August 2018 Summaries

I've summarized the text about the author's journey into automation engineering. The author started as a software tester in finance and banking, where they used HP WinRunner for test automation. They then transitioned to using Selenium, a framework for testing web applications, which gave them a broad knowledge of functionality and technical testing experience. Later, they used Apache JMeter for performance and load testing, and Appium for mobile app testing. Finally, they discovered Postman, an API development environment that helped them with understanding and testing APIs from clients. The author's journey highlights the challenges and strategies for software engineers to learn test automation and emphasizes the importance of continuous testing in agile development.

Measuring the effectiveness of a testing strategy is crucial for any DevOps organization. Collecting metrics such as the number of bugs found as a result of tests before release and those found outside of the test set can help determine if changes to the strategy are necessary. The goal is to increase test coverage to an effective level that catches the majority of bugs prior to a production release, rather than aiming for a bug-free application. When evaluating whether new or existing features require automated testing, consider factors such as impact on customers, criticality to the application's function, and difficulty in manual testing. Automated testing can be expensive, but it's essential for critical features and those with multiple test cases. A well-tuned testing strategy is key to delivering quality software continuously, and evaluating its effectiveness through metrics and assessment of automated tests is crucial for overall application quality.