Building Automation Engineers From Scratch

Creating automation engineers from manual testers is hard. Even if testers are willing, they have a lot of hurdles to get over to feel like the same kind of subject matter experts in automation as they are in manual testing.

As a career-long manual tester making the leap to automation, Jenny Bramble has experience to explain frustrations and provide solutions. She will discuss managing the expectations of testers and their managers (what’s the time frame? Why isn’t this working?), techniques for teaching (such as games! Pair/mob programming! Software fundamentals!), and how to know when testers have made it (what should manual testers be aiming for when they start?).

Transcript

1. BUILDING AUTOMATION ENGINEERS
   FROM SCRATCH
   @jennydoesthings
   

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2. HI, I’M JENNY
   HUMAN INTERFACING IS MY
   FAVORITE THING
   MY PRONOUNS ARE SHE/HER
   @jennydoesthings
   

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3. THIS IS MY DARLING
   DANTE
   THIS IS
   DAX DUMPLING
   PRIVATE EYE
   @jennydoesthings
   

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4. @JENNYDOESTHINGS
   THE PLAN
   ▸ Assumptions
   ▸ The Abridged History of Jenny
   ▸ Set Expectations
   ▸ Framework for Success
   ▸ Face Challenges
   ▸ ….
   ▸ Win!
   

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5. ASSUMPTIONS
   YOU NEVER START
   FROM ZERO
   @jennydoesthings
   

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6. @JENNYDOESTHINGS
   ASSUMPTIONS - RESOURCES
   ▸ You have a group of manual testers or are a manual tester
   interested in moving towards automation.
   ▸ You have time and resources to apply to this adventure.
   ▸ You may have some kind of support system or mentoring
   system in place, but at least have people willing to help.
   ▸ You’re willing to make a plan and execute that plan.
   

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7. @JENNYDOESTHINGS
   ASSUMPTIONS - HUMANS
   ▸ Every tester is an SME in their field
   ▸ Manual testing is still very important
   ▸ Not everyone wants to be an automation engineer
   ▸ Change is scary
   

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8. THE ABRIDGED
   HISTORY OF JENNY
   WHO ARE YOU
   @jennydoesthings
   

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9. Dogs on the Internet
   @JENNYDOESTHINGS
   

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10. I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT
    I’M DOING.
    Dogs on the Internet. Also Jenny Bramble
    @JENNYDOESTHINGS
    

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11. THE ABRIDGED
    HISTORY OF JENNY
    WHO ARE YOU
    @jennydoesthings
    

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12. EXPECTATIONS
    FIRST THINGS FIRST
    @jennydoesthings
    

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13. GET OUT IN FRONT
    EXPECTATIONS
    @jennydoesthings
    

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14. PERCEPTION OF
    ABILITY
    EXPECTATIONS
    @jennydoesthings
    

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15. I DIDN’T REALIZE I WAS SUPPOSED TO
    KNOW EVERYTHING BY MY SECOND RODEO.
    SEEMS LIKE A LOW NUMBER OF RODEOS.
    The Internet
    @JENNYDOESTHINGS
    

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16. RESPECT THE
    MANUAL
    ADJUSTMENT
    @jennydoesthings
    

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17. RESET YOUR
    MINDSET
    ADJUSTMENT
    @jennydoesthings
    

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18. LOSE YOUR FEAR OF NOT
    BEING ‘TECHNICAL ENOUGH’.
    Lisa Crispin, Janet Gregory
    Authors of Agile Testing, personal heroines
    @JENNYDOESTHINGS
    

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19. PERCEPTION OF
    VELOCITY
    EXPECTATIONS
    @jennydoesthings
    

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20. MA’AM, DO YOU KNOW HOW
    FAST YOU WERE GOING?
    Officer Howard
    Wilmington, NC Police Department
    @JENNYDOESTHINGS
    

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21. VELOCITY IS NOT
    OBJECTIVE
    ADJUSTMENT
    @jennydoesthings
    

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22. PERCEPTION OF
    SUCCESS
    EXPECTATIONS
    @jennydoesthings
    

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23. IF YOU LOOKS CLOSELY, MOST
    OVERNIGHT SUCCESSES TOOK
    A LONG TIME.
    Steve Jobs
    Apple founder, enjoys turtlenecks
    @JENNYDOESTHINGS
    

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24. DEFINE YOUR
    SUCCESS METRICS
    ADJUSTMENT
    @jennydoesthings
    

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25. @JENNYDOESTHINGS
    SUCCESS METRICS
    ▸ Everyone on the team put in a PR
    ▸ Golden Path is automated
    ▸ We can do x, y, and z
    ▸ There are 15+ tests
    ▸ We got tests running in CI
    ▸ No one cried this week
    

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26. DEFINE YOUR
    SUCCESS METRICS
    ADJUSTMENT
    @jennydoesthings
    

