I saw a post recently:
The company I work for is currently only testing me. I develop and connect products by myself, and the company has no procedures. I don’t know what I should do, and I don’t have previous experience to learn from. What should I do?
I have seen many test engineers who have just entered the testing industry issue such questions and ask for help:
- If I am the only tester in the company, what should I do to do the company's work well?
- As far as my personal development is concerned, can I have a good development prospect if I only have one test?
- In the end, should I go or stay in this situation? Why is there such a phenomenon?
First of all, let's analyze why there are only one tester in so many companies now?
There are probably two reasons for this phenomenon:
First: Because the country now supports and encourages self-employment, more and more start-up Internet software companies have sprung up.
This type of company is in its infancy and generally has very limited funds, so it can basically only afford the positions they think must exist.
Such as development - people who create and produce software, sales or operations - people who can directly help the company make money and generate profits;
Then for positions like testing, it is a icing on the cake, not a role that must exist.
Therefore, you will find that many small and medium-sized enterprises in second- and third-tier cities have not set up testing positions, and basically develop their own development and do simple self-tests before releasing them directly.
It is commonplace for a company to set up only one tester position, and it also shows that the company has passed the initial stage and began to gradually realize the importance of the test position, which is a manifestation of maturity and progress.
Second: It is also due to the lack of attention to testing work in China.
Many companies think that what testers do has no technical content, and anyone can do it with a little bit of Dafa, so let them test it after the development is completed, or give it to the operation department for a simple try, and basically it can be launched.
They have no knowledge of the skills of professional test engineers and cannot understand the importance of testing work to product quality, so they think that testing positions are dispensable.
Setting up a position as a tester is the ultimate satisfaction for them. The embarrassing situation of a tester
Based on the current status of the Internet industry based on the above analysis, many testers who have just entered the testing industry independently take on all the work in the testing department of the company, and often encounter the embarrassing situation of being powerless and unable to move forward.
Generally, in such a company, there is no standardized process, and people from various departments carry out work according to their own ideas and wishes.
for example:
- After the development and programming are completed, send a package directly to the tester for testing. There is no requirement specification to describe the business process and user requirements of this project in detail;
- Development does not have a process to standardize its own unit tests, so it is difficult to ask each of them to do a good job just relying on self-consciousness and personal sense of mission, let alone provide relevant unit test reports;
Therefore, the test does not have the basis and benchmark for writing test cases. You can only write test cases based on your own understanding while familiarizing yourself with the developed software. This test work is not only inefficient, but also easily leads to insufficient test case design. Incomplete testing.
- In addition, the development does not have a sense of identity with the testing work. It often continuously modifies or adds new requirements, and then directly sends the version to the test. The test basically works according to the rhythm of the development, and the test work has no autonomy at all.
- Often, the test takes a lot of time and effort to test the product, and a lot of bugs are opened. The development is not very active in fixing bugs. Of course, there is no process to promote bug fixes. Development, communication efficiency is very low, and the results are very poor.
- Even, sometimes, before the test has completed all the testing work, the software product has been launched silently without being notified.
Then if there is a serious problem with the online product, the test will be found again, and the test will be used to bear the consequences and responsibilities. Everything seemed to have nothing to do with the test. I deeply felt that no one valued or understood my work. I felt very passive and helpless.
In such a company, we are alone in the testing position, facing so many difficulties, what should we do?
Many people can't bear the pressure and feel that they are powerless to turn the situation around, so they think of giving up and leaving their jobs to change jobs.
So besides choosing to escape, don't we have other ways to try?
Of course not. If you can handle this kind of work situation well, you can accelerate your personal growth, accumulate experience that others cannot get, and even help you grow together with the company to achieve a win-win situation.
If you have many puzzles in the software testing industry, welcome to communicate and discuss with me in the industry's communication group. There are free tutorial materials and test resources at various stages in the group, hoping to help you break through the bottleneck in front of you.
So, to achieve this goal, we can start from the following aspects
1. Communicate more with leaders
First of all, communicate with the company's superiors and find out your position as a tester in the company.
Since the leader has set up a test position and recruited you to do the test work, he must have his own original intention. What kind of problems do you hope you can help solve and what kind of effect can be achieved? This is what you need to clarify through communication.
Generally, when a company sets up a test position and recruits a test engineer, it must have expectations for the output of this position. Any salary and manpower expenditure must be expected to be rewarded.
So by communicating with the leader, clarify what kind of effect he wants you to achieve in this position, what kind of work to complete, and to what extent.
