Building Automation Engineers From Scratch

Creating automation engineers from manual testers is hard. Even if testers are willing, they have a lot of hurdles to get over to feel like the same kind of subject matter experts in automation as they are in manual testing.

As a career-long manual tester making the leap to automation, Jenny Bramble has experience to explain frustrations and provide solutions. She will discuss managing the expectations of testers and their managers (what’s the time frame? Why isn’t this working?), techniques for teaching (such as games! Pair/mob programming! Software fundamentals!), and how to know when testers have made it (what should manual testers be aiming for when they start?).

Transcript

1. BUILDING AUTOMATION ENGINEERS FROM SCRATCH @jennydoesthings
2. HI, I’M JENNY HUMAN INTERFACING IS MY FAVORITE THING MY PRONOUNS ARE SHE/HER @jennydoesthings
3. THIS IS MY DARLING DANTE THIS IS DAX DUMPLING PRIVATE EYE @jennydoesthings
4. @JENNYDOESTHINGS THE PLAN ▸ Assumptions ▸ The Abridged History of Jenny ▸ Set Expectations ▸ Framework for Success ▸ Face Challenges ▸ …. ▸ Win!
5. ASSUMPTIONS YOU NEVER START FROM ZERO @jennydoesthings
6. @JENNYDOESTHINGS ASSUMPTIONS - RESOURCES ▸ You have a group of manual testers or are a manual tester interested in moving towards automation. ▸ You have time and resources to apply to this adventure. ▸ You may have some kind of support system or mentoring system in place, but at least have people willing to help. ▸ You’re willing to make a plan and execute that plan.
7. @JENNYDOESTHINGS ASSUMPTIONS - HUMANS ▸ Every tester is an SME in their field ▸ Manual testing is still very important ▸ Not everyone wants to be an automation engineer ▸ Change is scary
8. THE ABRIDGED HISTORY OF JENNY WHO ARE YOU @jennydoesthings
9. Dogs on the Internet @JENNYDOESTHINGS
10. I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I’M DOING. Dogs on the Internet. Also Jenny Bramble @JENNYDOESTHINGS
11. THE ABRIDGED HISTORY OF JENNY WHO ARE YOU @jennydoesthings
12. EXPECTATIONS FIRST THINGS FIRST @jennydoesthings
13. GET OUT IN FRONT EXPECTATIONS @jennydoesthings
14. PERCEPTION OF ABILITY EXPECTATIONS @jennydoesthings
15. I DIDN’T REALIZE I WAS SUPPOSED TO KNOW EVERYTHING BY MY SECOND RODEO. SEEMS LIKE A LOW NUMBER OF RODEOS. The Internet @JENNYDOESTHINGS
16. RESPECT THE MANUAL ADJUSTMENT @jennydoesthings
17. RESET YOUR MINDSET ADJUSTMENT @jennydoesthings
18. LOSE YOUR FEAR OF NOT BEING ‘TECHNICAL ENOUGH’. Lisa Crispin, Janet Gregory Authors of Agile Testing, personal heroines @JENNYDOESTHINGS
19. PERCEPTION OF VELOCITY EXPECTATIONS @jennydoesthings
20. MA’AM, DO YOU KNOW HOW FAST YOU WERE GOING? Officer Howard Wilmington, NC Police Department @JENNYDOESTHINGS
21. VELOCITY IS NOT OBJECTIVE ADJUSTMENT @jennydoesthings
22. PERCEPTION OF SUCCESS EXPECTATIONS @jennydoesthings
23. IF YOU LOOKS CLOSELY, MOST OVERNIGHT SUCCESSES TOOK A LONG TIME. Steve Jobs Apple founder, enjoys turtlenecks @JENNYDOESTHINGS
24. DEFINE YOUR SUCCESS METRICS ADJUSTMENT @jennydoesthings
25. @JENNYDOESTHINGS SUCCESS METRICS ▸ Everyone on the team put in a PR ▸ Golden Path is automated ▸ We can do x, y, and z ▸ There are 15+ tests ▸ We got tests running in CI ▸ No one cried this week
