Tester Career Paths Outsourced Economy

8/14/2019 Tester Career Paths Outsourced Economy

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2009 LogiGear Corporation. All Rights Reserved

Software Testing Career Paths

For an Outsourced Economy

Michael Hackett

April 2, 2009

STP Spring Expo



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Welcome

LogiGearprovides global solutions for software testingincluding the world-leading test automation solution with

Action Based Testing. For over a decade, we've workedwith hundreds of companies, from Fortune 500 tostartups, delivering unique testing solutions that meettheir unique needs. We double their test coverage, cuttest time in half, improve quality and reduce cost.

LogiGearhas built a reputation for offering the widestrange of services in the software testing industry. Be itturn-key test automation, consulting, training, outsourcedtesting, or products, we partner with softwareorganizations to create approaches that precisely meettheir demands.

www.LOGIGEAR.com


About meMichael Hackett, Senior Vice President, is a founding partner of LogiGear

Corporation. He has almost two decades of experience in software engineering

and the testing of shrink-wrap, client/server and web-based applications in

Banking, Securities, Healthcare and Consumer Electronics.

Michael has helped well-known companies including Palm Computing, Oracle,

CNET, Partners Healthcare, ADP, Electronics for Imaging, Adobe Systems, The

Learning Company, and The Well produce, test and release applications ranging

from business productivity and eCommerce to educational multimedia titles - in

English as well as a multitude of other languages.He has co-authored two books on software testing. Testing Applications on the Web-

Test Planning for Mobile and Internet-Based Systems (Wiley, 2nd ed. 2003),

available in English, Chinese and Japanese and Global Software Test

Automation (HappyAbout Publishing, 2006).

He currently sits on the Board of Advisors and teaches for the Certificate in Software

Quality Engineering and Management at University of California at Santa Cruz

Extension. Michaels training has brought Silicon Valley testing expertise to 12

countries. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Engineering from Carnegie Mellon

University.


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What we will talk about

Outsourcing does not mean the end of testing in the U.S.

but is does mean the end of testing as we know it!

In this session we will talk about how US-based testteams continue to be a crucial asset to the developmentorganization and more importantly, amplify our value tothe company as a whole.

We will do this by examining: The stereotypical, traditional role of testing,

The needs of the organization And, career paths.


What we will talk about

Experts agree that an internal team is essential to theeffective outsourcing of testing, onshore or offshore.That team must provide maximum value by using thebest of both worlds.

How can we make it work and build a successful and

rewarding career in software testing?

The days of a room full of subject matter experts orgeneralists are gone and they should be!


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Problem Statement

How did we get here:

Lower-cost teams- Outsource (leveraging specialty

and elasticity) & offshore (leveraging lower cost

structure)

Distributed teams/Remote-work- no availability of

skilled staff

Reduced work force/team size

Work faster

And, there is still a need for Quality


Some History

Stereotypical, Traditional QA/Test people

Old model- failed developers

90s boom- anybody

The Dot Bomb and now- do more with less

Test faster

Agile

More automation


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Some History

Focus on black-box testing

Finding bugs too late in development

Need for Subject Matter Expertise

Test team as user advocates

Understanding of users for scenario design and test

case development

Test team as bridge from development to the

users/business


Typical Current Work

Focus on Testing and Quality Control rather than QualityAssurance

Downstream quality- test-in rather than build-inquality.

Limited value or failed automation

Requirements-based testing- necessary but notinteresting or skilled, also, not a primary method ofbug finding.

Limited tool use

Limited use of, or useless metrics

Not managing source control


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Some Definitions

Outsource- send work outside the company.

Offshore- send work to your companys office in another

country, presumably a lower cost center. Offshore Outsource- send work outside the company to

another country.

Inshore, Nearshore, Reshore.

This is not new.

Examples:

ADP- 1949- payroll, accounting, data processingoutsourcing.

TI (Texas Instruments) began in Bangalore 1978


Some DefinitionsBlack box- Testing focuses on software external attributes and behavior. Such testing

looks at an applications behavior from the users perspective or expectation.(Hung Q. Nguyen)

Focus on input, outputs, and an externally derived theory of operation. (CemKaner)

Gray box- A combination of Black-box and White-box testing methodologies: testing apiece of software against its specification but using some knowledge of its internalworkings.

