Marie Walsh ANZTB. Advancing Expertise in Software Testing. ANZTB Test 2013: Advancing Expertise in Software Testing. 6 June 2013

Transcription

1 Marie Walsh ANZTB Advancing Expertise in Presenter: Marie Walsh June 2013 Canberra, Australia 1

2 From The Business? From Development? Graduate? Electrical Engineering? Other? from to Phase Description Debugging Programs are written and then tested by the programmer until they are satisfied that any bugs have been removed. The tests are ad-hoc based on the programmers experience and generally focused on getting the system to run. There is no clear distinction between testing and development Demonstration Debugging is still performed to ensure the system runs, but an additional layer of testing is added to demonstate that the system does what it is supposed to do Destruction The focus of testing changes from proving the system does what is supposed to do, and try to identify faults with the system. The term Debugging comes to mean locating and resolving the faults identified. This is attributed to the publication of Myer s book The Art of Evaluation With the realisation that the earlier in the lifecycle a fault is detected the cheaper it is to resolve, testing becomes an activity at the end of each stage of the development lifecycle Prevention The idea is to prevent errors in each stage of the lifecycle by testing as each stage progresses. Testing takes on the focus of finding where errors might be made. Source: D. Gelperin, B. Hetzel: The Growth of Canberra, Australia 2

3 Early Misconceptions: Previously had the stigma of let s put the has been developers out to pasture Previously had the stigma of any monkey can test Previously seen as the stepping stone into development Canberra, Australia 3

4 Where we are today: Testing is now seen as a professional career path Testers skill sets are now industry recognised and highly sought after Testers are now involved earlier in the software lifecycle due to value add benefits Recent roles advertised on seek.com.au for testers include the following required skills Experience in Testing Web-services and SOA based applications using various tools such as SOAPUI Good Understanding of Database testing concepts and writing queries Define, implement and maintain appropriate Strong understanding of security architecture with test automation and performance testing previous experience testing large and complex frameworks network infrastructure Web Interface : Java, JEE, JSP, Spring, Hibernate Web Technologies : HTML, JSP, JavaScript, Experience in AJAX data conversion/migration projects In-depth knowledge and extensive Database hands : on experience Oracle in 8i/9i/10g Experience of scripting and programming test automation & performance Configuration testing strategies, Management tools: languages, VSS e.g. & Python, SVN Perl, TCL, C/C++, frameworks and scripting Linux OS : Linux, Windows NT 4.0/2005/2007/XP/Win 7 Previous experience in all aspects of Security Testing Create and work with MS Access databases, load data files and build a test harness through the development of SQL queries SQL Queries and technical development/testing is essential Java and other programming language skills Experience in Selenium WebDriver, soapui and JMeter Hands-on working experience in Premium, Low cost and Open source Testing Tools Canberra, Australia 4

5 There has been an increase in the past few years of the number of testing roles advertised requiring testers must have technical skills Test Automation, Performance Testing & Security Testing are just a few aspects of technical testing employers are looking for but there are others Employers are now also looking for testers who can test lower in the technology stack of the application, eg: at the API level, interface level, data layer, etc Testing lower in the technology stack usually involves: Reviewing the system architecture to identify low level risk areas to focus test activities (e.g.: interfaces, component linkage, security and authorisation structures, etc.) Reviewing system logs to identify any silent failures within the system, and also to provide further trouble shooting information on any system failures detected during application testing Reviewing data models and interrogating the database to confirm: Data model structure, completeness, accuracy, meets conformance standards, etc. Referential integrity of data Correct behaviour of triggers, functions, stored procedures, views, etc Reviewing & verifying deployment and installation of the system Etc Canberra, Australia 5

6 Why is the landscape for testing changing? Complexity of software, including: More complex calculations and functionality required in systems (e.g. multi dimensional data, big data, BI, complex system security measures to protect from increasing malicious security attacks, etc.) Increase in number of systems integrating with other systems in real time The testing market is a lot more competitive now employers are expecting to be able to hire more advanced testers Agile has introduced: More collaboration between development and testing therefore testers need to be technical to work alongside the developers Shorter development and test cycles, therefore testers need to be able to automate as much testing as possible to enable sufficient test coverage for each iteration/sprint With technology now more complex and reduced timeframes: The developer s role is also changing they are becoming more test focused, with techniques such as Test Driven Development As testers we also need to change. We need to become more technical to be enable us to collaborate with developers and keep up with the advancements in technology Canberra, Australia 6

7 But I m not technical should I just call it quits and throw in the towel? If you enjoy testing, and are good at it why would you want to quit? The skills you have as a tester are invaluable, and will provide an excellent foundation to advancing your technical testing knowledge. Start asking questions: Find out about the technology the application is being developed in Sit with the developers while they investigate system problems & ask questions Start reading: Technical books Web sites Start learning: On the job Learn how to read and interpret system logs Learn how to deploy/install the application Technical courses Advanced level ISTQB courses (eg: Advanced Technical Test Analyst) Start doing: Write some automation test scripts Write some SQL scripts to interrogate the database Review system logs Start deploying/installing the application into the test environments Start generating and scripting test data for system testing Canberra, Australia 7

8 What s now on offer for testers to grow? Grow, develop and improve current technical skills Work collaboratively with development teams Utilise and benefit from test automation Continue to learn, improve skills and advance your career Attend testing user forums, seminars, special interest groups and conferences Become involved in other areas of your organisation (eg: release management/deployment) Attend technical user groups and special interest groups Join online technical communities and groups (eg: LinkedIn, etc) Marie Walsh mariewalsh@anztb.org Canberra, Australia 8