"Fear is the mind-killer." -Banishing the Fears of Test Automation I started out as a manual tester who had little to no coding knowledge. I didn’t even know that test automation was a thing. Once I became acquainted with the concept, I realized how amazing it would be not spending so much time performing repetitive regression/sanity tests. However, a surprising outcome of becoming acquainted with test automation was that it scared me: There was so much to learn and several hurdles to clear. Maybe you're like me. Maybe you're struggling with figuring out test automation. Maybe it's something you'd love to get into, but you find yourself putting it off because it seems too overwhelming and you’re not sure where to start. In this presentation, I'll take you down my path toward understanding test automation. I will discuss some of the challenges I faced, and share the tools/techniques I found to make some of those challenges easier to overcome. Please join me to hopefully lessen the fear of the unknown involved with getting started with test automation, and help you overcome some of those hurdles to automation success!

1. "Fear is the mind-killer."
-Banishing the Fears of Test Automation
Presented by Jameson McGhee
• Jameson.McGhee1@gmail.com
• @JamesonRMcGhee
• Jameson-McGhee-CTFL

2. About Me
Senior Quality Assurance Engineer at SUSE
Been in QA for over 7 years
Worked on a number of different types of projects
at various companies
I love pineapple on pizza
I enjoy making stuff in my workshop

3. What is Test Automation?
Software created separate from the
application under test used to execute and
verify repetitive tasks performed by the
application under test are performing as
intended.
Simply put, it is software used to simplify
testing of other software.

4. Why is it important?
 Time efficiency
 Reduce Regression Testing time
 Reduce Sanity/Smoke Testing time
 Increase DevOps Throughput
 Valuable to potential employers

5. Tasks of the Tester in Your Organization

6. 75% stated Test automation & scripting was the
primary task of testers in their organization
Tasks of the Tester in Your Organization

7. Testing Skills and Knowledge Needed to Succeed

8. 97% agreed Functional testing automation and
scripting was Important/Very Important
Testing Skills and Knowledge Needed to Succeed

9. What Are Managers Looking for When Hiring Testers?

10. Test automation as well as understanding
of when and where to use those efforts
What Are Managers Looking for When Hiring Testers?

11. Tests That Are Automated Most Often
 Unit Tests
 Integration Tests
 API
 Component
 Acceptance
 Service
 End-to-End/Functional

12. Testing Pyramid
 Unit Tests
 ~50%
 Integration Tests
 ~30%
 E2E or UI Tests
 ~20%

13. Where To Start
 Build a rapport with automation engineers and
developers
 Personal assessment of your technical/coding
knowledge
 PluralSight
 PSkills.org
 DevSkiller.com
 Pick an automation tool/testing framework

14. Picking an Automation
Tool/Framework

15. Picking an Automation Tool/Framework
 Thorough understanding of your project’s
requirements
 GUI vs API/Backend
 Type of technology
 Examples
 Desktop client
 Webpage
 Mobile app
 API collection

16. Picking an Automation Tool/Framework
 Identify key criteria for the project
 Examples
 Ease of automated test creation
 Cross Browser and/or Mobile Device
 Language(s) supported (Java, C#, etc.)
 Combine all factors into a matrix (I prefer
a Pugh Matrix) to help assess tools
against your needs

17. Picking a Software
Language

18. Picking a Software Language
 Tech stack at your company and/or in
your community
 Type(s) of automation needed
 Most common languages used for test
automation

19. Picking a Software Language

20. Picking a Software Language
This report data is from 2018

21. Starting with Selenium and
Software Scripting

22. Using Katalon Recorder To Learn Selenium/Software Scripting

23. Common Selenium Commands

25. Codestock Repeat Offender

26. Export Recordings as Code

27. Using Postman To Learn API Automation

28. Export API Calls as Code

29. Picking Locators

30. Element/Object Locators
 Identifiers that tell your test framework/tool which
UI element the current command is interacting
with
 Common Locators
 CSS Selector
 ID
 Link Text
 XPath
 Document Object Model (DOM)

31. Locating Good Selectors

32. Locating Good Selectors

33. Locating Good Selectors

34. The Wrap Up
 Test automation is no longer a nice-to have,
but a necessity in today’s industry
 Quality Assurance professionals are much
more desirable by potential employers
 Many tools exist that can help with getting you
started down this path

35. Resources
Tool Selection Process:
https://www.saviantconsulting.com/blog/4-steps-
select-test-automation-tool.aspx
PractiTest State of Testing Report:
https://qablog.practitest.com/state-of-testing/
SmartBear State of Testing Report (2018):
https://smartbear.com/resources/ebooks/state-of-
testing-report-2018/
SmartBear State of Quality Testing (2021):
https://smartbear.com/resources/ebooks/stat
e-of-quality-testing/
Locator Selection Info:
https://www.guru99.com/locators-in-selenium-
ide.html
Presented by Jameson McGhee
Jameson.McGhee1@gmail.com
@JamesonRMcGhee
Jameson-McGhee-CTFL

36. Questions?
I know you got some. Lay ‘em on me…