On this basis, you combine your own ideas, implement some substantive work plans, and put forward some constructive opinions and suggestions.
For example, the leader hopes that you will do your best to complete all the testing work, including test documents and various test outputs, and the product quality does not allow any flaws.
Obviously, such a request is not allowed in the current reality.
So you can analyze the current situation and express your own difficulties. Of course, try not to show that you are not capable enough to take on important responsibilities, but that the reality is skinny and cannot be surpassed; then you can put forward some substantive suggestions.
If it is the initial construction stage of the testing department, there is definitely no way for one person to complete all the work.
- Therefore, we can list the existing workload and priority, and take the lead in ensuring the quality and efficiency of high-priority work.
- For example, the function and quality of the main and important modules of the product, the output of necessary test documents, etc.;
- If there is still room and time later, then cover the sub-priority module functions and improve various details and document output.
At the stage of only one tester, it is not recommended to implement automated testing by yourself, unless the leader can help coordinate developers to build an automated testing framework and work together to complete the implementation of automated testing.
- Otherwise, there is absolutely no way for a person to maintain an automation framework while ensuring the quality of project releases.
- So at this time, considering automated testing will not only fail to save manpower and improve efficiency, but will waste time and energy, which is counterproductive.
It is recommended to let relevant project personnel assist in the testing work to ensure product quality together.
- For example, develop and grasp the quality of unit tests, and try to deliver products that can be directly tested by the system to testers, so as to ensure that effective resources can be fully utilized to achieve ideal test results;
- Let the personnel of the operation department participate in the test. You can write all the test cases, introduce some main test techniques and methods, and then assign tasks to specific personnel.
- You can test your own main key modules, and other department personnel can share some other functional modules or some regression tests.
- In this way, on the one hand, it can let the relevant department personnel know that the test is not just a little bit, but that there are laws to follow and skills to find, and they can recognize the technicality and professionalism of the test work;
- On the other hand, full-staff testing is to test the product to the greatest extent, and work together to ensure product quality.
If there is still no way to meet the test requirements, you can also apply to the leader for a recruitment quota, whether it is a full-time employee or an intern.
- Don't be afraid to express your difficulties, and don't be afraid to make requests. If the request is reasonable and well-founded, the leader will not reject it, but will think that you are an excellent employee who has great ideas and is thinking and working hard for the benefit of the company.
- Of course, the proposal of these requirements must be based on your full and correct assessment of all the testing workload. It is best to have quantifiable data and some unavoidable but foreseeable risks, and present them to Take the lead and work hard to convince him to gain his understanding and support.
- In this way, in the future work, with a strong backing, whether it is communication between departments or the division of work responsibilities, it can be carried out more smoothly.
2. Fully learn product business
The test should also communicate more with the requirements and product departments, fully understand the company's main business line, and be familiar with the functional process of the product.
One of the necessary skills required by testers is business ability. A test engineer with insufficient business ability is not a qualified tester!
What is business capability?
It is your understanding of the products and functional modules you are currently testing, as well as your knowledge of your industry, as well as the business and knowledge reserves of related products.
I believe that every one of us who is engaged in the testing industry can usually find some such situations in the company:
- There are always some people who can put forward some constructive suggestions that are different from others during the demand analysis meeting;
- There are always some people who can propose some test points that you did not come first but are indeed very targeted to the user scenario when reviewing test cases;
- There are always some people who find that the number and quality of bugs when they get the product to perform the test are far behind others...
This is the difference in understanding and cognition of products caused by differences in business capabilities.
Although this requires a certain amount of time to settle and accumulate rich experience, it is not easy and easy to obtain, but a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, and the cultivation of business capabilities starts with learning the requirements document, and then through the product and requirements Continuously improve in the process of communication and discussion.
On this basis, you can make your test cases more adequate.
Moreover, if you need other department personnel to assist in testing, you can also better allocate work, and when reporting to the leader, you can also more accurately evaluate the testing workload. During the testing process, it is possible to more effectively avoid missed testing and meet the needs of users as much as possible.
Moreover, more communication and exchanges can also promote cooperation between departments. When user needs change, or when the needs are unclear during the test process, they can also confirm and get answers more efficiently. Good Communication can always greatly improve the efficiency of work.
3. Formulate and optimize relevant processes
Observe and understand the problems of the entire team that you can see at present through various aspects, sort out and summarize and give your suggestions.
Generally, a start-up company with only one testing position must have the disadvantages of irregular or even no process, so it is imperative to assist the company to formulate the process or optimize the existing process.
