In case you haven’t heard, test automation is on the up and up! In fact, we recently hosted a webinar with a few of the top minds in the space to discuss the latest trends, opportunities ahead, and the tools and technologies you should familiarize yourself with as we head into the new year. But why stop there? There is a lot being discussed these days, and we want to help be a resource for people to continuously learn and grow.
Below you will find our top 10 test automation articles and posts from the past month. Everything from job skills and practical tips to use cases and tech predictions are covered — we hope you enjoy it as much as we did. Stay tuned for more industry news shared via @applitools and be sure to visit our blog for ongoing updates and resources for all things test automation.
Happy Holidays!
1. Why Domain Experts Are Vital For Devops Test Automation
By: Gerie Owen | Published on: SearchSoftwareQuality
Automation is always seen as the way to speed up software testing, but it is more limited than people realize. Expert Gerie Owen argues domain experts must get involved.
Amidst a wave of DevOps test automation among traditional and Agile teams that removes the human tester from the process, forward-thinking groups are rediscovering the value of the domain expert who is interested in computing.
2. How Do We Automate Testing?
By: Ben Linders | Published on: InfoQ
https://www.infoq.com/news/2017/12/automate-testing
Test automation will demand time and attention, but when done the right way, is worth the investment. Karishma Kolli, a software development engineer, spoke about mythbusters on test automation at the Fall Online Testing Conference 2017. InfoQ interviewed Kolli about testing tools and skills, test automation, and noteworthy developments in automated testing.
3. Essential Skills for Landing a Test Automation Job in 2018
By Karen Teboulle | Published on SitePoint
https://www.sitepoint.com/essential-skills-for-landing-a-test-automation-job-in-2018/
Every year brings new requirements in the test automation market. Test automation engineers must master their skills in order to stay ahead and land the job of their dreams. Following our last research: World’s Most Desirable Test Automation Skills, TestProject examined top job search websites around the world to determine the most in-demand test automation skills and technologies for 2018.
4. How To Prevent Software Testing Congestion
By Bob Davis | Published on ITProPortal
https://www.itproportal.com/features/how-to-prevent-software-testing-congestion/
When it comes to software testing, each individual team in the software development and delivery process shares the responsibility of making sure the final outcome is exactly what is required and that it is delivered on time. Nonetheless, you can be guaranteed that there is one team near the end of the process that will cause congestion and slow everything around them down — the software testing team. However, it is always useful to see both sides of the coin, and not only understand the need to complete the delivery cycle, but attempt to recognise the high demands that the testing team faces daily.
5. Why AI Won’t Kill Software Testing
By Alex Robbio | Published on Forbes
One of the most exciting areas in quality assurance (QA) at the moment is the potential impact of machine learning and artificial intelligence. We’re starting to ask the question, what if software could learn to test itself? What if software could automatically track down and eliminate bugs?
This is not just fanciful thinking. The 2016–2017 World Quality Report (registration required) states: “We believe that the most important solution to overcome increasing QA and testing challenges will be the emerging introduction of machine-based intelligence. This will be the next big wave of change after the introduction of risk-based test strategies and test automation technologies.”
6. Software Testing Trends That Shape The Future In The Coming Years
By Venkatesh Akula | Published on TechStory
http://techstory.in/software-testing-trends-shape-the-future/
The latest technologies have brought the businesses to the battlefield of competition where they are striving hard to have the edge. To stand ahead in the crowd of the competitors, a business needs high-quality software which is possible to ensure only with software testing.
Gone are the days when Software Testing was just a process to identify bugs and had less prominence. However, with the moving wheel of time, it has evolved and emerged as an industry which is still expanding by leaps and bounds.
7. Testing Your Frontend Code: Part V (Visual Testing)
By Gil Tayar | Published on DZone
https://dzone.com/articles/testing-your-frontend-code-part-v-visual-testing
For someone who is just beginning to explore the wonderful world of frontend development, how can you start testing your applications?
It is not easy to find a comprehensive guide — from the point of view of a frontend newbie — to testing frontend applications. Because there is no guide that discusses both the theory and the practice and that is oriented towards testing frontend applications, Gil Tayar of Applitools decided to write one!
Read the full article in all five parts to learn the ins and outs of “Testing Your Frontend Code.”
8. 3 Quality Engineering Takeaways from the Wall Street Journal
By Scott Siegler | Published on Applause
https://www.applause.com/blog/3-quality-engineering-takeaways-from-the-wall-street-journal/
“We have so many new web and mobile app platforms, and these have become the face of the business.”
Effective quality engineering is still attainable in spite of today’s fragmented digital world that you need to manage. Dow Jones is a company that has mastered Quality Engineering by integrating crowd-testing into its internal operations and benefited from the increased flexibility that it provides.
9. How To Make The Transition From Test Automation Engineer To Craftsman
By Greg Paskal | Published on TechBeacon
https://techbeacon.com/how-make-transition-test-automation-engineer-craftsman
If you’re like most automation engineers, the time comes when you start considering whether to stay in the field or transition into application development. You’re likely working with developers, building interesting mobile and web applications, and you start contrasting that with the everyday reality of automation development, which may be losing the excitement it once held.
Forget about app-dev envy. Here’s how to transition from the mindset of mundane automation engineer to the ranks of a test-automation craftsman. Once you push beyond the basics of entry-level test automation, you can discover new opportunities that will lead you to an interesting career development in test automation.
10. Using Test Automation Timeouts as Performance Alarms
By Faisal Qureshi | Published on StickyMinds
https://www.stickyminds.com/article/using-test-automation-timeouts-performance-alarms
In automated testing, one of the challenges to developing consistent and stable tests is loading and rendering time and latencies. This plays a larger role for web applications or other network dependent applications, especially with user interface automation. But you can design tests so that timeouts can be used to measure the performance of the application and service while testing the functionality.
To read more about Applitools’ visual UI testing and Application Visual Management (AVM) solutions, check out the resources section on the Applitools website. To get started with Applitools, request a demo or sign up for a free Applitools account.
