For programmers, the age of 35 and 40 is two hurdles, and test engineers are no exception. So how should we deal with the bottleneck period? How should software testing engineers plan their career development path? I compiled a personal reflection and kept it as a note for future reference. I hope it can help everyone.
Go out early and come back late, for what?
I work from morning to night but I don’t get any improvement. Why?
From morning to night, working overtime until late at night, suddenly looking back, your position is still standing still, you set a goal, and although you try your best, you still can't complete it; you who have been working hard feel that you are busy, but your ability There hasn’t been much improvement…
If you have similar troubles, it means you have encountered a career "bottleneck". If you have been unable to break through yourself, you can only stay where you are.
This is because, as the work content changes, your original knowledge system and skills no longer match, and your ability to adapt to new environments and changes is insufficient to cope with the ever-changing work.
This is like building a building. You need to lay a good foundation and establish a knowledge framework, and then you can build up layer by layer.
Corresponding to the work of software testing: the concepts and theories of software testing, WEB front-end basics and other knowledge are the foundation, which is the foundation of your career, and software testing tools or frameworks are skills and the framework of the house. The foundation is solid and the skills are balanced. This building can continue to be built upwards. So only by solving these problems can your career development reach a higher level and enter a new stage.
Have you encountered a career "bottleneck"?
Why is there a "bottleneck"? How will we break through the "bottleneck"?
On these issues, Briceño, an American learning consultant and entrepreneur, gave a TED speech that was deeply inspiring. Not only did he point out the problem, he also provided an effective solution.
Briceño discovered that the reason why those great people are great is that they can deliberately switch between two areas in their lives. One is the learning area and the other is the execution area.
The study area is for studying. In this area, what we have to do is to learn, try, update, give feedback, summarize, and reflect, so as to continuously improve our abilities.
The execution zone is our daily routine. For example, testers track bugs and programmers write code.
These two areas are easy to understand. If you are a rookie software tester now, and your leader constantly arranges for you to test new projects one after another, you work hard every day and train your skills. After a few years, your software testing technology will become more and more proficient. Let’s talk about it by the way . Here are the career development routes for software testing:
● From junior test engineer→intermediate test engineer→senior test engineer→senior test engineer;
● Junior test engineer → Intermediate test engineer → Senior test development engineer.
● Junior test engineer → test team leader → test manager → project manager → project director;
● Junior test engineer → quality assurance staff → quality management staff.
However, with the rapid development of the Internet, the IT industry is undergoing rapid changes. New technologies will continue to emerge, and the software testing technology you are proficient in will soon become outdated. Slowly, you will find that the previous technology can no longer cope with increasingly complex projects. What should you do?
At this time, you can only cope with the changing industry trends and achieve better development by practicing hard on new technologies in the software testing industry and learning new programming languages.
At the same time, the reason why our abilities have not improved is that we are afraid of failure and risk, which causes us to always be in the execution zone . Gradually, we turn our lives into the execution zone, only focusing on dealing with daily work and ignoring the learning zone. reflection, feedback, improvement and progress.
After working in a position for several years, a person's abilities will stagnate. This is proven in our software testing industry. The reason for this is because once we think we are well qualified for the job, we stop spending time and energy in the study area and spend all our time completing the work, and completing the work does not make us continue to improve.
However, the execution area is not without value. When we are in the execution zone, although we want to avoid making mistakes, it is impossible not to make them. Making mistakes is also a form of feedback, and we can grow from our mistakes.
Therefore, the way to continuously improve yourself and make yourself stronger is to switch between the learning zone and the execution zone, purposefully cultivate relevant skills, and then apply these skills to the execution zone.
All in all, the longer we stay in the study area, the greater the improvement. Therefore, if you want to break through yourself, you must increase the time in the study area.
How to get through the difficult "bottleneck period"?
How to break through the "bottleneck" of life development and achieve greater improvement?
01 You have to step out of your comfort zone and dare to push yourself
We all know that the most difficult projects are often the ones that test your abilities the most. If you do things you are familiar with every day, it will be difficult for you to grow.
Expert research shows that practicing in a study zone is most effective. So get into some unfamiliar areas, try some challenging tasks, and make yourself less comfortable.
For a software testing engineer, if you are familiar with manual testing and testing processes, you can learn tool-based automated testing. If you are comfortable with tool-based automated testing, you can learn the language Python. This will lay the foundation for independent development of automated scripts in the future.
In this way, after you have a certain understanding of each module of software testing, teamwork will be smoother, your views on many things will change, and the pattern of doing things will be very different. If you stick to the little things you know, you will one day come up empty handed.
0 2 Focus on deliberate practice
Deliberate practice is actually a conversion method from "proficiency" to "perfection", which is very important for a person's improvement.
Psychology experts have found that many successful people use "deliberate practice" to improve themselves.
They focus on "secondary skills" - skills that are not very good, learn them, and then improve them through learning, feedback, adjustments, and professional guidance.
Through this practice, their skills improve dramatically.
Let’s take our software testing as an example. If you want to learn the technology of interface testing, if you spend 40-50 minutes every day, concentrate on targeted learning and practice, you will be able to master it in less than three months. Interface testing this technology.
This is the meaning of deliberate practice: to make up for and strengthen our shortcomings and balance our skills, so that we can continue to build higher and reach new heights in life.
03 Find guidance from an expert
So, how to discover your own shortcomings and problems? This requires expert guidance.
Han Han once said: "Maybe your limit is just the starting point for others." Sometimes, a word from an expert is better than several years of groping for us.
When you are in trouble, you need someone to guide you. Experts can point out your hidden flaws, tell you that your current state is a necessary process, relieve your confusion and confusion, and point out the correct and appropriate direction for your efforts.
So, where is the master?
You can find it from within the industry, around you, or on the Internet. Today is an information-based society. As long as you pay attention, you will definitely be able to find satisfactory answers.
This expert can be a person, a book, or a group of like-minded partners. They can not only provide you with industry salary references , but also tell you the forward-looking demand status and forecast analysis in the testing field , as well as career Development plans , etc., covering all levels from grassroots positions to test management positions. Based on discussions with partners, you can also learn about the development of the entire industry last year, the technical level of peers, and the development trends of each company's testing team.
Only by deeply understanding the entire testing environment, grasping the overall situation, and considering it from a macro perspective can we have a clearer understanding of our areas of expertise and have a broader career development path.
Three-quarters of 2023 have passed, and the software testing industry has experienced another quarter of changes. Are you currently satisfied with the workplace environment as you are in the software testing torrent? What is your salary level? What changes has your company's testing team experienced? Are you rising with the industry? Always remind yourself: clarify your career positioning and choose the career path that best suits you.
Finally: The complete software testing video tutorial below has been compiled and uploaded. Friends who need it can get it by themselves [guaranteed 100% free]
Software Testing Interview Document
We must study to find a high-paying job. The following interview questions are 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.
