I often get asked the question: “so why do you do automated testing?” both in job interviews and from people I meet. My answer is always pretty much the same; being that it provides me with exposure to a variety of business domains and technologies, and allows me to write code.

Let me expand a bit further on this. I like writing code but I’ve chosen not to be a software engineer. The reason is that I have met lots of different software engineers that have responsibility for one area of a system. They become the expert in this area of the system, hence when you find a problem in that area, you know who to speak to. Often time these people don’t really know much outside their area of expertise in the system, so when the problem is outside their own area, you need to speak with someone else. There’s nothing wrong with this, but it just isn’t me.

I like to know, or attempt to ‘work out’, how the system functions as a whole. I usually achieve this on a project I join by writing an automated build verification test, or ‘smoke’ test, that verifies the system functions as a whole. I love writing these kinds of tests because you need to know how the entire thing works, not just the isolated components. Software testing is one of the few areas where you get this broad level of exposure, and this keeps things interesting.

Another added bonus of doing software testing, is that your skills are pretty transferable, both across business domains and different technologies. For example, so far in my career I have tested systems that:

• manage job advertisements, job seeker matches and interviews;
• process immigration and visa applications;
• manage disability support and funding;
• produce electronic school report cards;
• optimise large scale open cut mines;
• monitor health of heavy machinery; and
• manage large funds for people’s retirements.

These systems were developed in various technologies including:

• Java;
• Microsoft .NET;
• Cobol;
• Powerbuilder;
• Web;
• Active X;
• Terminal Emulators;
• SOAP web services and;
• CICS.

The point I am trying to make is that if I decided to be a Java Software Engineer when I finished university, because that’s why I studied, I wouldn’t have had exposure to so many technologies and business areas that I have had as an automated software tester.

Sure, I could become a business analyst, because they work across business domains and technologies, but business analysts don’t code, and I do like writing code, that’s why automated testing is perfect.

The final benefit I see in automated testing is that you can apply your skills in particular testing tools to other tools fairly easily, as the concepts are the same. The biggest issue I see with people doing automated testing isn’t picking up a new tool, but rather developing a maintainable and easy to use test framework. Once you have developed a few frameworks for various business domains and technologies, it is easy to apply the concepts to other testing tools.

So that’s why I do automated testing, and I proud of it.