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How to Become a Test Automation Engineer: Myths, Plans, and Strategies

by Syntax Technologies Software Testing Training

Test automation engineers are all too accustomed to everything from lurking on forums and attending boot camps to watching courses on testing tools and picking a programming language.

Test automation, often known as automated testing, has expanded rapidly. Unsurprisingly, there is a significant demand across industries for test automation experts, making it harder to remain competitive.

This thorough guide is for you whether you're an Automation Testing Courses trying to advance in your career or just curious about it.

An automation tester is who?

There are numerous names for the profession itself. The duties and scope of work are the same whether you are a test automation engineer, test engineer, or QA automation tester.

People that use automated test scripts to carry out testing projects are known as automation testers. In order to reduce bug escapes and release on schedule, they plan, write, manage, and run automated test scripts throughout the Software Testing Life Cycle (SDLC).

QA teams are used by organisations to:

· Work and communicate with people from different teams, including IT staff, product managers, developers, and business analysts.

· Create processes for reviewing requirements, developing test plans, strategies, documenting, planning the roadmap, and allocating spending budgets

· To better understand the codebase, architecture, coding practises, etc., shift left and get involved early in the product development stages.

· Complement existing tool chains and technologies with testing tools

A good tester should have a thorough understanding of software testing in general, even though the precise job description and responsibilities of automation testers can vary greatly depending on the industry and firm. You can create more complex test scripts and cover more important cases if you have a broader understanding of programming and technical concepts.

Myths about the Work of Automation Testing

Testing will always be required to ensure that software is completely working as long as it is available.

The 40 billion USD automation testing market is anticipated to expand at a 14.2% CAGR from 2021 to 2026, according to a report from Mordor Intelligence.

However, there are numerous stigmas associated with the career of an automation tester. Here are a few such statements along with our opinions.

Myth No. 1 about Automation Testing: It's Better That Developers Get Paid More

It is true that software developers and engineers make higher salaries than testers. This argument doesn't do justice to the potential of the job of an automation tester, despite the fact that it is the cold, hard truth.

It's comparable to choosing between a well-paying careers that you despise or a vocation that pays less but that you adore.

Here are some sample questions to ask yourself to determine whether a career in software automation testing is right for you:

· Do I enjoy learning about the foundational and enabling technologies that an application, piece of software, or system was built upon?

· Do I find excitement in identifying real-world scenarios and edge cases where a system, piece of software, or application might not function as intended?

· Do I appreciate creating automated test suites because it allows me to learn from bug escapes and develop preventative measures?

· Do I thoroughly look into the underlying issue and offer justification for each problem you report?

Of course, these are but a few examples. However, if you have indicated "yes" to the majority of them, this may be the universe telling you to step up your game.

Myth #2 of Automation Testing: Software Testing Isn't All That Complicated

Once the application code has been created, come up with a hundred different scenarios in which it could fail to perform as intended. It takes a lot of learning to make sure that problems won't slip under the radar once code has been put into production. Additionally, there must be integration and effective communication between the database layer, the business (API), and the presentation (UI) layers.

Test automation engineers will frequently interact with the following technologies:

· A scripting environment for creating automated test scripts is the testing IDE.

· CI/CD: configure a set of tests to run automatically whenever a build is prepared for testing.

· Application Lifecycle Management (ALM): logging problems and bug reports for Jira and other tracking systems

Myth #3 Regarding Automation Testing: Testers Usually Lack Coding Skills

You cannot be afraid of the technological stack if you want to control the test environments. It's a prevalent misconception that testers are bad programmers, but times have changed, and test automation engineers now independently identify and fix problems.

· Writing scripts in a variety of languages, including Java, Perl, Ruby, and many others, is a skill needed for automation testing.

· To validate or develop test data for ETL testing or data validation, testers programme complicated SQL queries.

· By transferring the written code from one database to another, testers aid migration testing as well.

It follows that developing poor code will significantly affect your testing abilities.

An automation tester who knows how to code can create scripts to maintain, watch over, and set up test environments. If you have a fair amount of coding knowledge, it will be simpler for you to identify what would make the underlying code more testable. With confidence, you can investigate further into databases, web servers, operating systems, or message queues to address the problems.

What do testers who use automation do?

Using automation technologies, testers are essentially expected to automate tedious or repetitive test jobs, but there is much more to it than that. What businesses require of you will be greatly influenced by their company needs. They are looking for testers who can use critical thinking, spot errors and contradictions, make good use of various tools, and use practical testing methods for well-implemented test automation.

Organizations from a variety of industries are constantly looking for testers skilled in the most recent software testing technologies because they want to automate their testing processes and enable quick software or product launches.

· You must have a solid grasp of ideas related to software testing in general as well as the application domain.

· To create automation frameworks and test scenarios, you must have stronger technical and coding abilities.

· You must decide which test cases are targeted at which targets.