Testing consists of methods and tools derived from the knowledge of theapplication internals and the environment with which it interacts. Gray-box testingevaluates application design and implementation in the context of theinteroperability of system components.

Testing involving inputs, outputs, but test design is educated by information aboutthe code and the program operation of a kind that would normally be out of scopeof the view of the tester. (Cem Kaner)

White box-In White-box testing, the tester (usually the programmer) uses his/herknowledge of the source code and analysis of the internal structure of the softwaremodule or component to create test cases. White-box testing focuses ondeveloper/designer context (source code). (Hung Q. Nguyen)


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Before we plot a course

To figure out best career path we will first do someanalysis:

What value do you currently provide the team? What skill sets are easily available at home and

offshore? Who is your staff?

What work should be sent offshore and what keptonshore?

Career paths to solve gaps.


What do you provide?

What value do you provide:

Built-in expertise, subject matter expertise?

Specific skill set?

Location usefulness & immediacy of results?

This will inform:

Who does what work (how to distribute work, offshore &

onshore)?

Who manages it?


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Skills of the Trade

Necessary skill sets for any test project, there are 3

essential skill sets.

Domain Knowledge

Technical Skill

QA/Test skill

Where any of these is lacking there will be problems. We

need balance in these skills, preferable finding a sweet

spot to have enough of all 3.

Before charting a path forward, assess for strengths and

weaknesses.


Skills of the Trade

Domain

Knowledge

TechnicalKnowledge

QA & Testing

Knowledge


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Skills of the TradeDomain knowledge

understanding and expertise in the area of the products activity.

biologists or chemists working on medical device software

Technical knowledge

Understanding the platform, language, or system on which the product isbuilt.

If your application is coded in Java you have different testing needs than inC++ or C#.

If it runs in IE only or IE, Safari, Firefox, WAP-compliant mini-browsers, thetest effort is different.

QA and Testing knowledge

thorough understanding of quality and testing.

This is knowing how to write an efficient test plan, a few methods for test

case development. Solid ideas for what data to test with and how to build and maintain that data.Necessities of code review, inspection, requirements analysis. How to write agreat bug report. A few ways to measure and report test coverage.


Typical Onshore

DomainKnowledge

TechnicalKnowledge

QA & Testing

Knowledge


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Typical Offshore

Domain

Knowledge

Technical

Knowledge

QA & Testing

Knowledge


Who is your staff offshore?

The various skill levels of the home team and the

offshore team may have you re-consider what work to

send and what work to keep in the home office.

Example:

send automation

send low-level & API testing

keep business process

keep user scenario

etc


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Choose wisely!

Thinking about

Nearness to developers

Nearness to users,

What does not have to stay near users or developers?

Regression?

Automation?

Requirements validation?

what else?

This should be the first to offshore.


Choose wisely!

Think about build-in skill sets:

More tech skill? Offshore

API, Unit testing, 3rd party integration tests

More Automation

More domain knowledge? Keep at home.

Test case design

Data design

Building behavior models

Build better test data or environments

Designing workflows, scenarios


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Choose wisely!

A simplified example: In most cases you have a higher

level of programming skill in your offshore team than in

the local team. It makes sense to offshore testautomation and keep user- focused scenario

development and business process testing in your office

where you have more knowledge of the domain and the

user.

These are choices that will influence your career path as

well as the value you provide.



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Career path solutions

The career paths

1 Quality Engineer- get better at what you do.

2 Offshore Project Lead/Manager- offshore projectmanagement.

3 Senior Test Engineer- move from Black box to Whitebox tester

4.Test Architect- Focus on maximizing test automationon a large scale with the most coverage and lowestmaintenance.

5 Be more Agile- take on more technical tasks, learn

and apply the essentials of Agile Development.Become a Scrum Master.


1: Quality Engineer

Get better at what you do!

Do better, earlier, more effective Testing

Become a Quality Engineer instead of Tester.

Move quality upstream

Manage:

code inspection

code review

requirements engineering


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1: Quality Engineer

Get better at what you do!

Excellent, optimized Test Case designMore Subject Matter Expertise

Better data design and data management

Build models early!

