Every company needs a highly trained automation tester in today’s fast, agile environment. Automation testing gradually replaces manual testing (though it cannot be done completely). The software industry’s commercial performance depends on automation testing. You can reach a broader audience while saving time and effort by automating your company.
As an automation tester, you must possess specific abilities that aid in better testing the program. In this post, let’s look at the automation testing abilities needed to be a productive and effective automation tester in the software testing profession.
The need for testing is growing in the industry as new project development approaches such as Agile and DevOps gradually replace the traditional waterfall paradigm. What training and skills do you need to be a successful automation tester in 2022? Let’s have a look.
11 Skills of an automation tester
- Well-versed in agile, DevOps, and continuous delivery:
As new-age agile and DevOps methodologies replace the waterfall approach, the market for automation testing is growing. Because the agile approach necessitates rapid changes, it’s critical to have an automated testing mechanism in place. Automation testers may automate a module’s test scripts to adapt to frequent customer-driven requirement changes. An automation tester must automate the testing process and arrange it to execute automatically after the deployment in a tested environment to achieve acceptable speed and agility.
- Maintain open lines of contact with all stakeholders:
Automation testers must have excellent communication and teamwork abilities. Automation testers must communicate with developers, business analysts, feature engineers (who have good domain-specific expertise), and other stakeholders before and throughout the testing process. Automation testers might develop open questions to be asked in front of all stakeholders during agile refinement sessions to get a greater understanding of the requirements.
The automation testers must also deliver a tour to the developers, businesses, and other stakeholders when the automated test scripts are built.
- Developing Test Scripts and analysing skills
The automation framework you pick will determine whether or not you need programming experience in this step. If your company uses SpecFlow or Cucumber for test automation, the scripts may be written in plain English, eliminating the need for backend logic and code. It is necessary to have an adequate understanding of Selenium WebDriver. If you’re going to use UFT or QTP, you’ll need to know a lot about programming. For cross-browser testing, here’s a Selenium WebDriver tutorial.
An automation tester to analyze data and apply ideas logically. Following the delivery of the business requirement document, the automation testing team should concentrate on thoroughly understanding every element of the feature from an automation standpoint. Automation testers should raise questions during agile refinement ceremonies to close any gaps as a condition for automating a certain application feature.
The automation testing team must consider and identify areas of functionality that may or cannot be automated and develop a comprehensive automation test approach. The testing team should schedule a walkthrough session with all stakeholders to discuss the feature’s automated testing strategy.
Automation testing teams should gather suggestions from all team members and utilize them to create a test plan document. Define the scope of testing, automated testing technique, execution duration, and so on in the test plan document. Examine how the priority may automate the test cases.
- Understanding of programming languages:
To be a competent automation tester, the tester must have a strong grasp of programming languages. Programming languages like Python, Java, Perl, and others are often used in automated test tools. These programming languages are required of the automation tester. The automation tester’s thinking process should try to discover and cover all conceivable modules that need automation.
To develop test scripts, the automation tester must have solid coding abilities. Self-study is a useful technique to get familiar with various programming languages, which may aid in the creation of automated test scripts.
Though it is not necessary to build your automated scripts using scriptless test automation today, it is beneficial to understand the fundamentals.
The testing team must guarantee that the code complies with certain quality criteria. It is critical to build easy-to-understand test scripts and preserve the overall quality of the product. They should be written so that everyone in the team can understand.
When a team has an experienced automation tester on board, they typically have an edge. Test cases and test suites may be designed using their past project knowledge.
- Strong functional testing skills:
To succeed as an automated tester, the tester must have extensive knowledge and expertise in manual functional testing. It will be advantageous if the tester has a thorough understanding of the domain in addition to application skills. For example, if a wholesale banking application necessitates payments domain expertise to develop automated test scripts for any given component, it will be a distinct benefit if the tester has both strong scripting and domain-specific knowledge.
The manual testing method and the test procedures used in the testing phase should be well-known to automation testers. Designing test scripts without having an adequate functional understanding of the program may be difficult and time-consuming for automation testers. If the automated test team is well-versed in the functionality, they will be able to accomplish higher test coverage and accuracy.