· By automating a number of time-consuming test procedures, such as report comparisons and data extraction from excel sheets, you must free up the time of the entire QA team.

· Talk with your team frequently about other methods to enhance the testing process.

Organizations can speed up product delivery or adhere to current security regulations by automating testing. In order to simplify testing, improve bug detection, speed up the testing process, lower costs, and minimise human intervention, many SaaS businesses employ automation testers.

Therefore, automated testing can be a fantastic career choice, but only if you're prepared to put in the time to lay the groundwork correctly and have extensive experience in developing test scenarios.

How Can I Become an Engineer in Test Automation?

You must have a solid grounding in programming ideas if you want to work as a test automation engineer. You must be familiar with programming languages and the fundamentals of software testing. A broader understanding of the complete software development process is necessary for the testing profession.

To learn the fundamentals of software testing and programming concepts like data types, error handling, programme flow, and more, you can enrol in a variety of free or paid online courses, attend classes, or read books.

When creating automated test scenarios, having experience with manual testing is advantageous. Check out these five easy methods to go from manual testing to test automation if you want to move beyond it.

Domain expertise

The ability to pay close attention to detail, write clear and simple code, and collaborate well with others are just a few of the essential abilities that every automation test engineer should possess. However, you must consider the end user's perspective in order to respond to specific specifications and develop structured test scenarios.

A poor grasp of a domain or product might make it difficult for you to find defects, build test models, and guarantee high test coverage. Possessing the highest level of technical expertise in areas like Linux, SQL Server, and mobile apps is a positive thing. However, it is only via in-depth domain expertise that you can keep up with the requirements of end users and the rising complexity of software for vertical markets.

A testing automation engineer may build more accurate test scenarios and find many faults by understanding the "why" behind a company, which is something that only industry experts can see.

Technology

Depending on your project and interests, you can automate your tests using a variety of technologies. Organizations employ a variety of strategies to automate various applications, including

· Web applications: ensuring uniform operation and performance on a variety of hardware, browser, and operating system versions

· Web services and APIs are used by developers nowadays to enhance the functionality of their web applications and websites.

· adapt mobile applications to the individual operating systems that consumers are using

· Desktop programmes: Different operating systems—macOS, Windows, Linux, for example—process information in different ways.

Tools and Programming Languages

Going with the crowd would be the simplest and safest course of action. However, keep in mind that you'll also need to adapt your automation testing abilities to one or two more programming languages, depending on the language in which your System Under Test (SUT) is written, so that the assigned developers can evaluate your test code whenever necessary.

It's important to remember that the popularity of low-code and no-code solutions does not mean that programming is no longer necessary. The purpose of low-code testing tools, like the necessity of both manual and automated testing, is to reduce the amount of effort required in comparison to full-code methods.

All of these tasks necessitate a solid grasp of well-known programming languages, from checking replies between APIs and databases to providing more technical information on those CSS problems.

However, these are the languages that are used the most, in order of popularity:

Java

Javascript

Python

Groovy

Ruby

Despite the fact that automation scripts can be written in any language, it makes more sense to use a tool to facilitate the process. But how do you decide which is the best?

You'll probably build scripts in a variety of languages and test numerous applications over your automation career.

Sometimes the solution lies in a single tool. However, you could have to work with a variety of platforms and technologies for the majority of your TAE career (unit, integration, end-to-end, etc.) depending on the level of risk.

When choosing a functional testing tool, you should take into account a few crucial factors rather of depending on subpar criteria, such as

· Problem category (the database layer, the business logic, the graphical user interface or GUI),

· Those responsible for automation (programmers, testers),

· language of programming and environment for development

· Data management setup and testing procedure

· Version management and the CI system

· tagged platforms and support

To identify a tool that works with the technological stack you are developing and expedites the testing process, try these.

· Testing APIs Tools

· Tools for Open-Source Testing

· Testing Apps for Mobile

Give our list of the 15 most popular automation testing tools a look if you're still unclear about the many tools available to automation test engineers.

How to Become a Demanded Automation Tester

Planning and Strategy

A good automation tester should be inquisitive, outgoing, and above all, a team player. Working with product owners, developers, and product analysts to establish testing strategies will be a crucial aspect of your job as you take on a new position as an automated test engineer. In dynamic and hectic work situations, it's a common misconception that an automation tester will replace the requirement for manual testing.

Consider the following questions while developing and designing an automation strategy:

· Who will participate in the process of test automation?

· What equipment you'll need

· How the present release management model will accommodate test automation

· How will test cases be trimmed down

· How are you going to do the tests and monitor the outcomes

· More information may be found at How to Create and Implement a Top-Notch Test Automation Strategy.

Possibility of Learning

Most automation engineers are self-taught because their line of work necessitates ongoing examination of novel concepts. If test automation is something you want to learn, then Enroll QA Engineer Course.