What is the best way to describe your experience with test automation?

Test automation has revolutionized our development process, enhancing efficiency and reliability. It's akin to having a diligent, error-free team member who tirelessly tests our software. This technology not only saves us time but also minimizes human error, allowing us to catch issues early and achieve comprehensive test coverage. Its seamless integration into our agile and continuous integration workflows has been a game-changer, boosting our confidence in software quality and enabling faster, more reliable deliveries.

Automation brings necessary agility to testing and helps respond faster and more effectively to changes. Some of the benefits: - Increase Reusability - Higher coverage, exhaustive testing - Improved accuracy - Faster execution, get quick visibility into code quality - Automating test support activities

Test automation matters because it enhances efficiency, consistency, reliability and quality of software. It is a significant practice for modern software development.

- automating 100% of the test case is not possible and you can automate everything - manual testing is needed and will always be to test specific aspects of the app under test - applying test pyramid when planning what to automate can grant you a great ROI and confidence in your app - test automation is not creating scripts, it is a whole process and it should include all the development team to automate the whole SDLC as much as possible

Test automation is never started without first round of manual test cycle. Thereafter, the same set of test is performed through automated machines to reduce human effort of repetitive work. When existing features are taken care by test automation, tester can concentrate reviewing newly developed features and deliver even faster.

There is no such thing as 100% Automation: I have been asked multiple times if everything can be automated, or a concept of 100% automation where no manual test is required. I'd say if you are working on a web or a mobile app, there will always be manual aspects to it. The focus should not be on achieving 100% coverage but on tests which are redundant so that there is a positive ROI for automation

While describing test automation experience few key things to consider are: - Detailing out problem statements and domain - Type of testing covered: It can be unit, integration, system testing , API testing or even non-functional testing like SEO, performance, accessibility testing - Analysis: This is the most fun part, as it requires analysis of functional and non-functional requirements and then identifying the area which will prove to be more beneficial to automate. Additionally, considering team skills, time and available budget are also important factors. - Explaining the Tools / Frameworks worked on like selenium, playwright , cypress, postman etc. - Last but not the least, sharing the results achieved is the key.

Automation testing can become humdrum when you can't keep your automation code base standardised and clean. When it becomes huge overtime and becomes unmanageable. I have seen projects where automation testers have a crack to understanding what their fellow testers have written, before they can add theirs. And in order to complete the new test scripting even they couldn't maintain proper coding standards. Maintaining proper coding standards, adding comments and logs wherever required, doing proper peer review/lead review are some best practice to avoid such problems.

When describing your test automation experience, emphasize the tools and frameworks you’ve used or learned, such as Selenium, Cucumber, TestNG, or JUnit. Additionally, highlight the types and levels of testing you automated, like unit, integration, functional, regression, and performance testing. It’s equally important to mention the scope of your automation projects, including the number of test cases, the complexity of the scenarios, and the frequency of execution. Lastly, focus on the benefits and outcomes of your automation efforts, such as time saved, defects detected, quality improvements, and feedback received.

100% automation coverage is not always possible due to various software limitations and constraints. But, wherever possible automation obviously reduces rework, time and efforts. Software delivery has now became faster due to CI+CT+CD pipelines and agile development, here our test automation plays an important role by testing and logging defect automatically to Jira or other defect management tools. We can also set a threshold which when not reached stops the pipeline to deploy or proceed further.

consider the following strategies and examples: 1. Automated Test Cases : - Percentage of automated test cases for a feature/module. - Example : Automated 85% of test cases for the new feature using Selenium, reducing manual testing efforts significantly." 2. Test Coverage Increase : - Increase in test coverage percentage. - Example : "Increased test coverage from 50% to 90% by integrating automated tests across various modules." 3. Efficiency and Productivity Gains: - Hours saved or efficiency improvement. - Example : "Saved over 200 hours of manual testing by automating regression tests, leading to more efficient use of resources."