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27. FRAMEWORK FOR
    SUCCESS
    WHERE DO I EVEN
    START
    @jennydoesthings
    

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28. WHAT DO YOU
    KNOW?
    FRAMEWORK FOR
    SUCCESS
    @jennydoesthings
    

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29. @JENNYDOESTHINGS
    WHAT DO YOU KNOW?
    ▸ Remember this is a skill built on top of your existing skills, not starting
    form zero.
    ▸ You don’t just drop your manual skillset wholesale to pick up
    automation
    ▸ Everything you’ve done in your past is a stepping stone to making
    automation better
    ▸ How to use tools and language
    ▸ Logic
    ▸ Ability to learn
    

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30. TESTERS HOLD THE MENTAL
    MODEL OF THE SYSTEM IN
    THEIR MINDS.
    Jasmin Smith
    Tester, speaker, good human
    @JENNYDOESTHINGS
    

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31. WHAT DO YOU
    NEED TO KNOW?
    FRAMEWORK FOR
    SUCCESS
    @jennydoesthings
    

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32. @JENNYDOESTHINGS
    WHAT DO YOU KNOW?
    ▸ Learn to code; don’t ‘learn to automate’
    ▸ Learn the software development lifecycle at your company
    ▸ Learn Git or whichever versioning tool your company uses
    ▸ Learn your IDE
    ▸ And remember…
    

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33. AUTOMATION CODE IS
    PRODUCTION CODE.
    Paul Grizzaffi,
    Automation engineer, metal head
    @JENNYDOESTHINGS
    

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34. LEARNING
    FRAMEWORK FOR
    SUCCESS
    @jennydoesthings
    

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35. @JENNYDOESTHINGS
    FRAMEWORK FOR SUCCESS - LEARNING
    ▸ FIND A MENTOR.
    ▸ Pairing with devs and testers
    ▸ Dedicated time for PRs, help, and other tasks
    ▸ Example automation projects
    ▸ Coursework
    ▸ Games
    

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36. PRACTICE MAKES
    PERMANENT.
    Sheila Dacus
    My piano teacher when I was 12
    @JENNYDOESTHINGS
    

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37. FACE CHALLENGES
    YOU MEAN WE’RE NOT
    DONE YET??
    @jennydoesthings
    

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38. DE-PRIORITIZED
    CHALLENGES
    @jennydoesthings
    

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39. TRY NOT TO BECOME A
    [HUMAN] OF SUCCESS.
    RATHER, BECOME A [HUMAN]
    OF VALUE.
    Albert Einstein
    Smart guy, gravity connoisseur
    @JENNYDOESTHINGS
    

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40. MAKE AUTOMATION
    INVALUABLE
    MEET IT
    @jennydoesthings
    

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41. AUTOMATION IS
    ANOTHER TOOL
    MEET IT
    @jennydoesthings
    

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42. BUT I DON’T
    WANNA
    CHALLENGES
    @jennydoesthings
    

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43. TOUGH LUCK.
    Steve Gibson
    QA Manager, part time motivational speaker
    @JENNYDOESTHINGS
    

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44. WHOLE TEAM
    APPROACH
    MEET IT
    @jennydoesthings
    

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45. AUTOMATION IS SCARY. WORK TO GET
    YOUR WHOLE TEAM ENGAGED RATHER
    THAN SPECIFICALLY TO BECOME A TEST
    AUTOMATION ENGINEER.
    Lisa Crispin
    @JENNYDOESTHINGS
    

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46. PROFESSIONAL
    DEVELOPMENT MEANS
    CHANGE
    MEET IT
    @jennydoesthings
    

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47. PROFESSIONAL
    DEVELOPMENT MEANS
    CHANGE
    MEET IT
    @jennydoesthings
    

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48. WIN
    ….
    @jennydoesthings
    

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49. @JENNYDOESTHINGS
    THE PLAN
    ▸ Set Expectations
    ▸ Respect the manual tester
    ▸ Reset your mindset
    ▸ Velocity is not objective
    ▸ Define your success metrics
    ▸ Create Your Framework for Success
    ▸ What do you know?
    ▸ What do you need to know?
    ▸ Learn how you learn
    ▸ Face Challenges
    ▸ Make automation invaluable
    ▸ Realize automation is just another tool
    ▸ Embrace a whole team approach
    ▸ Accept that professional development means
    change
    

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50. BUILDING AUTOMATION ENGINEERS
    FROM SCRATCH
    @jennydoesthings
    

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51. ANY QUESTIONS?
    DERP
    @jennydoesthings
    

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52. @JENNYDOESTHINGS
    FIND ME ONLINE!
    ▸ jenny.bramble@gmail.com
    ▸ http://twitter.com/jennydoesthings
    ▸ https://linkedin.com/in/
    jennybramble
    ▸ http://jennydoesthings.com
    ▸ Willowtree!
    

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54. IT’S STORY TIME!
    Me, probably
    @JENNYDOESTHINGS
    

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