Software testing is extremely vital: Few days back, I received a strange comment for software testers from a developer in one of my blog. He was very much unaware of the demand and importance of software testers in the industry. He had a perception that software testers are not that much intelligent nor are they that much useful as that of a developer. I am very astonished to find such a comment over a public blog without any proper prior knowledge. As per my view, many of software developers lack the knowledge of all the dimensions of a successful software application. For successful software application or product, if any one plays the most important role is none other than a tester. Tester helps the product or application to be refined enough so that it can be of acceptable standard for the end user. Without an efficient software tester, we can’t reach at an outstanding end product. The best part is that industry has already understood this fact and hence they have taken their testing standard to a next level. They are investing more bucks on their Quality and Assurance (QA) team than ever. This is to help in developing high standard software applications in the industry which are not only of high quality but also extremely reliable.
Software testing is neither dying nor losing its importance in the industry: Hence at a moment when we are finding top IT giants of the industry focusing more on their QA team, we can’t think of software testing being dying in the industry. Rather we can visualise an extremely bright future for them in the industry. Well manual testers are losing their importance little bit in the industry in some specific situations due to introduction of automation testing tools recently. Still for other situations, there is a terrific demand of manual testers in the industry. If you are learning any automation testing tool then you will definitely get a better position in the industry in coming years.
Software testing is just getting more pace and efficiency with modern tools!! With automation testing tools, the testing process has become much more efficient and effective than before. It has eliminated all types of common errors including common human errors from the testing process which is a usual situation in manual testing approach. Moreover the testing process has gained pace and we can test any complicated application in less time and effort without compromising on the quality of testing.
Software testing professionals are having a bright future ahead!! There is no second thought about software testers in the industry that they are responsible for a better cyber world with highly optimised and effective software applications or products. They can make or modify a software application so that it can be user friendly and useful than before through their smart approach of testing the application. They can enhance the user experience of different smart apps like native apps or web apps for different platforms like Android, IOS and windows etc to a large extent that will definitely bring a dimple on the face of your user. Hence we can see a bright future for testers in the industry.
Mindfire Solutions has been providing software testing consulting to its esteemed clients for over 15 years now. We have dedicated teams for enterprise, desktop, web and Mobile Application Testing. If you need any kind of assistance in your software testing process or you need to hire software testers, please feel free to get in touch with us now and our software testing team will revert back with a free quote within one business day. Also as a special offer, you can avail the limited period Risk-Free trial offer.
Planning makes a task execution in a systematic manner: Planning is something that must be implemented before execution of any assignment. In fact planning gives an ideal path for the execution process. No matter which situation we are dealing with, we can make it simple by proper planning. Hence there is always need of planning in every domain and in every situation. In IT industry planning has even more importance just like any other industry because it not only reduces the time of execution but also increases productivity to a large extent. Hence planning is always done before we kick start any project work in IT industry for a smoother operation in future.
Test plan for finding a suitable way to execute the testing process: Testing is the most important phase of software development life cycle. In fact, it is the only process that starts before the development process, remains during the development process and ends after the development process. This indicates the potential and power of testers in the industry. Anything is useless unless until it is used in a productive manner and the same hold good for software testing as well. For a productive testing we must ensure a quality testing through proper screening and planning. For the same we have to test plan before we kick start the testing process. Test plan give an inside look of the project and hence helping in developing a better testing approach.
We can avoid loopholes: With test plan we can presume and assume all types of upcoming uncertain issues of the application. We can get into the application from the very beginning and can have a clear mind over the uncertain and unexpected problems that may arise during the development process. We can foresee those expected and unexpected issues from the very beginning and accordingly we can prepare our test cases. This will definitely help in avoiding minor to major loopholes in the application from the very beginning. Well it is impossible to predict all the uncertain issues from the beginning but still we can at least find most of them and this will definitely help in developing a better product or service.
Efficient testing can be achieved with test plan: There was a time, when testing was performed by manual testers who use their experience and expertise in finding bugs and issues in the application; with time, the complexity of software applications have increased significantly. As a result, testers are forced to rely on some reliable software tools for efficient testing i.e. automation testing tools. This helped them in quick and efficient testing. Similarly, test plans can also help in efficient testing by eliminating unnecessary tasks, processes from the application.
Effort will be minimized and productivity will be maximized: With test plan, we can reduce the effort of both tester and developer! Why developer? Yes, when we have a pre-planned testing approach, we can save the effort of tester and this will help in avoiding unnecessary iterative processes to a large extent which in turn reduce the effort and time of the developer. Hence it becomes a productive process for all.
Mindfire Solutions has been providing software testing consulting to its esteemed clients for over 15 years now. We have dedicated teams for enterprise, desktop, web and Mobile Application Testing. If you need any kind of assistance in your software testing process or you need to hire software testers, please feel free to get in touch with us now and our software testing team will revert back with a free quote within one business day. Also as a special offer, you can avail the limited period Risk-Free trial offer.
