How can your team of testers learn test automation?

The challenge with test automation is finding the right people. It’s hard to keep up with demand, and there’s a lot of competition with other industries to attract talent. – World Quality Report

Test automation has indeed gone from being a ‘nice-to-have’ to ‘must-have’ component of SDLC today.  

For example, the world quality report says that: 

Where does automation give you the most benefit?  

Automation can deliver far more than testing the front end or testing a drop down in a unit test. For years, unit testing and functional testing have dominated the efforts to automate. Now with the need to build faster, get volumes of data, build environments and deploy code quality automation solutions bringing value into all these areas. 

So, how can teams make test automation an effective exercise? 

 By mastering the basics.  How can teams learn and master test automation? 

That’s what we plan to cover in this blog.  

Depending on the learning curve, test teams could seek more knowledge from different platforms. 

For example, for “Beginners”, the best place to start is – Udemy & YouTube tutorials 

Platform: Udemy

For ‘Intermediate-Advanced’ teams, here are some useful resources to sharpen their automation skills and be in the know about trends in automation. 

Platform: Medium 

Angie Jones

Angie Jones is a renowned automation expert and frequently shares insightful articles on test automation, best practices, and trends. 

Go to Angie’s Medium handle @techgirl1908

Zhimin Zhan

Zhimin Zhan is a test automation consultant who shares experiences on Test automation, continuous testing and DevOps in a practical and fun way; Offer one-day training on Web Test Automation with Selenium WebDriver, Continuous Testing with BuildWise. 

Go to Zhimin’s Medium Handle @Courtney Zhan.

Bas Dijkstra

Bas Dijkstra is a testing consultant who writes about various testing topics, including test automation, in a practical and informative manner. 

Go to Bas’s Medium Handle @asdtechy

Paul Grizzaffi

Paul Grizzaffi is a software automation architect who shares his expertise on test automation, tools, and strategies. 

Go to Paul’s Medium Handle @pgrizzaffi

Alan Richardson

Alan Richardson focuses on automation, testing, and teaching testers through his articles and tutorials. 

Go to Alan’s Medium Handle @eviltester

Platform: Podcasts 

Next is software testing podcasts – they have been steadily gaining popularity due to a combination of factors that make them a convenient and engaging medium for consuming content. Below is a list of some testing thought leadership podcasts.

TestTalks: Hosted by Joe Colantonio, this podcast covers a wide range of testing topics, including test automation, continuous testing, DevOps, and more.

Website: https://testguild.com/podcast/ 

The Ministry of Testing Podcast: This podcast from the Ministry of Testing community features interviews and discussions on testing techniques, tools, and trends.

Website: https://www.ministryoftesting.com/podcast 

Automation Testing Podcast: Hosted by Manoj Kumar, this podcast explores various aspects of test automation, best practices, and emerging technologies.

Website: https://anchor.fm/automationtesting 

Continuous Testing Live: This podcast discusses the importance of continuous testing in the software development lifecycle and features insights from industry experts.

Website: https://www.tricentis.com/podcast 

The QA Lead Podcast: Hosted by Matthew Bretten, this podcast explores various testing concepts, methodologies, and tools, including automation.

Website: https://theqalead.com/podcast/ 

After gaining familiarity with all the theoretical concepts, it’s time to take gradual steps towards active involvement in a real-time test automation project. 

Start by designing a test automation framework that will encompass: 

1. Common Utilities 

1. Page specific reusable components 

1. Test Data Externalization 

1. Report generation 

With these foundational elements in place, initiate the execution of a basic automation scenario. 

By now, your framework will have the capability to interact with basic web elements such as text boxes, drop-downs, and radio buttons. It will also enable operations including clicking, saving, input passing, data retrieval, test data management, and report generation.  

Assign experienced automation engineers as mentors to guide less experienced testers through their automation journey. Conduct regular code reviews to ensure automation code follows best practices, is maintainable, and is aligned with the team’s standards. 

Encourage testers to document their automation projects, challenges faced, and solutions found. Share this documentation with the team for reference. Establish a knowledge-sharing platform where team members can discuss automation techniques, troubleshoot issues, and share insights. 

Once you get familiar with the test automation process and its approach, the next step involves enhancing your foundational framework. This can be achieved through integration with Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) tools, cloud-based testing solutions, and test management tools. 

Next, take your test automation expertise to the next level:  

• Database Validations 
• API Automation 
• Dynamic Test Data Management 
• Mobile Automation 
• Desktop Automation 

By progressively building upon these capabilities, you will establish yourself as an accomplished test automation practitioner, ready to tackle a wide array of complex scenarios across diverse platforms. 

To conclude, 

Make no mistake. Automation is a great idea. To make it a good investment, as well, the secret is to think about testing first and automation second. If testing is a means to the end of understanding the quality of the software, automation is just a means to a means. – James Bach 

There’s more to test automation. Explore the following content to learn more: 

• Tips from SMEs to help you pick automation testing tools 
• Test maintenance best practices 
• An overview of test automation report analysis