Blogging about software testing has been temporarily interrupted on account of baby related cuteness

Here, I wanted to start a new software testing project for this blog...

Each time I try to work on a new side project at https://t.co/HWLWVew4E2 while I am home on paternity leave.

"Sorry for the inconvenience, but blogging about anything relating to software testing has been temporarily interrupted".#firsttimefather #geekdad pic.twitter.com/gXZ68HVGVk

— T.J. Maher (@tjmaher1) July 12, 2018

Happy Testing!

-T.J. Maher
Sr. QA Engineer, Software Engineer in Test
Meetup Organizer, Ministry of Testing - Boston

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Release Date of Project Tiny Human: July 6, 2018 -- Welcome to the World, Tommy!

Project Tiny Human is a success! 

Project Tiny Human has been released to production July 6, 2018!

The initial release date was July 4, 2018, and everything was on track up to the last minute... but you know how dates for production release can slip.

My wife has been acting as Product Owner and Head Developer for the entire project. I have volunteered for daily production and overnight support.

Thomas "Tommy" Edmund Maher was born July 6, 2018 at 2:16 pm to Melissa and T.J. Maher.

• Weight: 8 lbs, 12 oz
• Length: 19.7 inches long

"Hello world!"

#firsttimefather #proudpappa #GeekDad

-T.J. Maher
Sr. QA Engineer, Software Engineer in Test
Meetup Organizer, Ministry of Testing - Boston

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Stop Compromising Quality: Setting Automation Up for Success - Angie Jones, Ministry of Testing - Boston

Missed last Wednesday's Ministry of Testing - Boston Meetup, hosted and sponsored by SmartBear? Where Angie Jones, SDET at Twitter, provides metrics that help her decide what to automated at Twitter?

Have no fear! SmartBear live-streamed the conference. It starts at the 52 minute mark.

Stop Compromising Quality: Setting Automation Up for Success https://youtu.be/WAu1gWmKp5w


Thank you so much Brianne Cordima and Bria Grangard of SmartBear for setting up this event as the Ministry of Testing - Boston's event organizers!


Slides:Which Tests Should We Automate? - Angie Jones

Notes: Day Two of Agile Testing Days USA - Wed. June 27, 2018

This is Part Two of Two. Care to go back to the beginning?

Lean Coffee

More lean coffee today with @tjmaher1 @lisacrispin @mheusser #AgileTDUSA pic.twitter.com/4054BmE7wY

— Alex Kell (@Wiggly) June 27, 2018

Unicorn Held For Ransom

I noticed there was something different on Day Two of the Agile Testing Days USA conference immediately. Where was the giant inflatable unicorn??

Oh no! The unicorn for #AgileTDUsa is being held for ransom for $100! #SavingLinnea pic.twitter.com/EkDK4V6bxi

— T.J. Maher (@tjmaher1) June 27, 2018

Notes: Day One of Agile Testing Days USA - Tues. June 26, 2018

I had such a wonderful time at Agile Testing Days USA, a European-based software testing conference that came to the United States for the first time this June, held up north of Boston, up in Danvers, Massachusetts.

Ever since I became a Meetup Organizer of a local Boston area software testing group, I have been having the most fun running many a social media campaign on LinkedIn and Twitter, reaching out to the software testing community to recruit speakers, hosts, sponsors, and members.

With Agile Testing Days, Tuesday June 26th - Wednesday June 27th, 2018, I managed to meet many of my favorite text-based life forms face-to-face!

It’s @AgileTDUSA in Danvers, MA! pic.twitter.com/wW6t7KCPDv

— T.J. Maher (@tjmaher1) June 26, 2018

My experience started out on a very high note: I met Lisa Crispin and Janet Gregory face-to-face!

Intro to setting up a BDD framework with VS Code + Gauge + Ruby

With Integrated Development Environments (IDE), I am quick to adopt whatever the rest of the developers on the team use. For Java development, I like IntelliJ IDEA Ultimate Edition. For JavaScript, Atom.io. And for writing the Capybara + Ruby framework, I have also been using Atom. The problem is that the BDD framework we are using at work -- Gauge -- has plugins that help refactor Gauge tests written in Java, but hasn't had anything for refactoring Gauge tests written in Ruby... until now.

With this blog article, I will be investigating Visual Studio Code -- commonly known as VS Code -- and how it helps refactor tests.

Why am I currently using Ruby for my automation framework if the BDD Framework hasn't supported it? Both Chef.io -- what I use to spin up virtual environments -- and GitLab.com -- the code storage / continuous integration environment also uses Ruby.

I've written a bit about Gauge and drafted a quick-and-dirty Gauge + Ruby + Selenium project, on this blog. With this experiment, we will be editing Gauge's built in project, setting up everything on my Windows 10 machine at home.

If you want to view a summary what the gauge-vscode can do, view the official docs on GitHub.

Basic Chef + Test Kitchen: Setting up Ubuntu with Vagrant + Virtual Box + the Test-Kitchen Ruby Gem on a MacBook

Let's say we wanted to test something out on Ubuntu, a popular Linux distribution, on a MacBook: How would we be able to set it up locally, configuring the workstation? We set it up in Docker before. What other ways are there?

One way to do it is with a Chef.io tool to spin up a test environment, Test-Kitchen, and its Ruby gem. And, yes, this cooking metaphor is extended all throughout the Chef toolset with its cookbooks and recipes for environment configurations.

Adventures in Automation started looking at The Ruby Behind Chef, the History Behind Test Kitchen, and exploring the free tutorials that Chef provides, the extensive Learn Chef Rally.