26. DEFINE YOUR SUCCESS METRICS ADJUSTMENT @jennydoesthings
27. FRAMEWORK FOR SUCCESS WHERE DO I EVEN START @jennydoesthings
28. WHAT DO YOU KNOW? FRAMEWORK FOR SUCCESS @jennydoesthings
29. @JENNYDOESTHINGS WHAT DO YOU KNOW? ▸ Remember this is a skill built on top of your existing skills, not starting form zero. ▸ You don’t just drop your manual skillset wholesale to pick up automation ▸ Everything you’ve done in your past is a stepping stone to making automation better ▸ How to use tools and language ▸ Logic ▸ Ability to learn
30. TESTERS HOLD THE MENTAL MODEL OF THE SYSTEM IN THEIR MINDS. Jasmin Smith Tester, speaker, good human @JENNYDOESTHINGS
31. WHAT DO YOU NEED TO KNOW? FRAMEWORK FOR SUCCESS @jennydoesthings
32. @JENNYDOESTHINGS WHAT DO YOU KNOW? ▸ Learn to code; don’t ‘learn to automate’ ▸ Learn the software development lifecycle at your company ▸ Learn Git or whichever versioning tool your company uses ▸ Learn your IDE ▸ And remember…
33. AUTOMATION CODE IS PRODUCTION CODE. Paul Grizzaffi, Automation engineer, metal head @JENNYDOESTHINGS
34. LEARNING FRAMEWORK FOR SUCCESS @jennydoesthings
35. @JENNYDOESTHINGS FRAMEWORK FOR SUCCESS - LEARNING ▸ FIND A MENTOR. ▸ Pairing with devs and testers ▸ Dedicated time for PRs, help, and other tasks ▸ Example automation projects ▸ Coursework ▸ Games
36. PRACTICE MAKES PERMANENT. Sheila Dacus My piano teacher when I was 12 @JENNYDOESTHINGS
37. FACE CHALLENGES YOU MEAN WE’RE NOT DONE YET?? @jennydoesthings
38. DE-PRIORITIZED CHALLENGES @jennydoesthings
39. TRY NOT TO BECOME A [HUMAN] OF SUCCESS. RATHER, BECOME A [HUMAN] OF VALUE. Albert Einstein Smart guy, gravity connoisseur @JENNYDOESTHINGS
40. MAKE AUTOMATION INVALUABLE MEET IT @jennydoesthings
41. AUTOMATION IS ANOTHER TOOL MEET IT @jennydoesthings
42. BUT I DON’T WANNA CHALLENGES @jennydoesthings
43. TOUGH LUCK. Steve Gibson QA Manager, part time motivational speaker @JENNYDOESTHINGS
44. WHOLE TEAM APPROACH MEET IT @jennydoesthings
45. AUTOMATION IS SCARY. WORK TO GET YOUR WHOLE TEAM ENGAGED RATHER THAN SPECIFICALLY TO BECOME A TEST AUTOMATION ENGINEER. Lisa Crispin @JENNYDOESTHINGS
46. PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT MEANS CHANGE MEET IT @jennydoesthings
47. PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT MEANS CHANGE MEET IT @jennydoesthings
48. WIN …. @jennydoesthings
49. @JENNYDOESTHINGS THE PLAN ▸ Set Expectations ▸ Respect the manual tester ▸ Reset your mindset ▸ Velocity is not objective ▸ Define your success metrics ▸ Create Your Framework for Success ▸ What do you know? ▸ What do you need to know? ▸ Learn how you learn ▸ Face Challenges ▸ Make automation invaluable ▸ Realize automation is just another tool ▸ Embrace a whole team approach ▸ Accept that professional development means change
50. BUILDING AUTOMATION ENGINEERS FROM SCRATCH @jennydoesthings
51. ANY QUESTIONS? DERP @jennydoesthings
52. @JENNYDOESTHINGS FIND ME ONLINE! ▸ jenny.bramble@gmail.com ▸ http://twitter.com/jennydoesthings ▸ https://linkedin.com/in/ jennybramble ▸ http://jennydoesthings.com ▸ Willowtree!
54. IT’S STORY TIME! Me, probably @JENNYDOESTHINGS