Shulou(Shulou.com)06/03 Report--

Career Planning and career Development of Test Engineers-introduction

Due to various reasons, many people choose to test this profession, in the workplace and testing field after several ups and downs, some people adapt to the times out of a world, some people choose to leave to engage in other careers.

As a tester with some ideas in the testing industry, the author makes some summary and general prospect of the tester's career planning and career development, hoping that for those who have just chosen a testing career, for those who can not see their own direction clearly and are confused in the process of testing career development, give some reference for everyone to learn from.

Everyone's ideas and experiences confirm each other, so as to find their own development direction and goals in the follow-up life and work, and to stick to it.

This paper describes the career planning and career development of testers in two stages. the first stage is from scratch to introduction, mainly for testers who are novice testers with experience within 2 years. The second stage is the advanced part of qualified test engineers, which is mainly for testers who have been in practice for 2 to 5 years, and let testers with certain experience be promoted to senior test engineers. Some test engineers who face bottlenecks in some directions can refer to and find their own suitable direction and breakthrough.

In addition, this paper enumerates the common puzzling problems of test engineers, and explains them according to some personal experience, hoping that the testers who are troubled by the problems can also find some resonance.

Introduction to testing from 0 to qualified Test engineer

Some features of the opening and testing in the field of IT:

The entry threshold is low.

The knowledge should be broad, but not necessarily proficient.

Mainly based on black box testing, combined with some gray box tests

With the popularity of mobile phone terminals, the demand of the Internet industry for test engineers will be greater than that of other industries.

Based on the characteristics of the testing industry, many people choose testing as a career: some people want to work as a developer, but have no work experience and want to start with testing. Some people hope to accumulate more knowledge so that they can change careers to other related professions. Some people choose testing work just because of the employment pressure and listening to the so-called urgent shortage of talents in China.... no, no, no.

Which types of people will eventually enter the testing profession? Different technical backgrounds and knowledge accumulation, after entering the door of the testing profession, the main direction of learning and efforts are different, and even the follow-up development direction is not the same.

First, the background of introduction:

1.1 Business personnel in related industries

1.2 switch from development to testing

1.3 newcomers to the workplace, those without professional knowledge

1.4 newcomers to the workplace, computer related professional background

1.5 newcomers to the workplace, trained by professional institutions

There are few cases of "business people in related industries" and "changing careers from development to testing", so let's explain first:

1.1 Business personnel in related industries:

Source: it is common for Party A practitioners to change careers to Party B. For example, in the army to do XX system maintenance, retired to Party B to do testing / sales work; in the XX industry to do operation and maintenance work, transferred to the industry product companies to do technical work, and so on.

Features: it is a deep understanding of the business of related industries, and it is quick to get started in the business field. Have experience in the use of relevant products, may be unique in terms of product ease of use, overall product solutions, etc.

The problem that may be encountered is the adjustment of personal attitude: from the original Party A / user to Party B / tester.

1.2 switch from development to testing

Source: small companies began to set up test teams and deploy personnel to do testing work; test teams began to develop test equipment or build their own automated testing framework to enhance the programming ability of testers.

Features: familiar with business implementation principles, defect analysis and positioning, development process, testing process may be familiar.

We need to relearn the actual testing tools, and we need to rethink the purpose and mode of testing, especially the advantages and disadvantages of automation and the applicable scope of test equipment development.

1.3 newcomers to the workplace, those without professional knowledge

1.4 newcomers to the workplace, computer related professional background

These two types of people are the weakest in the relevant knowledge among the prospective practitioners, so it takes a lot of extra study and effort to enter the testing profession. Try to enumerate the general tester skill tree as follows for reference.

