With respect, I suggest your experience is limited.<p>I deploy embedded safety-critical software into establishments such as nuclear naval bases.  We need testers because while the code works (we use formal and semi-formal software derivation techniques) there are, on occasion, unexpected interactions between features.  You need to run through combinations of configurations and actions, and some of it can't be scripted <i>because</i> the interactions are unexpected - the Black Swan principle.<p>Our cycle is a long one in part because acquisition programs in government and quasi-governmental organisations are like that.  We can't deploy changes every day into the field.  For one thing, we usually have access.  For another, any change needs associated training and manuals.<p>It would be a waste of a talented programmer to run through the sorts of detailed and exhaustive testing our software has to pass before it will be accepted.<p>Perhaps you simply think that my company is placed in a less than ideal market.  I assure you, it's worth being in the game.