automation | Kieran O' Callaghan

Tag Archives: automation

You need to learn Automation? Start here!

Like anything, it takes a while to get good at anything (…unless your name is Messi) messi

I have been writing and blogging now for some ten years on various sites, this site being the latest one and I find, the more I write, the easier it is to write.

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On writing, I find you need to be willing to write a lot of stuff you wont end up using, to get to the stuff you will. a writer might start on short stories, get more confident, develop their voice and maybe get published.

One Hollywood writer interview I saw once said you need to be prepared to write ten scripts that get rejected to get a success.

Source: Life lessons from Benjamin Franklin

“Do not fear mistakes. You will know failure. Continue to reach out.”
Success comes from doing things “right,” and doing things right is usually the result of first doing things wrong.

You are certain to make mistakes; the path to success is lined with mistakes and failures, just keep moving. Successful people make a lot of mistakes, but they don’t quit, they keep moving until they arrive to their goal.

“Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.”

If you want to get better at something, you need to practice until it becomes automatic and it’s surprising how much you learn, especially when you think your not learning anything?

learn

This year I have been learning Java with a view to furthering my testing career, but of course nothing is anything by its self, everything connects and I have made a list of subjects to cover, while you are tired looking at the code

To Automate tests, you need to understand the following:

Java and Object Oriented Programming
Page Object Model
JUNIT
The WebDriver framework
How to create XPATH locators
Learn Eclipse compiler
Use browser plugins (Firepath, Firebug, FireCookie)
HTML and CSS
How the HTTP protocol works, get and post requests
How browsers work

And of course, if you see a new acronym, software tool in a job description, I would google that and look it up on one of the many YouTube channels and learn as much as possible and add it to your bag…

bag

Tags: automation, Benjamin Franklin, Learning, Messi, testing, youTube

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Categories Writing

Do the obvious thing, excellently

1 Feb

So, I have just finished contract for a complex commissions system upgrade with Fuji Xerox, in Sydney and I thought I would share a thought or two.

When people talk of software testing, immediately most people think of Automation tools, like Selenium and Test Management tools like Quality Centre, which are of course great.

But what if you are working on a project that does not have those capabilities or budgets?

Well, you just have to be resourceful and do the best you can, with what you have, what’s interesting with contracting is you get to experience many different industries, locations and approaches to working.

What impressed me was while a lot of people think tools, one of the best tools as a tester as far as I can see, is Microsoft Excel

While exploring the many functions excel has to offer, while doing data analysis, I was impressed how much more it does and how non testers, namely business people I would not normally sit next to use it, its applications, redefining what you think its capabilities are.

Tools can only do so much

I’ve heard of how come actuary calculations take hours to compete and i also know the inventors of excel Dan Bricklin and Bob Frankston in 1979 never cashed in on their idea

I remember reading of a call center that used HP Quality Center to manage their call center business and why not? It can be configured any way you like, all it takes is for someone to get the idea, and sometimes that’s all you need, Bear Grylls says all you need to survive is a good penknife and a water bottle, but that’s another story

Apparently, It comes in handy?

It occurred while I have been learning automation testing, there is so much more I can learn, with existing applications, while configuring style sheet on a word document for a test plan, I saw how more complicated Microsoft word in fact is and it’s important to know these functions and to be able to do them properly.

But it’s interesting how often having good excel skills gets overlooked, you never see ‘Excellent excel data analysis’ in a job description, but when you are preparing data for a complex system, having good Excel skills comes in handy, ‘Trez important’ as the French would say!