Discussion on the training of software testing engineers

ChinaSoftware TestingThe engineer's position is from scratch, and the experience is still insufficient.10Year. Mature software testing theory system is also built only10Years of history. Looking at the rapidly growing computer software companies that are emerging today, the demand and desire for Excellent Software Testing engineers make us have to think about one question: how to conduct and train software testing engineersWork.

Many people misunderstand the importance of software testing. Because the people who started software testing often started fromBlack box testingBlack box testing does not require programming experience, so it is always a sense that testers do not need much knowledge, no matter who is on duty, as a result, software companies are reluctant and do not think they need to conduct training for Software Testing engineers. Once software products are delivered to users, they find that the quality is inferior, the efficiency is low, the maintenance cost is expensive, and the testers are heartless. Why can't they be tested?Bug(Software defects ).

There is an old saying in China: Do not cut firewood by mistake. Seeing the negative effects above, it is obvious that at least we should reach a consensus: Software Testing engineers also need to be trained and formal training is required. What training? I think we should start training in at least three aspects.

I. Induction Training

When a software testing engineer first came to a company, he was often very interested and was ready to devote himself to the Battle of "catching insects. But it is often difficult to do this, because it cannot catch bugs, or even if it is not important to catch bugs, it is ignored by developers. Think about how ambitious test engineers need induction training.

The software testing engineer's induction training can be divided into three parts. Product training,Testing TechnologyTraining and testing tool training. Software testing targets software products developed by enterprises. Therefore, we must have a comprehensive understanding and a clear understanding of software products. As a test Manager, at least enough training time should be arranged for new testers to study the content of the tested software. We can use all available training materials. The software product itself, user manual, development team requirement specification, technical documentation, including the personnel familiar with the product for functional explanation, etc, quickly arm test engineers with the content of these informal products. These trainings are not enough, so you must be good at checking test engineers.LearningAnd promptly ask them the most critical issues in the product, such as the core concepts and business processes of the product. After training and examination, I learned how to understand the product and the essence of the product through a single question and answer, in addition, the system can capture vulnerabilities in training from questions raised by beginners to lay the foundation for better training in the future.

Because software testing engineers are always from all walks of life and around the world as expected. All those with testing experience and no testing experience are collected into the enterprise. Therefore, necessary testing technical training must be available. The training content mainly focuses on black box testing technology. First, black box testing technology is the foundation, and second, it is more expensive.White box testingWhen needed, the personnel can also perform the black box testing well. Black box testing common testing methods, test case design, black box testing common testing types, different testing types of main issues of their respective concerns, etc., should be fully exposed in the induction training. Similarly, the process of learning methods is inseparable from the process of practice. You can find some universal functions that testers can try to design test cases. Only through easy to difficult, simple to complex, and repeated exercises can we gradually establish the testing concepts, design methods, and insect-catching sensitivity of testers, and ensure that they will not take unnecessary detours.

In the induction training, the training of testing tools has been gradually mentioned on the agenda. With the increase of software scale and complexity, manual testing in the pure sense can no longer meet the requirements of various aspects of software testing. Therefore, the use of testing tools has emerged. In order to enable everyone to become high-end testers who will use tools as soon as possible, we should also pay attention to the training of testing tools during induction training.LoadRunner,Winrunner,TestdirectorThese commonly used test tools must be mastered by test engineers as soon as possible. The network collects a large amount of information about these tools, just to see how we integrate and package training materials suitable for our own needs.

 

II. On-the-job training

Induction training is just a stepping stone in the software testing field. It can lead beginners to understand the most essential part of the testing work as soon as possible. In order to cultivate a qualified software testing engineer, it is obviously far from enough to rely on induction training. I heard from a senior software development engineer a few years agoInjobtraining. It means that as an engineer, you should pay attention to self-training in the work process, and as a manager, you must strengthen the knowledge infusion and ability cultivation of employees in the work process.

InjobtrainingIt can be formal or informal training. According to past experience, one-on-one informal training makes it easier to guarantee the training effect. Every product or project test will be an excellent opportunity for on-the-job training. Starting from following the development user requirements of the development team, assisting the development team and reviewing the functional design of the development team, the test engineer completes the test design independently, and finally performs the test, test managers always need to guide and lead test engineers and teach them what the purpose, content, and outcome of software testing are at all stages of the software development lifecycle. The testing concepts and technical theories that have just been established during the induction training must be maximized in practical work. In the on-the-job training process, test managers must make great efforts to review the work of test engineers, just like catching bugs in software products, it is necessary to detect the work vulnerabilities, work defects, and improvement priorities of each test engineer as soon as possible. I cannot think that the test engineer has learned everything through induction training. Do not forget that software testing is also highly technical and functional design,CodeDevelopment is the same. It requires repeated practices to find out the deficiencies and make continuous improvements so that the work skills can be steadily improved.

