Automation can be a tricky thing - what should be automated? How do you know? Many places dream of having everything automated, and no manual testing at all, but automating just to automate isn't actually a good thing. And, I personally believe in a mixture of automation and manual testing being the best way to tackle testing, regardless of title or position at a company. There is such a thing as too much, or wasted, automation. Repetitive tasks If you're …
Category: QA
Targeted regression testing has literally changed my work life - for the better. I look back on my years of QA experience and kick myself for not learning about and implementing it sooner. Targeted regression testing is still regression testing, but being very specific about what to test. With targeted regression it's more of a collaborative effort, at least in my experience. You work closely with the developers to talk about the changes made, what other areas their code might …
When to stop testing is the big question. How do you know? Should you ever stop testing? Yes - over testing is real, and isn't a good use of anyone's time. I admit, when I first start any job I'm guilty of over testing as I learn the products, and I think that's very normal for most of us. But, it's important to be comfortable with your product and know it well enough to know when to call it good. …
My current company is the first where I've been able to actually be impactful with QA process and helping to create something from scratch - that's the joy of a startup. They're scary as hell to join, but if you find a good one, one you believe in that also believes in you, it's amazing what you can accomplish. Everyone in the company has the same goal for releases - a quality product with minimal (or preferably no) bugs. But, …
Regression testing is honestly one of the worst parts of testing, usually, at least to me. It is so repetitive, and can take forever. I've been at places where it's legitimately taken 4+ weeks of regression testing prior to a release, and by the end we all had test blinders on. Regression testing is going back and checking what has worked before, and ensuring that your change didn't affect past functionality in an unexpected, or unintended way. Depending on how …