Quantifying test automation has never been easy, however by focusing on right metrics it can be achieved. Few is them are : 1. Coverage- Number of tests covered through automation 2. Efficiency- Number of valid defects detected 3. Time saved - Reduction achieved in execution time and providing quick feedback And ultimately all these should add up towards providing a positive ROI

Quantifying your test automation experience using numbers, metrics, or percentages is a powerful way to demonstrate your impact, achievements, and skills. You can use formulas such as: automating a certain percentage of test cases for a feature using a specific tool or framework; reducing test execution time and increasing test coverage by implementing a test automation strategy; detecting defects and improving software quality through automated test suites; and receiving positive feedback or awards for your contributions to automation projects. By doing so, you effectively showcase your expertise in test automation.

Some of the things that fascinate me about test automation is that it does not only expose inherent weakness(es) in the software being tested but also in the infrastructure and even hardware. In one of the projects I worked on recently, the performance test that was carried out showed deep weaknesses. Upon root case analysis, it was discovered that the problem was inherent in the networking infrastructure. All the affected routers in the identified problematic paths were upgraded and all test cases PASSED. At first, it was hard for the network engineering team to accept the facts on the table. Test automation improves the entire software delivery chain.

Success lies in the design of the framework: When it comes to automation, there are various tools, tech, coded, codeless frameworks which might look appealing but in the longer run the success will depend on how the framework is designed. If one has to invest time in automation, that should go in framework designing & following the best practices as it makes script creation so easy and includes reusability which then might appear that you actually are just writing code in English language.

You can structure your description as follows: 1. Describe the Situation: Start by outlining the context of the project, including goals, scope, timeline, and stakeholders. 2. Explain the Challenge: Highlight the task or challenge you faced, such as requirements, constraints, risks, or issues. 3. Detail the Action: Describe the solution you implemented or proposed, including the tools, frameworks, methods, and steps. 4. Highlight the Result: Conclude by emphasizing the outcome, benefits, feedback, or lessons learned from your contribution.

I think an image says more than thousand words, and if that is the case, imagine how much it can say to show case an actual work you have done and explain it how you actually solved some issues and challenges while doing it. The recommendation that I am giving since some years ago till now is, build an automation protfolio. You can create a GitHub repository and upload some work you have done for a project that is live in internet or that you can host in a free web hosting service (PHP based sites). That way others can see your work, ask, contribute and your customer or employer can understand how you work and what you know to do.

Truthfully, as sweet as test automation is, Testing can never be 100% automated. Every test automation is always preceded be manual testing

Automation comes with a learning curve: People could still find learning a tedious activity. Yes, it does come with a learning curve but everyone can do it with the right mindset and right choice of tool/framework. Today's frameworks are so advanced that they give an impression you are not writing code but writing an article in your language. The area to invest mostly comes with identifying Unique Page Objects which again eases with experience

Knowing how to drive a car is merely like knowing how to start test automation. But, knowing how to smoothly drive a sports Ferrari or a luxurious limousine or a big truck adds weight to your profile. Similarly, the more latest tools and technologies you learn and work-on, makes your profile heavier than others as you have more concentrated specialisations.

A useful approach I've used in maximizing the true value of test automation involves the collaboration of a team comprising functional testers and test automation specialists. The robust 'testing mindset' and exceptional test scenarios developed by functional testing experts form the bedrock of testing strategy. Building an automated test suite around this not only ensures quality but also introduces agility. Once established, the automated test suite becomes useful for a range of tests, including smoke tests, environment health checks, and regression tests. The ongoing synergy between the functional test team and test automation experts is vital throughout this journey, in enhancing the overall quality of testing efforts.

Don't just jump on "the bandwagon" called test automation without having a serious thought behind it. Test automation is a serious DevOps endeavor. The key points of having test automation in place are: - faster time to market - improved release confidence - reduced time on repetitive manual testing, to free space for more creative work, and many more... If you don't invest time in the proper setup of a test automation framework, you will accumulate technical debt at the speed of light, by having flaky and brittle tests and not following best practices. Think about scalable solutions and how you can integrate your test framework in the CI/CD pipeline on various environments with different inbound & and outbound data.