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Practices in the software world including testing are changing at a fast pace. In the beginning, testing was done at the end of the development phase like a reaction to what the developers had put forth. Not anymore. These days testing is involved from the start in every possible way right from the use of tools to the methodology to using user feedback etc. Having said this, let’s take a look at some of the factors that have contributed to this shift in focus and those that will help you move up in the competition.

Testing Transformation for all companies: How to change the way you perform testing today

SMAC testing

Social media, mobile, analytics and cloud technologies together are referred as SMAC. It is much in demand these days because of the significant role it plays in improving operational efficiency and strengthening the user-designer link. Mobile, cloud and social media are an integral part of all businesses and thanks to these; a small error in the program or the system can be exposed to a global audience. Testing on these platforms has grown in a big way with larger amount being allocated to them in the budget.

Adapting Cloud migration

Cloud computing as a concept was not well received initially. However over the last year it has bounced back and at present has a reach of about 32% and growing steadily. Testing in cloud environment is easy from the tester’s point of view as well and organizations will have to equip themselves to make use of this opportunity.

Test automation & its future

When you talk about functional testing, you think about test automation. If programs can be developed which can test the project on their own, then you get improved efficiency. Test automation strategy that can ensure that you get quality software at a much faster pace will definitely put your organization ahead in the competitive market. The framework should be thus developed that it allows testers to test applications in an automated machine but from the user’s perspective

Moving shift left in testing

Shift left is the latest concept to have hit the field of testing and is considered important from the point of quality assurance. It allows testing to be performed earlier in the project lifecycle. On the project timeline, it is literally shifted to the left towards the beginning of the project and hence the term shift left testing. This concept is helpful because it takes care of all the disadvantages that the earlier method of late shifting had. As a result of this –
1. Testers are now more involved in the initial project planning and have a say if they feel that the testing resources seem inadequate.
2. Basic design defects in the project can now be nipped in the bud instead of the earlier methods in which the testers were given the finished project and the whole process had to be reworked after the defect was uncovered.
3. As the project progresses and more and more software programs are integrated into it, debugging by locating and isolating the fault becomes complicated. By shift left testing the tester is involved from almost the beginning so debugging is not as complicated.
4. In the earlier method when testing was done in the end, there was a rush to meet the deadline and launch the program. As a result there was little time to fix the bugs. Most of the times, the project was launched with the bugs and fixing postponed for a later version. This postponement leads to great backlog as far as testing is concerned especially if the project is too large. Shift left testing allows testers enough time and launch a fool proof version.

The days ahead for the testing industry are definitely bright. The testers will have enough and more opportunities at proving themselves in the testing industry which is 13 billion dollar strong and growing every minute.

Other Resources

• 5 Ways to Up Your Software Release Management Game
• Continuous and Automated Security Testing
• Mobile Cloud and Big Data Testing – What and how to Test
• Testing for Internet Of Things (IoT) – How is it different?

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