Ten years experience in software testing

Time flies, from graduation to now has been 10 years, 10 years has been engaged in the work of software testing. From a nothing, to test technicians to test management, during the confusion, there is pain, there are detours, there are shortcuts. Today on their own past 10 Test experience to do a summary, one is to give yourself a fresh start to increase motivation, the second is to just humanely, confused test friends a little bit of advice, I hope you less detours.

First of all, talk about the test of career planning, that is, what to do. The so-called direction is more important than effort, which is definitely a truth. If you can understand this when you're just on the test job, you'll be able to become an expert in a test field in less than 5 years, when salary and self-confidence are the natural things to do. But unfortunately, we get too much information, testers are a generalist, everything to learn, everything to understand. As a result such a direction led to the 3 foot cat Kungfu testers a bunch. So what do you know about testers that don't have a niche? Nor is it possible to develop into a test management position. Speaking of this, the first way to Test career planning is to test management. Then it's easy to think of another way of career planning, testing technical experts. In the field of testing technology, there is no more than the performance testing experts and automated testing experts.

The three directions of the software testing career plan are clarified, and the next step is to choose a direction that suits you. Here are a few suggestions for me.

About selecting Test management: First of all you must not be a technology-sensitive person, this is easy to judge. Second, you must be good at communication, organization and coordination ability strong person. Third, your long-term ability to withstand pressure strong, able to resist the leadership of criticism, can withstand subordinates blame. Can tolerate grievances, eat a loss. Finally, you have a constant passion for management, and if you are a better-looking student cadre in the past, that's even more problematic. In short, your EQ is higher relative to your IQ. So from the personality you are more suitable to do test management work.

About choosing a performance test expert: Just as the Test manager has the opposite character, first of all, you do not like the organization to coordinate such work, you are a bit aloof, you must not be a student cadre at school, or not a duck to the student cadre. Second, you are not necessarily a technical fanatic, but you do not reject technology, you have a strong hands-on skills, like practice. Can be calm down to learn. So you have the potential to become a technical expert

About choosing an automated test expert: Like a performance test expert, if you have a programming language or have the confidence to learn a programming language, congratulations, you have the potential to be an automated testing expert. Typically, performance testing experts and automated test experts are technically interlinked.

Determine the direction of their own testing, the next is how to achieve the problem. There is a well-known 10,000-hour law theory, that a person who wants to be an expert in a field needs to undergo a 10,000-hour temper. At this scale, if you work 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, it takes 4-5 years to become an expert in a field.

about how to grow into a test management talent: First of all, you must become a functional testing expert; By participating in the testing of at least 2 complete projects, you have a hand in the test theory, the test process for a complete project, the test activity, and the test output. Second, as far as possible to choose an industry such as telecommunications, payment, online shopping, communications and so on, become the business experts in the field. Because the role of the Test manager is often a half-demand person's role. Third, as far as possible in the first three years, personally participate in functional testing, performance testing, automated testing work, for the post-test management recruitment, test planning, personnel allocation, task scheduling lay a good technical foundation, plainly, test management work is also a technical management post, not a certain technical foundation, It is difficult to carry out follow-up management work.

about how to grow as a performance test expert: Just into the test management position, you are responsible for the work must be functional testing tasks. No chance of exposure to performance testing work. What to do? My advice is: self-study or attend a training course, if you are a very strong self-management, recommend self-study, if not, then recommend to participate in specialized performance testing training. It's a good idea to get an overview of the basics of performance testing before attending a course.

The learning process for performance testing is as follows:

1) First understand the architecture of a system, understand how each server is interactive work, the system's data flow, system pressure points, so as to determine the performance test requirements and indicators, that those functions need to consider the pressure, can bear the pressure is how big. For example, a shopping site, the most typical login function, the ability to submit orders to support the number of users, each concurrent users in a few seconds to complete the operation, the system for a long time under pressure state stability.

2) The second Choice Test tool, for HTTP protocol-based applications, general LoadRunner can complete performance testing work, Learning LoadRunner Trilogy: script recording (LoadRunner generator), The contents of scene setup and execution (LoadRunner Controller), result analysis (LoadRunner analyses).

For some applications that cannot implement performance testing with existing tools, you need to consider your own authoring tools to do so. So a good performance test engineer must be proficient in using a programming language.

3) Practice, must be more practice, after the installation of LoadRunner, LoadRunner with ready-made performance testing project---aircraft booking system. Practiced hand LoadRunner can be taken completely.

4) The purpose of performance testing is to find the bottleneck of system processing capacity and system tuning is the ultimate goal, if can further improve the business Server, database Server tuning skills, performance testing is a powerful.

about how to grow as an automated test expert:

Unlike automated testing and performance testing, performance testing is primarily a test of the performance of the server, and automated testing is taken from the front-end, and is designed to replace part of the manual test, which considers the stability of the client's long running time. Automated testing is divided into: automated testing of Web sites, automated testing of PC clients, and automated testing at the mobile end. Each end of the test is a large area, it is recommended to learn in depth a terminal automation testing technology.

Automated testing of web-side sites: Common open-source testing tools: Selenium framework + one programming language (Python recommended), or QTP, recommended selenium, because it is open source, free, not pirated, and extensible, So the domestic first-line big companies like to use.

PC Client Automation test: A common Test tool: QTP. Paid software, many small companies in the domestic use.

Android Phone Automation test: Commonly used test tools: Monkey, Monkeyrunner, Robutium, Appium, and so on, these are open source software. , the domestic first-class companies are in use.

Apple-side automated testing: Commonly used test tools: Instrument, Fonemonke, broomine, iphone SDK comes with the test unit.

Mastering a programming language is a requirement, regardless of which terminal you are testing for automation.

Finally talk about soft power, a good test technology experts, I think the need to have the following features:

Continuous learning Ability: the development of computer technology is changing rapidly, if you do not continue to learn, then 2 years, you will find that you can only be a cheap manual testing staff. So if you can learn the best at work, can not, after work to ensure 2 hours of self-study time. In a few years, you can see how much progress you have made.

Communication ability: I think can be cultivated from 2 aspects: first: The communication ability of daily work: and development, product, operation and maintenance, customer service colleague communication to be timely, express to be accurate, smile more, listen more, keep good relaxed colleague relations. Second, formal occasions of communication skills, such as Project weekly meeting, review meetings, summary meetings, must be prepared in advance, what to say, how to speak, their own practice in private first, so that in formal occasions to express clearly, calm, calm and graceful, to the leadership and colleagues left a good impression.

Teamwork Ability: First of all from the mentality, to emphasize the concept of the whole, put down the idea of a single fight. In the actual project, it embodies the cooperation among the team members, the sharing of resources and the joint advance and retreat. This era is not a hero to create the myth of the era, only team work together to get the project done, such people are often the company's favorite, the most willing to cultivate people.

With good people: the so-called Jinzhuzhechi, Howl. With a boss, and excellent people to work together, find a good partner, often to participate in some of the cattle talk, technical forum, through these people's ears, will make you less go a lot of detours.

There are many other soft power, but I personally think that the above points are more important.

Things to be early, especially in the technical industry, must be in the first few years to lay a solid technical foundation, which will be a technical management or technical experts in the future routes have great help.

---------------

Reproduced from the network.

Ten years experience in software testing