Success of automation testing is based mainly on the selection of appropriate testing tools. It requires a lot of time for someone to select the appropriate automation tools found in the market. This is usually a one-time exercise which will reap success in your project in long run. You may get an opportunity to evaluate and choose an appropriate automation tool for your projects. The job would be challenging since you need to deal with your testing requirements and cost limitations, however it would be a worth working experience.
The following would be the key elements one should consider prior to making a choice on any sort of testing tool.
- Have you got the required skilled resource in order to allocate the automation tasks?
- What exactly is your budget?
- Will the tool suit your testing requirements? Do you find it ideal for the project environment also for the technology you will be using? Will it support all of the tools and objects made use of in the code? At some point you might face some problems for simple tests because of inabilities in the tool in order to find the objects used within the application.
- Is the tool offering you with free trial version that may help you evaluate before making a selection? Moreover has the tool got all features found in trial version?
- Is the present tool version reliable? Does the company of vendor set up with effective customer support along with online assistance resources along with the user manual?
- Exactly how is the learning curve of a tool? Is that learning time suitable for your needs?
- Would you like an automation tool just for your project requirements or else are you looking for one common tool for every project within your company? It will be an ideal choice if you choose a tool which can work with many coding languages in your projects.
- Which kind of testing types will it support? Tool that supports the most testing kinds (Unit, functional, regression and so on.) is usually a much better choice. Never choose a tool simply because the tool is supporting every testing kind. It is equally important that the tool needs to be good enough to automate your challenging needs.
- Will the tool be used for simple interface to generate and maintain test scripts? Record & playback tool along with the capabilities for edit recorded scripts can be a good solution.
- Will it offer easy interface although effective features in order to complete complex tasks?
- Is it not difficult to give input data for the complex or to the load tests? Tool supporting test data source through a number of data files which includes Excel, text file, XML and so on can be great help to the automation testers.
- Will it really give you an effective reporting along with graphical interface? Good along with concise reports can usually help you in concluding the test outcome very quickly.
- Will it integrate properly to your any other testing tools such as project planning or with your test management tools?
- What is the refund policy of the tool vendor?
- Existing customer feedback or the reviews about the tool.
- Is an initial training provided by the vendor?
Selecting an automation tool depends on which platforms you wish to do automated testing with. When it comes to Mobile you may go with cross platform testing using Appium or Robotium. Subsequently for the web application you have Selenium.
You can find many types of automation tools to choose from. In order to select the right tool to get your job done depends on what exactly are your requirements, what platforms (OS and Browsers) you wish to automate, what environments (QA, Production, Staging, Development) you would like to automate. Moreover, it depends on your application technologies, for instance client server, mobile based, web based, or desktop based. Among the most commonly used automation tools in the industry are Selenium, QTP/UFT, TestComplete, Telerik Test Studio, Squish, Appium and so on.
Selenium and QTP are considered the most popularly used options for functional testing available at present. Many consider QTP as the most ideal functional testing tool that supports on a number of coding languages as well as platforms while Selenium is the most effective functional web testing tool. soapUI and FitNesse also are well-known automation tools. FitNesse happens to be an open-source tool that specializes primarily in evaluating program objectives and the outcomes. It is usually meant for automating User Acceptance Testing while enabling the end users to write test cases. SoapUI is another open-source tool which does web service testing for the service oriented architecture, enabling any development team to perform compliance, automated regression, functional along with load tests.
Mindfire Solutions has been providing software testing consulting services to its esteemed clients for over 15 years now. We have dedicated teams for manual and automation testing. If you need any kind of assistance in your manual software testing process or you need any kind of assistance in web application automation testing, please feel free to get in touch with us now and our Software Testing Team will revert back with a free quote within one business day. Also as a special offer, you can avail the limited period Risk-Free trial offer.
Testing is an integral phase of SDLC: Software development life cycle is a complicated process and there are many phases in the development process. But testing is the most important phase of this life cycle. Testing starts before the development process with feasibility test and ends after the development process. This indicates the importance of testing in the software development life cycle. Software can never be successful without proper testing of the application. Hence testing is treated as the success pillar of any software application or product. So we are experiencing a continuous increase in demand of software testers in the industry.
Extra knowledge or skill is always an added advantage: No one can ignore the importance of extra knowledge in one’s life. Hence everyone loves to learn more and more. The same holds good for software developers as well. When you are working as a software developer in the IT industry, you should gain some additional knowledge that are closely related with the development process like efficient client interaction, testing and set up related tricks etc so that you can handle few common issues or situations in case the concerned professionals are not with you. This will definitely help you, your client and your organisation during a critical situation as a life safe guard.