Because manual testers are familiar with the STLC, automation testers must also be well-versed in the STLC (Software test life cycle). This is necessary to understand how each testing phase is carried out. This also simplifies the automation of manual test cases.
- Expertise in test script creation:
There are a variety of automation frameworks on the market, some of which will require the tester to have sufficient programming knowledge when writing automated test scripts. In contrast, others will require the tester to write test scripts in plain English and do not need an understanding of backend logic and coding.
The Cucumber framework for test automation is used by most enterprises today. Because the test scripts in Cucumber are written in plain English, a basic understanding of Selenium WebDriver is all that is required to write them.
If firms rely on automated technologies such as UFT (Unified functional tester) or QTP, automation testers need programming experience (Quick Test Professional).
The automation tester should create test cases to save time and effort during test preparation and execution processes. An automation tester should be familiar with programming languages such as Java, Python, Ruby, Perl, and Vb script, which are often used in automated test tools.
- Clear understanding of business requirements:
An automation tester should be knowledgeable in the following:
- The programming language is used to create the application.
- End-users must be able to access the application via a browser or device.
- The automation tester has set aside time to run tests.
- If there are any problems from the previous version that are anticipated to be corrected in this release and the overall effect of the repair on the application.
- The date on which the test execution will be completed.
- Timelines for project completion.
- APIs or any other online services linked to the application and how they function.
- Which databases are utilized to store the information in the backend?
- All of the application’s modules and functionalities are operational.
- Is manual testing required for some aspects of the application?
- Interested in learning about emerging technology and trends:
As an automation tester, you should be eager and curious to master new technologies in the field of automation as an automation tester.
Given the history of automation tools being extensively utilized in businesses, prior corporations favored the QTP (Quick Test Professional) tool for web-based application automation testing. Still, Selenium WebDriver is presently in high demand.
The market for new automated testing tools is always evolving in response to advances in technology and their benefits to the software industry. So, whether using QTP, Selenium, Test Sigma, or any automated testing solution, automation testers should stay current on the newest modifications and improvements.
The automation tester should understand the fundamentals of automation to know what needs to be automated, how it should be automated, and why it needs to be automated.
- Have a solid understanding of automated testing tools:
Automation testers should have a comprehensive understanding of the automated testing tools available on the market, which will assist in improving the entire testing process. There are several automated testing products on the market that deliver highly superior advantages to a business. To succeed in the area of automation testing, the tester must have a thorough grasp of and exposure to automation test technologies.
Another crucial skill is knowing which tool is appropriate for a certain job. Choosing the correct tool guarantees that the ROI on test automation efforts is realized. The tester should be able to identify whether or not specific test cases can be automated, depending on the automated testing technology used.
Once the tester is comfortable with automated tools, he may use his automation testing abilities to create test cases that provide adequate test coverage while also speeding up the test execution process.
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It’s a scalable testing platform that may help your team by transferring your software evaluation requirements to the cloud. You can ensure that your web application or website is compatible with practically every browser and device currently on the market by utilizing LambdaTest to conduct real-time cross-browser compatibility testing. It allows businesses to test their web applications for responsiveness and capture complete screenshots while doing so.
- Good problem-solving skills:
Before employing automated testing technologies, automation testers must have an in-depth technical understanding of the tools.
During the test execution phase, testers may encounter instances where the script generates errors, yet the application’s functionality functions as intended. On the other hand, the script may seem to be successful, but the application may have real-time faults. To fix these issues, automation testers must have excellent problem-solving abilities. Most of these difficulties arise when the automation tester lacks the necessary skills to configure the test scripts.
- Passion for automation:
As an automation tester, you must continue improving your ability to provide a high-quality product to your customers. Learning is a continuous process that is also necessary for professional advancement.
An automation tester must be enthusiastic about learning new things and coming up with fresh ideas for improving the automation process and willing to put up the work to put them into action. This increases the versatility of automation testers and their ability to move between multiple settings and tools as needed by the market. In the agile software development process, automation is the key to success. So, to succeed, keep learning.
Author Bio: Vixit Raj is Product Growth and Marketing Specialist at LambdaTest: The Cross Browser Web App Testing Platform. An E&C engineering background & Digital Marketing domain experience of 5+ years has aroused his interest in learning about the latest technology advancements, product marketing, coding, and testing.
