Test of Time: Software Testing News - Issue 464

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Here's?a roundup of some things happening?in the testing community. Let's go! ??? ?

AI

• Check out these 30 Days of AI in Testing updates from Nao Deng , Ash Winter and Rahul Parwal .
• Poojitha M. shares solid advice from her research into self-healing tests .
• Blanché Carstens provides a helpful toy box analogy for prompt engineering .
• "My biggest frustration is having to double check the information returned. Some of it is just way off. So much for machines taking over, if they cant even do simple maths, also, who tested this??? ??" – Natalie Nell . Source .
• A fascinating observation about using Large Language Models (LLM's) to provide prioritisation recommendations . "I would not use an LLM to prioritise any work at the moment." – Stevan Zivanovic .
• The AI in Testing manifesto ideas are impressive! ?? On a recent call with Bill Matthews he positively called out?Poojitha Manam's?Human-in-the-loop AI. "AI can enhance my testing capabilities not replace my judgement & critical thinking." And also Simon Schrijver's Validation over Acceptance. "The output generated by A.I. must be validated before it can be accepted."
• Lisa Crispin points out Craig Abbot's thoughts on AI and Accessibility .?"I liked this post from Craig Abbott : A lot of people are suggesting AI and LLMs (Large Language Models) will replace the need for accessibility testing . He has this thought-provoking question at the end: Most humans don’t understand the needs of people with disabilities in 2023, so how can we possibly teach a machine to?"
• We have a collection of handy testing challenges to improve your skills. This challenge from the ever-helpful Bill Matthews was recently added.?Craft a Detailed Prompt to Support Test Activities . ??

Automation & Tooling

• There's much insight to be had?from these recent polls.

?? How much do you agree with this statement? "I feel inadequate without test automation skills"

?? Is test automation a hard skill that pushes out the soft?

?? How much do you estimate your company spends on test automation efforts per year?

?? What percentage of your software testing efforts involve automation?

• The sideways test pyramid by Noemi Ferrera .
• Reverse Strings with Python , QA/SDET Interview Questions— 6 LeetCode Solutions by Lana Begunova .
• Congrats to Christine Murtha and Stamatis P Sarris for earning a?MoT Foundation Certificate in Test Automation . ??
• Playwright’s auto-wait is simple and superb by Cerosh Jacob .
• Discover simple and logical ways to automate transformed web controls with Zhimin Zhan . How to Drive a Transformed Web Control with Selenium WebDriver?
• POM vs. PAM: Achieving Efficient Test Automation with the Right Pattern by Irfan Mujagi? .

API Testing

• Alan Richardson has updated his API Challenges app . There are now 59 challenges!

Microservices

• "In the context of microservices architecture, how do you organize your tests and staging environments? "?– Konstantin Sakhchinskiy .

Community

• Marie Cruz , Nicole van der Hoeven and Lina Deatherage amplify the importance of community in supporting women in tech .
• "If you think being a QA Engineer is hard you are right. If you think it is easy you are also right. It depends on your acceptance criteria." – Emiola Ibironke . Source .
• David Rutt - organiser of Nottingham's NottsTest Meetup – ?inspired a bunch of stakeholders about accessibility and how it works when developing a mobile app. Nice one, Dave!
• ?Karen T. 's dream to move to Europe has become a reality . Bug?congrats! ??
• ??Ioan S. is looking for contributors and ideas for his YouTube Channel . Can you help?
• How do you create engaging test guild meetings? Testy MctestFace would like to hear from you.
• Ash Winter gave a successful talk and ran a book giveaway on testability at the MoT Leeds meetup. Super kind as always, Ash. ??
• It looks like Danny Dainton has been doing a great?job of growing the Postman community . ??

Recruitment

• ??? Cristina Lan?a Carrageis provides?examples of sharing your technical and soft skills .
• "For the past 5 years, I’ve developed a habit of regularly scouring QA job listings. It’s not just a pastime; it helps me gauge the trending technologies and assess how well my career aligns with the market." Read more from Karla Mieses : Unveiling the Mythical Creatures of Software QA Job Descriptions .

Mentorship

• QA Tech Mentorship and Coaching With Tech Coach Ralph. Source .

Bug Refinement

• "The most heartwarming moment for me was when one of our regular attendees said that the bug refinement session is their favourite meeting of the week. It’s not just about refining bugs, it’s about working as one team to create quality software and to have fun doing so!" – Meg MacKay . Read?A Guide to Bug Refinement in Software Testing: Streamlining Your Workflow .?

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Have a good week.

— Simon Tomes ?

This newsletter is kindly supported by?PractiTest

The 2024 State of Testing? Survey results are finally here!

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Gather with the testing community.?Join an?event .? ?

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????Events

View all

• 30 Days of AI in Testing ?Fri 01 Mar - Sun 31 Mar
• Newcastle Meetup Tue 26 Mar
• The Testing Planet - Episode One: The Companion ?Thu 28 Mar
• Test Exchange Thu 18 Apr
• Munich Meetup Tue 23 Apr
• The Testing Planet - Episode Two: The Machine ?Thu 25 Apr
• The Testing Planet - Episode Three: The Toolsmith ?Thu 23 May
• Athens Meetup Thu 30 May
• TestBash Brighton 2024 ?Thu 12 Sep - Fri 13 Sep

???Industry News

• Xray - year in review and look ahead – Ivan Filippov
• Test Planning: A Comprehensive Guide for Success – Hannah Son
• How to design an interview for a QA engineer – Vitaly Sharovatov

?? Calls for Contributions

• Write for us ???
• Contribute to The Testing Planet ??? We're looking for presenters, anchors, navigators and more!