Developer possessing testing knowledge is preferable in most cases: Testing is an integral and important part of software development life cycle and we can’t ignore its importance at any cost. But if a developer has some basic fundamental knowledge on software testing then, it will be definitely treated as an added advantage. We are not discouraging the importance of dedicated testers in the industry; but we are encouraging software developers to have some basic testing knowledge so that they can handle some urgent issues in the absence of testers. Moreover we have seen in many cases these part time testers (software developers) saving a significant amount of time, effort and money of the industry in a magical way. So as a smart software developer, you should also possess some basic testing knowledge for the benefit of the industry.
Productivity can be increased with the combo knowledge: In many small scale software development projects, we usually find budget constraints playing an important role in the development process. In those situations, if we have a software developer having sound knowledge in testing then it will definitely help the client and hence the project to be of better quality. The software developer can act as both developer and tester and hence he can eliminate the entire or partial cost of a software tester from the project. As a result, the cost sensitive project can get some room in expanding its functionality through that extra amount of money. This will definitely help in decreasing the cost of the project and also increasing the productivity of the project. So we should encourage software developers to learn fundamental testing methodologies for the benefit of the industry.
So, are you learning some basic testing tips and tricks? Yes! When are you going to learn the basic principles of software testing? You should start it from now to serve the industry in a better manner.
At Mindfire Solutions, we have been providing software testing services to its esteemed clients for over 15 years now. We also have dedicated teams for enterprise, desktop, mobile and web application testing. If you need any kind of assistance in your Software Testing process, please feel free to get in touch with us now and our Software Testing Team will revert back with a free quote within one business day. Also as a special offer, you can avail the limited period Risk-Free Trial Offer.
Testing- An integral part of Software development life cycle: Before the software developer or web developer writes a single line of code on the IDE he is aware of the flow and background process of the application. Hence the developer never finds it difficult while browsing the application as an end user. But, the situation gets reversed when it comes to face the practical environment where the end user doesn’t possess single information about the background processes. Hence he may face difficulty while browsing the application. To avoid this, testers play the role of an intermediate between the end user and the developer. He tests the application as an end user and gives the feedback to the software developer to enhance the quality of the application and user experience. Moreover, he tests each and every module of the application with proper care to avoid if any loop hole still present in the application. Hence the job of a tester starts with the day one of the project and ends with the end product. So we can’t ignore the importance of testers and testing approach in any application development.
Why testing tools: Industry demands quality, reliability and productivity; hence the born of automation testing tools. Automation testing tools change the face of testing methodologies in the industry. It becomes a necessity while dealing with complex and large projects. It helps in decreasing in effort while increasing the productivity of the software company. The tester needs to have some knowledge of scripting languages like VB script for QTP automation testing and other programming language knowledge for Selenium automation testing tool. The best part is through automation testing tool we can prevent the human errors which is a common disadvantage of any manual testing process. Moreover, with proper use of test cases we can avoid the unnecessary effort and headache for similar modules in the application.
Advantages of testing tools: As discussed above testing tools can decrease the human effort in a magical way by improving the productivity of the tester. Moreover, it helps in handling complicated projects in a simple manner. The reusability concept of automation testing tools makes it a perfect combination of efficiency and accuracy in the industry. Hence there is a terrific demand of automation testing tools and testers in the upcoming industry. Last but not the least, automation testing tools can help you in testing an application for multiple platforms like operating systems and form factors of the device. Hence we can say it is a future ready testing tool for the industry.
Every advantage comes at the cost of some disadvantages: Well we can’t call it as a disadvantage but of course it is somewhat related to that. In fact it is the responsibility of the automation tester who needs to handle the tool in proper way. Because a single mistake during the development of test cases can lead to a fatal situation for the application. It may crash the entire software application if not handled with proper care. So, we can say every advantage comes at the cost of responsibility and we have to accept it. Besides, it also hampers the industry by decreasing the need of man force and hence increasing the unemployment. But again if we need quality then we can’t survive with unskilled labour. So we have to take this in a positive mood.
Mindfire Solutions has been providing software testing consulting services to its esteemed clients for over 15 years now. If you want to outsource software testing services or Hire Software Testers, please feel free to get in touch with Mindfire now and you can avail the limited period Risk-Free trial offer.
Automation testing tool makes the process effortless: Now a days, software applications are getting more and more complicated with time due to heavy demand of users and large database. As a result the size of the application is getting increased to a large extent. Hence this situation creates many problems for the tester to test each and every aspect of the application. Traditionally the testing operation was handled by manual testers who implement their expertise and experience to test the application efficiently; but there is always chance of bugs and issues in the application due to common human errors and it can’t be avoided at any cost. To make the application free from any such bugs and issues, industry developed many software tools that can help testers in testing any application thoroughly and efficiently than before. These software testing tools are otherwise known as automation testing tools. Few examples of automation testing tools are QTP, Selenium etc. Today we will discuss about selenium automation testing tool and its importance from the automation tester’s point of view.
