Automate or not to automate: that is a never-ending debate. Let`s face it: a fast-growing amount of data in software testing and programming leave no choice but to replace manual practices with more efficient automated solutions. Although it`s still not always clear which situations are best suited for automation, the tools are becoming refined and more accurate with each year, while the role of QA automation tester is dropping. The world of IT is moving fast to automating technical aspects of software. But the use of the human resource is left for more important tasks.
Therefore, we don`t believe in Automation Doom`s Day coming to battle the role of a tester. On the contrary, a career in QA becomes more exciting, tedious testing fades away, while business understanding, user-orientation, and expanded project management opportunities evolve. But before jumping into the bright future of a QA tester, a bit of history…
Why open-source matters
At times when the open-source platforms were not more than an abstract idea, most of the software codes were written privately. Although Linux project added some value to the development workflow, the programmers’ areas of expertise have been separated: some of them worked more on the backend, while others concentrated on the front-end side. As a result, creating end-to-end system took a year or more and implied certain challenges to testing. Most of the system quality assurance process was conducted manually, including feature components QA integration, and the overall end-to-end tests. And automation wasn`t always possible to ease the stress of massive data check-up.
Getting back to nowadays: the use of open-source tools for coding doesn`t have a wow-effect. Github enables millions of IT experts sharing their ideas and solutions. As the companies have access to the code pieces (with the license of course), end-to-end system creation and testing take now a few months. That means that the way QA process works has changed. Thank open-source technology, developers create automated solutions for testing the code and eliminate some bugs by themselves before QA gets involved. Moreover, the QA team uses open-source platforms to conduct integration tests. Automation leaves more time for QA specialists to do a helicopter-view analysis and apply an inclusive approach to the product.
“I do believe most testers need to up their skills and be more aware of how development works, how code functions and know how the business functions to make money. Yes, they need better technical competence, but that’s only one out of several areas where they need to improve.”
Henrik Andersson, co-founder of “House of Test”
