March 9, 2016

Uncle Bob Martin: The Agile Manifesto, 15 years later

If you have ever wondered about the history of Agile Software Development ( which I have written about in this blog ) you should check out the new article published in TechBeacon, "Uncle Bob Martin: The Agile Manifesto, 15 years later", written by Malcolm Issacs.
"Robert 'Uncle Bob' Martin is one of the 17 software development visionaries who met at The Lodge at Snowbird ski resort in Utah in February 2001 to discuss the various lightweight development methods of the time. The result of that meeting would become known as the Agile Manifesto [...]

March 6, 2016

Let's compare notes on how we write an automated test framework!

Good day! I was wondering if I could bother you for a bit. I was working on two projects, one for creating an automated testing framework for an eCommerce site, and one for testing a REST API endpoint:



... I coded them as I would at my workplace.

I'd like to recruit other automated developers in the software industry to possibly take a look at it and give me their feedback.

Let's compare and contrast what we do in their own workplace.

Maybe we could compare notes?

Thank you very much for your time!

-T.J. Maher
  Sr. QA Engineer, Fitbit

 // Software tester since August 1996
 // Automation developer for [ 1 ] year and counting!

March 2, 2016

Automation Development Experience: Level Up!

[ T.J. Maher has reached Automation Development Experience: Level 1]

* ding! *

I can't believe I have now been an automated developer for a whole year!

I've had some experience executing before my current position executing other people's automation scripts. I've done lot of coursework with Alan Richardson's Selenium 2 with WebDriver. There is no substitute, though, for on-the-job experience, especially at the breakneck pace we are working at.

When I started off at my job, the Sr. Automation Engineer gave myself and another QA resource three weeks of private instruction for the next on how Selenium WebDriver / Java was used. Within just seven months I went from writing automated tests to writing an automated test framework. And just last month, I started writing API tests.

I owe a lot of my success in automation to this blog. I asked permission early on to blog about the automation code I am writing. As long as I just focus on the automation, it's fine. To deepen my understanding of what I am doing, I've been able to come up with little side projects, posting my code in my portfolio at GitHub.  So far, I've done:


Are you an experienced automation developer? I was wondering if you could take the time to look at a few of the projects I have been working on and review the code? I'm still at the stage where because I don't have experience backing me up, I am just making it up as I go along. If you have the time, I would love to get your advise!

... Want to keep updated with what I am working on?

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I am looking forward to the next twelve months. Who knows what fun projects I will encounter? All I know is that when it comes to writing automation, I am having the time of my life! 

Happy Testing! 

-T.J. Maher
 Sr. QA Engineer, Fitbit
 Boston, MA

// Automated tester for [ 1 ] year and counting!

Please note: 'Adventures in Automation' is a personal blog about automated testing. It is not an official blog of Fitbit.com