Selenium is a pure web domain specific testing tool: Well, we know that future relies on web industry. Almost all sectors of the industry are taking the help of web industry in making their business stronger and better. Industries like hotel, tourism, online business etc are few examples that have gained maximum benefit from the web industry. Understanding the potential of websites in the industry, web developers are working hard to develop even better quality web solution. On the other hand, automation testers are now under more stressful situation to fulfil the demands of the industry and user. So, they are taking help of automation testing tools to test the websites efficiently and quickly so that the product can be delivered on time without compromising on the quality. Selenium is a pure web domain specific testing tool and it can test all types of websites and web apps for the industry. Moreover, the selenium tester can write the test case in different languages as per the core language of the website to test the application thoroughly.
Selenium for all your website testing needs: Selenium testers can test any web application thoroughly that too in less time and more accuracy. Moreover, we can’t ignore the importance of smart phones and tablets in the industry; so web developers are developing responsive web applications that can impart same user experience in all size of screens and resolutions. Fortunately, Selenium can be used to test this type of issues without much hassle. Moreover, a selenium tester can test the load on the server and hence the developer can make the application light and optimized as per the report from the selenium tester.
Selenium for cross platform testing: In smart device world, there are many operating systems or platforms like iOS, Windows 8.1, Android etc. So we must make our application fit for all these platforms so that we can reach at maximum numbers of customers. Selenium testers can test the application in all these platforms without any hassle.
At Mindfire Solutions, we provide a gamut of software Testing services to our esteemed clients which include selenium web application testing services. Please feel free to contact Mindfire Solutions, if you want your web applications to be tested using Selenium.
In the age of Internet of Things, organizations need to deliver software applications compatible with multiple devices and platforms. Therefore, software testing has become essential for enterprises to deliver business-critical software applications successfully. However, to deliver flawless software applications, each organization has to invest in experienced testers, right tools, and appropriate processes. Despite increasing the project overheads, software testing helps businesses in getting higher ROI and retaining clients. There are also a number of reasons why each organization must test different aspects of the software application before its release.
Why Businesses Must Test their Software Applications before Release?
Get Higher Returns: Like other business ventures, software development is also a commercial project. So businesses must focus on improving the application’s look, feel and performance to get more profits. When the software application is flawless, it becomes easier for the marketing team to sell the product. Also, the flawless software application will help the business in retaining existing clients and impress prospects.
Ensure High Performance: With software development becoming more complex and competitive, it has become essential for organizations to distinguish their products in terms of quality and user experience. When software testing is performed during various stages of development, it becomes easier for the business to check if the critical functionality is working properly. Likewise, software testing will also ensure that the application is interacting positively with the required devices and systems.
Assess the Code during Different Development Phases: Nowadays, organizations have to build software applications that are large and complex. So the developers find it a daunting challenge to ensure that code is effective and error-free. But the business can ensure the accuracy and effectiveness of code by testing units of code. Unit testing can be conducted during different phases of coding to deliver error-free code.
Less Rework and Recoding: If the errors, flaws or bugs in the software are not detected before its release, the developers will require additional time to ensure that the product is meeting business objectives. They have to rewrite and modify the code to fix the defects in the software. The delay in detection of flaws in the application will also have a direct impact on the organization’s reputation and goodwill. But early detection of defects makes it easier for developers to save both time and efforts.
Facilitate Maintenance and Update: Often businesses avoid software testing in order to bring the project overheads down. But they often forget the long-term commercial benefits of software testing. If the application is tested thoroughly before its release, the business can always save maintenance time and cost. At the same time, it can further update the software without putting extra time and effort.
Check Compatibility with Third-Party APIs and Services: Each user, nowadays, expect the software to deliver personalized experience. That is why; organizations often integrate the software application with a variety of applications, APIs and services developed by others. The performance of the application, thus, depends on how it works with the third-party applications and services. When the compatibility is evaluated in detail the before the product’s release, it becomes easier for the marketing team to impress end-users.
Improve Software Development Process: An enterprise can further reap a number of benefits by integrating software development and software testing. The metrics, defect reports and results of software testing can be used to make the developers more productive. Some metrics like root cause analysis further helps the organization in detecting the areas of improvement in software development. Also, the metrics will make it easier for project managers to track the progress and monitor the operations.
Each organization also has several options to effectuate the testing of software application before its release. It can hire independent software testing services to avail better testing quality at competitive rates. Likewise, the business can also use test automation tools to eliminate the chances of human error while assessing repetitive tasks and actions.
We provide QA Testing Services. If you would like to get your application tested by our certified QA Software Testing professional, please contact us at Mindfire Solutions.