Since entering the field of testing, no matter which company or team is talking about automated testing and implementing automated testing, making testing appear more "high-end". So are all businesses suitable for automation? Does it mean that the more automation is done, the better the effect will be? Let’s talk about some of my own experiences and insights.
I've been getting too many questions about when and how to automate tests. Instead of answering everyone’s questions one by one, let’s discuss some of these questions here.
Next, I will talk about my views on when to automate, how to automate, and whether it should be automated.
I know some readers are smarter than me. Therefore, a discussion on such a large topic is worthwhile to get in-depth thoughts and reflections from experts in different fields and their experience in automated testing.
2. Why automated testing?
1) During testing, you carried out new deployments and bug fixes. How do you ensure that new bugs are not introduced into old functions? You need to test the previous functionality.
So, every time there is a bug fix, or a new feature added, you have to manually test all the features? Considering the cost, resources, time, etc., it is not efficient for you to test like this.
Therefore, there is a demand for automation:
When you have too much regression testing to do, automate your testing
2) When you are testing a web application, at the same time, this application may be used by thousands of users.
How would you test such a web application? How would you simulate these many users simultaneously using manual methods? This is a very difficult manual operation.
When simulating many virtual users to test the load capacity of the application, please automate your load test
3) You are testing an application whose code is frequently modified. Although the GUI is almost the same, the more functionality changes, the more test "maintenance" is required.
When your GUI is mostly constant and functionality changes frequently, automate your testing efforts.
现在我也找了很多测试的朋友，做了一个分享技术的交流群，共享了很多我们收集的技术文档和视频教程。
如果你不想再体验自学时找不到资源，没人解答问题，坚持几天便放弃的感受
可以加入我们一起交流。而且还有很多在自动化，性能，安全，测试开发等等方面有一定建树的技术大牛
分享他们的经验，还会分享很多直播讲座和技术沙龙
可以免费学习！划重点！开源的！！！
qq群号：110685036
3. Regarding automated testing, what are the risks?
There are a few different situations where you might consider automating your testing efforts. Here I introduce some risks of automated testing. If you've already made up your mind to automate or want to take action sooner, consider the following questions first.
1) Can you find experienced manpower?
To automate, you need someone with some programming experience.
Think about your human resources. Do they have enough experience with automated testing? If not, do they have the technical skills or programming background to easily handle the new technology? Are you going to invest in building a good automation team? If your answer is yes, then consider automating your job.
2) The initial cost of automation is very high
I agree: the costs associated with manual testing are high due to the need to hire skilled manual testers. But if you’re considering automation as a solution, think again.
The initial new costs of automation are too high, such as the purchase of automation tools, training and maintenance of test scripts.
Many automation tool users regret doing automation. If you spend a lot of money and only get some good-looking testing tools and some basic automation scripts, what is the use of automation?
3) If the UI is not static, don’t try to automate it
Please be careful before automating user interface testing. If the user interface is sending changes on a large scale, then automation scripts will be very expensive to maintain. In this case, basic UI automation is enough.
4) Is your application stable enough to support your automated testing efforts?
Automating testing efforts early in the development cycle would be a bad idea (unless it's in an agile environment). In this case, the maintenance cost of the script will be very high.
5) Are you considering 100% automation?
Don’t be crazy, you can’t automate 100% of your testing work. Of course, there are areas such as performance testing, regression testing, and load/stress testing where you can have the opportunity to achieve close to 100% automation. But testing in areas such as user interface, documentation, installation, compatibility and recovery must be done manually.
6) Don’t automate testing tasks that are performed only once
Certain identified application areas and test cases may only need to be run once and do not need to be included in regression testing. Avoid automating such modules or test cases.
7) Will your automation suite last long-term?
Each suite of automated scripts should have a long enough lifespan that the cost of new build should be absolutely lower than the cost of manual execution. However, analyzing the effective cost of each automation script suite is a bit difficult.
For a single build (general assumption, depending on the complexity of the specific application), you should probably use or run the automation suite at least 15 to 20 times to get a good ROI.
4. Summary
Automated testing is the best way to achieve most testing goals and make efficient use of resources and time. But you should be cautious before choosing an automation tool. Before deciding to automate your testing efforts, make sure you have skilled manpower. Otherwise, your tool is a shelf with no ROI.
Putting expensive automation tools in the hands of non-technical people can lead to disappointment. Before purchasing an automation tool, make sure it best suits your requirements. It is unlikely that you will have a tool that matches your requirements 100%.
You need to identify the limitations of the tools that best meet your requirements and then use manual testing to overcome the limitations of those testing tools. Open source tools are also good options to start automating.
Instead of relying 100% on manual or automation, use the best combination of manual and automated testing. This is the best solution (in my opinion) for every project. An automation suite won't find all bugs, nor can it replace real testers. Random testing is also necessary in many cases.
Finally, I would like to thank everyone who read my article carefully. Looking at the increase in fans and attention, there is always some courtesy. Although it is not a very valuable thing, if you can use it, you can take it directly!
Software Testing Interview Document
We must study to find a high-paying job. The following interview questions are from the latest interview materials from first-tier Internet companies such as Alibaba, Tencent, Byte, etc., and some Byte bosses have given authoritative answers. After finishing this set I believe everyone can find a satisfactory job based on the interview information.