General testing fundamentals

Test terminology and its meaning

Black box test method

The method of Test case Design

Understanding of the testing process

Test the preparation of common documents

Business knowledge and industry testing knowledge

The actual development process of the company

The actual testing process of the company

General methods of testing in this industry

Business related knowledge

Industry-related standard agreements

Specification

Master the design ideas of existing test cases

Basic operation and basic theory of computer

Familiar with office department tools (documentation is often written during testing, familiarity has many advantages)

Familiar with mainstream operating systems (Red Hat Linux,Windows server/Win7, Win8)

Understand the database (Oracle, DB2, SQLServer, MySQL)

Familiarity with some computer applications (according to specific industry characteristics)

Test management tools used by the company

Use the Bug tracking tool (CQ,Bugzilla,TD)

Use the test case management tool (TD)

Use requirements, configuration management tools (SOS,CC)

The required ability

Learning ability

Communication ability

Expressive ability

Summing up ability

1.5 newcomers to the workplace, trained by professional institutions

Source: after the testing training of systematic training institutions (such as Danai, Huigu of Jiaotong University, etc.), get the relevant training certificate, have a more comprehensive understanding of testing, have a preliminary use of testing tools, and even have simulation project experience.

Features: testing industry tools, methods, ideas, etc., what will be some, but not proficient in anything.

It is necessary to combine theory with practice as soon as possible, study the focus of different industries, and put what we have learned into practice.

To grow into a qualified test engineer, you need to master the skill tree can refer to the above; different practitioners, according to the actual knowledge and skills accumulation, do appropriate optimization. In order to be a qualified test engineer, all the knowledge points of the above skill tree need to be familiar with and mastered.

After the study of some basic knowledge, according to personal learning and understanding ability, some people swallow a little knowledge or half a claw; some people have a good grasp of knowledge and skills and show strong adaptability to specific tests. On the whole, after about three months to half a year, we can reach the first basic requirement stage, and begin to carry out the actual testing tasks, and then we need to study and improve while working.

Similarly, the focus and direction of the next step may also be different according to the different mastery of the test knowledge points and the different accumulation of knowledge and technology in the early stage of the practitioners. We illustrate the presentation from the similarities that all testers need to master and the differences that testers with different characteristics need to master:

For all testers:

1. Be familiar with business knowledge and system architecture

2. Understand the mainstream test methods and test terminology, and improve the ability of test design.

3. Combined with the actual testing characteristics, familiar with an automated testing tool (Robot, QTP)

4. Be familiar with a test management tool (CQ, TD)

5. Be familiar with the communication skills of testing bug tracking and bug control

6. Improve the summary ability, summarize the various exclusion methods in the testing process, the characteristics of the system and the stage of the testing work.

For business people in related industries:

Make use of their own advantages in the business, actively supplement effective test scenarios and test cases, and provide business value.

Take advantage of your business to make suggestions or add test cases where the test is not covered or insufficient.

With reference to the characteristics of the industry and other products, this paper puts forward various suggestions for the company's products, and sorts out the differences, advantages and disadvantages of many kinds of products.

Conduct benchmarking, pre-sales testing and other special testing work.

For those who switch from development to testing:

Make use of my own development experience to try and develop in gray box and white box testing, and assume the corresponding role.

In the aspect of test case design, introduce more factors of system architecture and system logic, write and review such test cases.

Familiar with work-related testing tools, you can consider developing some testing aids

For newcomers to the workplace:

Need to continue to study and work, to pay more efforts than others, because in addition to business knowledge, test knowledge, there are many hurdles to overcome, may be away from home, away from home, just joined the job, self-positioning and mentality adjustment period and so on.

For professionally trained workplace newcomers:

Further strengthen the test case writing and bug data statistical analysis.

Take advantage of one's own comprehensive technology, thoroughly understand the business knowledge, specifications and specifications, and undertake key testing tasks.

Strive to show the comprehensiveness of testing on small projects and undertake independent testing tasks as soon as possible.

Grow into a qualified test engineer from scratch, as shown below (modify according to the information on the Internet)

After previous study and accumulation, everyone can basically become a qualified test engineer within one to two years. Next, how can we give full play to our interests and advantages, and how to further develop and plan our careers?

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