Issue 91

COMMENT

Welcome to the 91st issue!

This week, let's talk about managers.

After all, we all have one.

But what makes a good QA manager?

If I were to name three qualities, I'd say trust, transparency and support.

But others have are some truly great opinions, too.

So check them out — whether you're a QA Manager or you're under one.

Happy testing!

NEWS

Hiring manual and automation testers

Maaret Pyhäjärvi points out why testers should have both manual and automation skills and why it's important to hire for attitude and potential of growth.

Related to that, Jamaal Todd explains why you should Think Twice Before Labelling Yourself As An Automation Engineer.

Is it possible to improve the impact of our testing by simplifying it?

Explore, Act, Improve.

We all know that testing is a complex activity. So it's great to see efforts to make the process simpler. Such as this one by Stuart Crocker.

Shift left testing in practice

Here's a great example of how shift-left testing can help engineering teams. Nicholas Yaw draws a before-and-after picture and shares some valuable lessons learned along the way.

Also, Andrew Quan emphasises why it's important to Build in Quality as Early and Often as Possible.

Using Triforce to Define Acceptance Criteria

Callum Akehurst-Ryan explains why involving business, product and development in discussions about acceptance criteria is crucial for high quality and successful projects. And then shows a lot of examples.

So maybe that's the answer to the question that Kinga Witko asks: Why do Product Managers, Product Owners, Managers keep making the same mistake and give up on quality?.

What software testing looks like in 2021: 3 key elements

When James Bach and Michael Bolton talk about testing, you should be listening. Eran Kinsbruner shares the insights from the recent discussion they had about the state of testing in 2021.

AUTOMATION

Best practices in test automation with Cypress

Looking to improve your Cypress tests? Walmyr Filho shares useful tips that can be applied to other testing frameworks, too.

Moreover, Gleb Bahmutov demonstrates how to create Dynamic Tests From Cypress Fixture.

Building and testing native mobile apps with React Native and WebdriverIO — Part 3

In the third part of the series, Nathan Krishnan shows how to implement automated end-to-end tests for React Native mobile apps using WebdriverIO, Appium and Mocha.

How to Go From 0 to 1,300+ Automated Tests

Why test automation is so important? Dennis Martinez shares a story of taking over a project with no tests and how he prioritised automation to achieve high coverage. There are some great lessons learned!

Performance testing API’s with async/awaits

Who said you need a dedicated tool to do load testing? Sam Connelly proves that implementing an effective performance test can be as simple as using the essential JavaScript libraries.

The Building Blocks Of A UI Test Automation Framework

Building your own test automation framework for UI testing? Mark Winteringham advises what to pay attention to and what components you need to put together.

Why We Killed Our End-to-End Test Suite

Here's a great story by Alexandre Freire explaining the transition from heavy and long-running end-to-end tests to light and fast contract tests. The most interesting part? Creating a custom contract testing framework instead of using the popular ones — like Pact.

TOOLS

A Comprehensive Guide On JUnit 5 Extensions

This is a must-read if you're implementing your tests in Java. You'll find pretty much everything you need to know about using JUnit 5 for testing. Hats off, Ghislain Mukendi!

Postman Flows: A Guide

Postman has recently released the beta version of their new feature — Flows. Beth Marshall describes what it is, how to set it up and how it can help you test APIs even more efficiently.

Selenium 4 Release Candidate is Here!

Some good news for those of you waiting for the official Selenium 4 release! It's now out of beta now and we've got the first release candidate. Angie Jones put together a handy reference to useful resources about the new version.

And if you're wondering if it's a tool you should be using, Balázs Réfi lists out 9 reasons to use Selenium.

Simulating Slow Network Connection For Testing

Usually, you don't test slow network connections until your users tell you about bugs they found related to that. So why don't you check out Andreea Draniceanu's list of tools that you can use to test either web or mobile apps? I love the meme, by the way! 😂

We Are Switching From TestCafe to CodeceptJS — Here’s Why

Paweł Kowalski shared an interesting comparison of TestCafe and CodeceptJS and a reasonable explanation of why they decided to go with the latter.

And to hear a contrary opinion, check out Oswin Losper's article: Why I chose TestCafe.

VIDEOS

Why ISTQB Certification is Important (My Experience)?

There are divided opinions on the usefulness of ISTQB (and similar) certifications for testers. Some say it helps, some say it's a waste of time and money. In this 6-minute video, Pramod Dutta shares his opinion based on his experience.

AND...

"Fixed"... 😅

Thanks for reading!

If you like this newsletter and it helps you become a better tester, you can say thanks and buy me a coffee.

Issue 91 October 1st 2021