/tested and fixed other peoples code, and I naturally moved into the formal testing field quickly when an opportunity arose (I liked it more, and at the time saw it as a career move that would be a better fit for me).  Now I still like programming, I do a lot of automation work (functional and load/performance).  But I do it in combination with my overall work focus.  It is in my nature.

Now I know people will argue this, and I expect it.  Does it make me a better tester?  In my opinion it does because this line of work can be stressful and tedious, and it takes a certain personality and characteristics to be able to do it effectively.  I have met other 'testers' who didn't last long because they only learned the craft and didn't have a built in drive for it.  That has been my experience so far.

So is a good tester born or taught?  They are born (nature) and they are taught (nurture), which is the key factor.  As with anyone we all have natural talents, and it is how those talents are developed (through education) that define our capabilities.  As the saying goes "brains only gets you so far, the rest is hard work!"