Developing a complete process can not only improve the efficiency of testing work, but also make the division of responsibilities of various departments clear and clear, and make the company's business run more smoothly.
To formulate the testing process and standardize the work of testing, start by doing yourself well and standardize the output of each stage of testing.
The output content and format of documents such as test plans, test cases, and test reports.
Of course, because it is in the initial stage, all test documents are not necessarily necessary, nor do they have to be particularly detailed and fully meet the specification requirements. You can formulate a preliminary version, set up multiple visual small goals, and allow for future work. Step by step optimization and improvement;
Standardize the bug writing template and tracking process. For example, the information that must be provided when testing and raising bugs (steps, data and logs, and on-site screenshots, etc.);
During the bug processing process, no matter when developing or testing to modify the bug status, it is necessary to add corresponding explanatory notes, so that follow-up personnel can quickly know the whole process.
Develop a cooperation process between departments to help each department collaborate more smoothly. + Standardize the process of product management requirements.
For example, in the requirements analysis stage, specifications must be provided as the basis for development and testing to start work;
During the process of the project, especially during the first round of testing, it is not recommended to add new requirements; the project is approaching the release stage, and it is strictly forbidden to add new requirements;
The product needs to be launched or released, and it must wait until the testers complete all the testing work and submit a report document of passing the test; + Standardize the process of developing docking tests.
For example, when developing and delivering products, it is necessary to provide a unit test report to ensure that the self-test passes; when developing and fixing bugs, it is also necessary to provide a unit test report, or at least provide self-test results and suggestions for testing to help the test perform regression testing;
When the development is required to close the bug as a non-repair state, it must communicate with the tester, and then close it after confirmation and permission, so as to avoid conflicts between development and testing;
It is stipulated that when the project is approaching the release stage, all important code changes should be carefully reviewed and reviewed by relevant personnel to avoid serious regression problems or online problems after release.
It is only necessary to formulate various processes, and it needs to be explained in the process. If it is not implemented in accordance with the process specifications, the problems and risks caused should be fully borne by the process breaker. Only in this way can the execution of the process be better promoted, and the formulated process can exert its maximum benefits.
The company's process formulation and management can greatly improve work efficiency. Testers have rules to follow, and they will not be too passive, and the testing rhythm will be disrupted by products or R&D; the division of responsibilities is clear, so that everyone can clearly understand what they should do and the risks they should take, so that all departments can People work together to ensure the quality of our products.
4. Enrich your own technology
For a small company, when there is only one tester in the testing department, it is a high challenge, but also accompanied by high opportunities.
So we should seize the opportunity and let ourselves grow together with the company.
When the company is mature enough, if you can stand alone, you can take on the role of the head of the testing department and become the pioneer of the testing department.
However, before that, we need to strengthen our own knowledge system and enrich our own hard-core technology.
Enrich the theoretical basis of testing
From software testing process, to various test case design methods, and various types of testing skills, bug handling process and common management tools, etc.
These basic knowledge need to be perfected and solid. Only by proficiently mastering these test theoretical knowledge can one form one's own test thinking and become a professional test engineer who can guide others;
Otherwise, without these test cornerstones, all high-rise buildings can only be dreams.
Practice the testing methods and skills learned in the company's projects.
Theory always requires practice to gain true knowledge, so the ability to apply what you have learned is the real learning and mastery.
Therefore, practice more at work and sum up experience. After work, you can continue to enrich knowledge and theory, and you can also participate in some training courses for test engineers. Practice and theory complement each other, so that your knowledge reserves are increasingly rich.
Finally, you can also learn some advanced related technologies, such as the company's commonly used development language, some knowledge of the database, and some commonly used testing tools, such as packet capture tools, log analysis and positioning tools, automated testing tools, and performance testing tools.
Thinking of reaching a certain height, the mastery of these skills is also necessary. The following software testing resources should be very helpful to you, and I will share them with you now. Click the small card below to download by yourself
Summarize
If you are the only tester in the company, please don't panic or get confused.
We must know that the teams of all mature and large companies start from scratch, from start-up to maturity.
Therefore, first observe the company and its leaders to judge whether they have the ability and courage to realize the transformation of a company from green to mature;
If the answer is yes, please judge whether you have enough ability and knowledge reserves to grow with the company, and at the same time, please examine whether you have enough patience and determination to support this arduous and long growth;
If the answer is still yes, then don't retreat, let alone give up, stick to this low period, and you will see the dawn of victory!
If it helps you a little bit, your "following" and "likes" are the biggest motivation for the author's creation, remember to give some support!