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Automation Testing as a Career

Automation Testing is an automated way to perform software testing. The career in automation testing is growing day by day because it allows testers to do more stuff while all predefined tests are performed automatically. However, manual testing is still as popular as it used to be.

Thus, when you decide to become a tester, you should bear in mind that these two types of testing differ a lot, as well as the daily tasks of each specialist. The aim of this article is to figure out the role of automation tester on the project, to view whether such specialists are in demand, and to point out the skills that come in handy to start a challenging career in software automation testing. So, let’s start!

The Role of Automation Tester

To define a role of such a specialist, it is necessary to explain what test automation (or automation testing) is. To make it simple, it is a process in which software tools execute pre-scripted tests and check the results.

Here, we presume that this process involves the use of technical means that will perform certain actions independently without constant control and direct involvement of a man.
The job of an automation tester appeared as the result of synergy of testing and software development. The role of automation tester consists of creating scripts that check test cases independently.

Automation Testing as a Career

Why is Automation Testing in Demand?

Test automation has a number of undeniable advantages. One of the main ones is the exclusion of the human factor. Automated tests cannot get tired and can work overnight without missing a defect. Hence, it works more effectively and with undoubtedly greater productivity than a man does.

Usually, companies start to use test automation when it is impossible to cover everything with unit tests.

Autotests complete the entire work cycle faster because they do not have to consult the documentation. Moreover, all the reports are sent automatically.

In addition, automated tests increase the speed of testing and provide comprehensive test coverage.

Also, automation testing helps a QA specialist to check a product (for example, a website or an application) with a large number of supported languages and many test cases.

The above-mentioned advantages make the profession of an automation tester so top requested today.

Where Could an Automation Tester Work?

It is difficult to imagine a company that is completely isolated from modern technologies in its everyday activities.

Mostly, test automation specialists are hunted by outsourcing IT companies that have their own dedicated testing teams. In addition, product companies, where close control of product quality is needed, hire automation testers, since they are the ones who determine the success of the entire project.

The role of the automation testing specialist is of utmost importance on projects that involve constant homogeneous checks. Such testing types as regression testing, functional testing, performance testing, security testing tend to be automated prevalently.

What Tools to Use in Automation Testing

To become a professional in this sphere, one should explore a great number of tools used for automation testing.

Often, the tools are divided according to the types of tests they are used for: functional or load. Functional tests check the business logic of the application and its correspondence to primary business objectives, the second one is used to test the performance. The leaders in the automation of functional testing are QuickTest Professional by HP, Rational Robot, Functional Tester by IBM and SilkTest by Borland. In the market of automated load testing tools, the leaders are such tools as LoadRunner (HP), Robot and Rational Performance Tester (IBM).Unfortunately, as for now, most load testing tools work only with web applications.

Moreover, the choice of the tool may depend on the programming language used for an application. Thus, Junit, UniTESK, and TestNG are used for Java, NUnit, TOSCA Testsuite – for .NET, Selenium – for HTML. The latter tool is used to automate web applications and supports such browsers as Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Opera, Google Chrome, and Safari. It also allows you to automate other actions performed through the browser.

What Skills Will be Useful for an Automation Tester?

In order to become a professional in the sphere of test automation, you need to have sufficient experience and knowledge not only in manual testing but also in programming.

The skills in object-oriented programming (OOP), knowledge of objects, classes and methods, data types and operations over them will be of use for the start of your career in automation testing. In addition, knowledge of programming languages such as Java or C # will be useful.

Moreover, a plus will be knowledge of utilities, for example, for Selenium WebDriver or Rational Robot tools.

Where to Learn Automation Testing?

To learn test automation today, you have two main options: to study this direction yourself or to rely on the professionals who will share all the insights and life hacks of the chosen sphere. If you have a high level of self-organization, the first variant of training will absolutely suit you. In this case, you can read specialized books on testing, watch Youtube video tutorials on how to automate test cases and what tools to use better. Also, you can subscribe to blogs of experienced testers who will tell you about the traps and pitfalls in their profession.

However, if you feel that you need some backing of experienced QA professionals and tutors, then you’d better choose a specialized online or offline course. For example, QA Academy offers Test Automation online course for professionals with knowledge in programming, where you will learn the basics of test automation, understand approaches to automation, various ways to identify user interface objects and much more.

Today we live in a world where many processes are automated, and this trend is only picking up steam. Automation is no longer the future – that is happening around us right now. Why not try to build a career in the field of automation testing if you are still choosing your future profession?

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