For this article we will be using:

• Test-Kitchen on GitHub as a primary source: builds a Vagrantfile, allowing you to create or destroy the instances of your virtual machines
• Vagrant: "a tool for building and managing virtual machine environments in a single workflow. With an easy-to-use workflow and focus on automation, Vagrant lowers development environment setup time, increases production parity, and makes the "works on my machine" excuse a relic of the past".
• Oracle's VirtualBox: "VirtualBox is a cross-platform virtualization application. What does that mean? For one thing, it installs on your existing Intel or AMD-based computers, whether they are running Windows, Mac, Linux or Solaris operating systems. Secondly, it extends the capabilities of your existing computer so that it can run multiple operating systems (inside multiple virtual machines) at the same time."

See a Two Minute Promo of My Talk: "How Software Testers Can Work With Developers"

The TestingGuild.com released the first two minutes of my talk "How [Software Testers] Can Work With Developers" as a promo for their online conference!

T.J. Maher - How to Work With Developers (TestingGuild Promo)
https://youtu.be/pGppCmUNMI4

Each TestingGuild.com speaker submits a pre-recorded 30 minute talk, then gives a live 30 minute session. Joe Colantonio, the man behind the TestTalks.com podcast organized this online conference and the AutomationGuild.com one that I spoke at back in January.

This is awesome! I've been a fan of Joe's since I worked at Fitbit. A fan of SauceLabs.com automation webinars, I booked a conference room, and the entire automation team and I watched Joe give his talk, Test Automation Trends for 2016 and Beyond: Staying Employable in Changing Times,  predict what 2016 was going to look like when it came to automation toolsets. I've been chit-chatting with Joe on Twitter ever since then.

What I love is that Joe express exactly the insecurity we all sometimes feel dealing with the fast paced software industry. During that talk, Joe admitted that because he was at the same workplace for a bit over a decade, he was feeling out-of-touch with how fast the software testing field was growing. Joe  started a testing podcast and started interviewing industry leaders as a way for him to keep up with the times.

Me, I was tickled when I heard this. That's why I started this blog over three years ago. To keep track of my progress as I tried to keep up with the software testing industry. 

Once, I was even supposed to be a guest on his show! Sometime's after I published my first Techbeacon article about switching from manual testing to automation development, we set things up. I had massive stage fright and cancelled the thing after the first five minutes... Which is why I am surprised he tapped me as a guest last November to be a guest speaker on the AutomationGuild.

Happy Testing!

-T.J. Maher
Sr. QA Engineer, Software Engineer in Test
Meetup Organizer, Ministry of Testing - Boston

Twitter | YouTube | LinkedIn | Articles

Video has been shot, edited and submitted for the TestingGuild!

Think you know your stuff in regards to testing software? There is no better way to level up than attempting to explain what you think you know to others.

I have learned so much blogging these past three years about automation projects I have been working on, writing articles for LinkedIn Pulse and my Medium account, shooting video for my YouTube account, and getting paid to write articles on TechBeacon. 

The process of writing an article or a script for a video forces me to organize my thoughts and double check what I think I know. Are there gaps in my knowledge? Oh, I certainly find out if there are! If I am fuzzy on something, I make sure to do more research.

The best part has been all the connections that I have been able to make, and all the wonderful discussions I have been having on LinkedIn and Twitter. The software testing community is extremely supportive for people who put themselves out there, even to newbies like myself. It's hard for me to believe, but I've only been doing automation for the past three years.

This year, to try something different, I started giving talks at online conferences. The founder of TestTalks.com, the software testing podcast, Joe Colantonio, invited me to speak at two of his online conferences:

• January 2018, it was at the AutomationGuild.com
• June 2018, it will be at the TestingGuild.com

I suck at public speaking. I get so nervous, speaking out as if I am at a TED Talk. If only hiding behind podiums was still in fashion, reading off a script! I could do that. Trying to give a talk, remembering the exact phrasing as I had planned? It is so nerve-wracking for me.

An online conference is just my speed! All I had to do was shoot thirty minutes of video with my iPhone, edit it, and that was the basics of the talk. There is a 20 minute Q & A session after each talk, but I haven't a problem answering questions from an audience.

I am so glad that it is finally done! It has been hanging over my head for the past few months. All my energy has been sapped by either my new job -- which is why I haven't been posting weekly these past few months -- or reorganizing my life due to the new bouncing baby boy due July 4, 2018.

I am going to be a father! I am so excited. I cannot wait!

So, if you don't hear from me in July or August, you'll know why!

Thank you for all your support, and Happy Testing!

-T.J. Maher
Sr. QA Engineer, Software Engineer in Test
Meetup Organizer, Ministry of Testing - Boston

Twitter | YouTube | LinkedIn | Articles

I'll be speaking in June at the TestingGuild.com!

This June, I will be giving a talk at the online software testing conference run by Joe Colantonio, creator of the TestTalks.com podcast. Thank you, Joe, for giving new (and inexperienced) speakers a chance at the TestingGuild.com!

I love it! I am writing a script write now for the 30 minute talk. That's the conference: each speaker gives a 30 minute pre-recorded talk, plus a live Q & A session.I can do take after take to my heart's content!

This will be my second time giving a talk. In January 2018 I gave a talk at the AutomationGuild.com.

Catch my talk at the TestingGuild.com!

See you there!

Happy Testing!

-T.J. Maher
Sr. QA Engineer, Software Engineer in Test
Meetup Organizer, Ministry of Testing - Boston

Twitter | YouTube | LinkedIn | Articles