The scope of software testing defined in enterprises is no longer simply testing execution in most cases. Therefore, after a batch of software testing engineers are employed in an enterprise, the enterprise should select the key points for them during on-the-job training based on the different characteristics and expertise of the engineers, that is, to further strengthen the trend of on-the-job training. For example, if someone is good at testing and designing large-scale functions, they should focus on developing their testing and design capabilities. If someone is good at developing test cases using testing tools, then, we should focus on developing testing tools. Some people may have strong patience, inquiry spirit, and skeptical attitudes, so we should focus on developing testing and execution capabilities; some people may have one or two or three years of development experience, so they should focus on cultivating their white box testing capabilities. In short, in the on-the-job training process, the key training directions should be correctly selected based on the different work experience and technical background of the test engineers. If everything is comprehensive, it is very likely that low-cost results will be produced in a large scale, which will also impair the enthusiasm of test engineers and influence the objective evaluation of test engineers by test managers. Moreover, as a test Manager, it is impossible to have enough time and energy to develop each capability of each test engineer one by one. Therefore, it is especially important to strengthen the purpose and focus in on-the-job training and clarify the training direction and objectives.

3. Career development plan for Software Testing engineers

We believe that after formal induction training and targeted on-the-job training, our testing engineers should be able to make great progress in a year or two. However, a new problem occurs. After several years of software testing, where is my future? It seems that I have learned everything I can learn. At this time, a series of dangerous signals will gradually appear on the testing engineers. Perfunctory, eat old Ben, and look for a job in another position. Ah, the test Manager sighed: It seems that all the training investment will be wasted. To curb the development of such adverse events, we have a solution: Well plan the career development of software testing engineers.

No doubt, no one wants to be a test engineer all their life. What's more, after two or three years of testing engineers according to the natural law, there will certainly be better development prospects for testing engineers to explore. Senior Test Engineer, test Manager, test supervisor; Software Quality Assurance engineer, Senior Quality assurance engineer, Quality Assurance Manager, quality assurance supervisor, Quality Assurance DirectorCareer DevelopmentThe sequence can be freely selected by test engineers, but it is difficult to develop from an ordinary test engineer to a director of Quality Assurance without ten years of technical accumulation and experience accumulation.

Select the target suitable for the Test Engineer's own conditions, specify the target for it, and design a tiered career development plan based on the target, it is also an important part of the test Manager's training for test engineers.

Modern software enterprises generally have a set of scientific and rational job sequences, and each employee is assessed for their internal positions within a fixed period of time each year. During this period, the test Manager should assess the latest position level with full understanding of the actual work level of the test engineer and the current year's performance. More importantly, it is necessary to carefully design and plan the Career Development Direction for the testing engineers for the next year. To develop the sequence of senior test engineers, to the sequence of test managers, or to the sequence of Quality Assurance engineers, define a clear direction. First, to help test engineers understand their current working status and the gaps with future development goals, and second, to enhance the enthusiasm and motivation of test engineers, let them realize that the development of enterprises depends on their individual development. The third is to enable enterprises to clarify the current situation of their talent structure and knowledge structure, and to develop and expand enterprises for the future, accumulate strength and increase confidence.

When designing a career development plan for Software Testing engineers, they will often fall into a dilemma: A good testing engineer will develop towards a testing manager in the future, it is still developing towards senior test engineers.

In terms of people's traditional consciousness, I always feel that when I become a test Manager, it seems that I have a half-level role, which is far more noble than a senior test engineer. Therefore, the formation of qijun Wanma thought about the test Manager Yu Qiao phenomenon. How to make decisions, in a word, should be people-oriented, starting from the test engineer's own conditions. Obviously, Senior test engineers focus on their own technical advantages, as long as they maintain technical advantages. The test manager needs to have a lot of accumulated management capabilities and experience from scratch. At the very least, you must have the ability to operate, control costs, make overall planning, personnel management, and communicate and coordinate. That is to say, if you select the development direction of the test Manager, you will undoubtedly have to make more effort to meet the requirements of the position. Therefore, when designing a career development plan for test engineers, test managers must be calm, analyze it in an all-round way, and should not be overwhelmed to allow technical personnel to do management work, those who are good at management work seek development only by technology.

The process of designing a career development plan should strictly be the beginning of the annual training work and the work of setting the set goals. Everything is difficult at the beginning. In order to improve the effectiveness of software testing for a year or longer, test managers must fully communicate with each test engineer while carrying out a good career design, we have reached an understanding and consensus between the two parties to ensure that everyone can work together. The test Manager can also use external power to complete communication. Such as the use of the resources and power of the human resources department and technical committee of the enterprise, working together to complement each other, reduce deviations in the design work, and accumulate experience and skills in the design work.

The above is just some of the experiences on software testing engineer training based on some practical work experience. You are welcome to criticize and correct your mistakes.

Looking at the development prospects of software companies and the increasing demand for testers, test environments, and test tools, We must train software test engineers in a down-to-earth manner, focusing on the primary productivity of software enterprises, improving the core competitiveness of software enterprises in China with the wisdom and talents of people.
From: http://www.51testing.com /? Uid-215623-action-viewspace-itemid-126462