Behavioral models, Activity diagrams, State

models

Measure and communicate test coverage better


1: Quality Engineer

Post project:

Run post mortems

Implement continuous quality improvement

(CPI)

Root cause analysis (RCA)

Measure and report effectiveness of test effort-

defect removal rates, test effectiveness


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1: Quality Engineer

Understand and measure levels of quality

Measure levels of customer satisfaction

Metrics

Manage

Examine effectiveness of


1: Quality Engineer

Look at the ASQ Software Quality Engineer Certification

http://www.asq.org/certification/software-quality-engineer/

17% of the exam is on Systems and SoftwareEngineering

17% on Validation and Verification 10% on Software Configuration Management

Testing makes up a very small part of thecertification exam.

How strong are you in these non-testing areas?


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2: Offshore Project Lead/Manager

Offshore Project Manager-

CIO Magazine lists it: Hot IT Jobs

Learn more about Offshoring Better project sizing and estimation

Offshore process improvement

Better communication and collaborationinfrastructure & tools

Better source control tools

Test and project deliverable sharing and archiving

Build People skills Better onshore and offshore training



Learn:

Various offshore models

SLA management, reporting, visibility

Better, more meaningful offshore metrics

Optimize division of labor


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Very important for all global development teams: having a

structure for reporting, metrics, tools for sharing files, tools

for communicating- set up the infrastructure and train on it.

Learn more about wiki, blog, sharepoint technologies.

Add document control, source control, change

control, source control, requirements management,

test case management, defect management tools and

infrastructure.



Increase yourPeople skills:

Managing work across teams

Team building

Career growth/path for other team members

Coaching- be a excellent coach. Build team trust.

Be a better manager Leading/ Being a leader How to be an excellent Trainer

Be a Cultural Difference problem solver: Working with Americans

Working with XYZ Country

Problem resolution


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3: Black to White

Black box to white box tester- Senior test engineer

Similar to current Senior test engineer career path (tactical,

execution) with a focus on the new division of laborand supporting an offshore team.

Grow technically take on more technical tasks

Unit testing

API testing

3rd party integration

Build engineering/configuration management

Greater tool use for earlier test results


3: Black to White

Learn more technical and earlier testing

SOA (skill)

SAAS (process)

Security

Performance

Continuous integration

Test Team takes over build process and re-running

unit tests, etc.


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4: Test Architect

Similar to existing Test Architect career path(strategic, long term view, designing code for

testability, designing frameworks) with a focuson Test Automation, for offshore or onshore.

Working with developers on designing code fortestability.

Choosing the right testing automation strategiesand framework.

Reviewing test design and test automation

implementation.


4: Test Architect

Examine automation:

High volume automation- automate more

Optimize automated regression

Automate for more coverage

More effective, more efficient

Lower maintenance


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5: Agile Development

Learn about Agile Development- Become a ScrumMaster

Learn the process, theories, manifesto, how itworks, what it is trying to fix, most commonareas where groups fail.

Essential processes: Unit Testing

How can Test Teams help or take this task?

parameterized unit testing

Continuous Integration Test team runs continuousintegration

Immediacy of results/ Instant testing automate regression- automated builds.



Overcoming Issues with Offshoring and Agile

Division of Labor- example

Onshore does daily ad hoc testing and test case

development

Offshore does automated regression

Agile will exacerbate communication problems How to overcome face-to-face communication issues


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Different collaboration tools needed

Rational Jazz platform type tool

Continuous Integration tool

BuildForge, SourceForge type

Unit testing platform

JUnit, nUnit, etc.

Regression Automation tool- essential!

white board or card collaboration tool


To Execs- Why this matters

Essential to have local test staff Best source for corporate quality guidelines across all teams

Use their knowledge of quality practices to optimize whole team

This staff needs career growth

Great source of on-the-ground, offshore issue resolutionexperience

Focus on higher productivity- more automation

Use home staff more effectively find/fix bugs earlier

Better sleep at night Trust and assurance from responsible, experienced people

Nave to offshore it all. Moving alldevelopment and testing away from users is a

problem.


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Summary

Decide/describe value of home test team to organization.

What does the development organization need?

Examine the skill sets- home and offshore

Chose division of labor wisely:

what gets sent, what stays home

Chose a career path that interests you!


Wrapping-up

Q & A


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Thank you

LogiGear Corporation2015 Pioneer Court

San Mateo, CA 94403

(650) 572-1400 Phone

Michael Hackett

[email protected]

Documents

Tester Career Paths Outsourced Economy