It wasn't too long ago when I was an out-of-work software tester without much experience coding. There are many manual testers -- people who test web and mobile applications the same way customers use them, with a mouse, a keyboard, or a finger on a touch screen -- who are trying to switch to automated testing. I wrote
at length elsewhere about my transition. With this blog post, I wanted to list more of a summary, hoping that other people in the same boat as I was would find it helpful.
Coding: Getting used to it
To get used to coding again, I worked through all of the examples in the free eBook
Learning Python the Hard Way:
http://learnpythonthehardway.org/book/ to get used to working with a programming language. I really needed the hand-holding this book offered. Working with Python helped, since it is a language with less ramp up time.
Then, I purchased
Java for Testers at
http://javafortesters.com/ to ease me into the Java programming language. Anything by
The Evil Tester, himself, Alan Richardson, is made of awesome.
Java 8 and
Python 2.7.11 seem to be the heavy hitters, when it comes to programming languages. Some companies are still trying to transition from Java 7 to Java 8, but they will do it eventually. Python 3? It came out years ago and hasn't been fully adopted yet. People would rather stick with Python 2 and pull in new features than switch to Python 3.
Doing the Coursework
I purchased Alan Richardson's online course
Selenium 2 WebDriver Basics with Java: https://compendiumdev.zenler.com/courses/selenium-2-webdriver-basics-with-java ($299) ... Work through all the Preview material if you can to see if you like his course, his videos, his humor, and his Scottish accent.
I used Alan Richardson's mildly outdated
Selenium Simplified free guide to
Get Started:
http://seleniumsimplified.com/get-started/ ... I set up
IntelliJ as an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) on my home PC. Either this or
Eclipse seems to be the new standard.
Doing the Coursework right!
When working through an online course, if it is showing in the video someone typing code into IntelliJ, I am typing, too!
The left half of my screen contains the video playing in a browser. The right half of my screen is filled is my IntelliJ window.
... The instructor types? I type. The video executes the code? I do too... I accidentally wasted two months simply passively listening to the lectures. I retained completely no information I supposedly learned.
Create Code of My Own
Once I got a hang of things, I started looking around for things to automate, such as Dave Haeffner's test site, "The Internet" on
https://github.com/tourdedave/the-internet and
http://the-internet.herokuapp.com/ .
Share the Code!
I signed up for a GitHub account, creating a coding portfolio displaying automation coding examples I came up with:
https://guides.github.com/activities/hello-world/
Once I had the GitHub account filled with coding examples, I could prove to employers that I had what it takes to do the job.
Hope that helps!
Happy Testing!
-T.J. Maher
Sr. QA Engineer,
Fitbit-Boston
// QA Engineer since Aug. 1996
// Automation developer for [ 1 ] year and still counting!
According to David's STAR East bio, "For more than seventeen years, David Dang has been a leader in the test automation industry. As VP of automated solutions for Greensboro, NC-based Zenergy Technologies, David spearheads the development of advanced frameworks that emphasize reusability and reduce maintenance efforts. He is an expert in all major commercial automation tools as well as open source tools such as Selenium and Jenkins. On the mobile front, David uses advanced concepts to design optimal frameworks using mobile automation toolsets including Perfecto and Appium. In addition to his high-level consulting engagements for Zenergy’s clients, David is in high demand as a presenter at major software quality assurance and testing conferences".
Dorothy Graham (