What is the future of manual Testing. And if no automation skills where should he move now.What are the diffferent options avail

Balkrishna kamath's picture

What is the future of manual Testing in software testing. And if no automation skills a resouces has where should he move now.What are the diffferent options available.

 

4 Answers

Chelsea Frischknecht's picture

Most likely we are going to see manual testing phase out more and more in favor of test automation, with the main focus of manual testers shifting over to exploratory testing. There are enough problems within test automation however, that the approach to test automation has been changing as well - there simply aren't enough automation engineers at the moment to flat out replace manual testing. You can start to find test automation tools that don't require coding or technical knowledge, so you can ramp up really quickly.

 

This shift is still taking place though (you can see it starting in a lot of the big GSIs), so there is still time to learn automation. I would suggest getting certified with a scriptless test automation tool like Tricentis Tosca. They offer an online course that for Automation Specialist, Level One. If you send them an email at [email protected] and tell them Chelsea sent you, they can hook you up with the course for free. :) 

 

Here are some other free resources from Tricentis that you might find interesting - they are directly related to your question. 

 

Webinar: Test Automation for Manual Testers

Article: How the Future of Test Automation Affects You

 

 

*Full disclosure: I work with Tricentis. Hope it is still helpful for you though - making sure that manual testers have an awesome future as automation specialists is exactly what Tricentis has been working on for the past years.*

John Wilson's picture

"What is the future of testing?" - It will be what it should be. The wise may opinion that the future of testing will be a mixture of tests, some run automatically, some run with bits that are automated and some run without any automation. Those that don't understand testing will postulate full 100% test automation.

 

"If no automation skills, where should a tester go?" - To a company with wise folk. They might also want to consider moving to an unwise company to get some experience of automation and learn exactly why 100% automation of tests is both unwise and unwanted.

 

"What options are available?" - Use your brain, and Google, to find out. (General observation - Worldwide there are probably less wise companies than unwise ones. It does appear to be dependant upon your location)

 

BTW - Wise testers are almost as hard to find as wise companies. Your choice to be wise or follow the hoards and always play catch up and be second best.

Luis Gil's picture
Luis Gil replied on March 19, 2017 - 9:33am.

Not all testing can be done automatically. Test teams need to know how to identify this.

You can be be contractually forced to deliver 90% Automated tests, but you have a 10% Margin for manual tests.

Imagine how can one automate the correct rendering of a web-page in a browser or see if a program waits 10ms between two actions.

In these cases, one needs to "inspect": look at the website and look at the source code.

 

Companies also need test analysts that can figure what to test, write test cases, manage traceability to requirements,  assure compliance with quality standards, help with configuration management, etc.

But is always important to know how to program at least scripts (bash, python) and use Excel and other tools.

And is never too late to learn automation testing. Future is changing and we need to re-invent ourselves.

Craig Kam's picture
Craig Kam replied on January 21, 2019 - 2:41pm.

Testing, whether automated, manual or some combination relies heavily on the analytical ability of the test engineer.  No matter what 'tools' you know; what 'languages' you can code in, unless your analytical abilities are up to par, you will have trouble being successful.  I have been helping newer SQE's develop thier analytical skills for many years.  It is a good thing to learn to write scripts for automation and be able to use the various tools in the industry to accomplish your test objectives.  Don't forget to work on developing the most important skill, your analytical skill.  If you would like an overview of some things that are important in this area, take a look at my blog.  It may help you.

 

www.blogsqa.com

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