Software testing can be a very challenging and rewarding career. However it’s typically not offered in formal education or training programs (although that is slowly changing). There’s still some mystery out there around how to get started and what skills should be acquired to help make someone a strong contender when applying for a testing role.
A lot is asked of testers in today’s Agile and DevOps contexts. We are asked to automate tests, review code, identify risks, help define acceptance criteria, assess designs, advocate for customers, troubleshoot client issues, help create monitoring and deployment tools, and sometimes we even have to test software and log bugs!
I put together a short (in no way exhaustive!) list of resources that I have personally found helpful or that I have been made aware of by my peers, to create an introduction to the myriad of skills and knowledge you will be exposed to as a tester. I’m happy to hear about other learning resources. Please feel free to comment with your favourites!
(Note I’m in the Waterloo region so many of my ‘local’ suggestions are there.)
General Testing skills:
Reading:
Ministry Of Testing – a collection of blogs, many new posts daily
Explore It – practical guide to using exploratory testing in agile contexts
Testing in Dev Ops – practical guide to testing in devops teams
Meetups and conferences:
Targeting Quality – Sept 2018 – this is our own local KWSQA conference. Easily the best value and high quality content.
Star Canada Oct 2018. This is really good conference for introductory concepts. Bit pricey
Kwality Talks – KWSQA KWality Talks – monthly lecture series, new speaker each month. Also a good place to network with other testers
Ministry Of Testing Dojo – behind a paywall – online courses/talks/etc on testing.
The Association of Testing Videos – videos from past CAST conferences (Association of Software Testers)
Courses
30 days of Agile Testing – seems like a really well-rounded way to develop skills in agile testing
Udemy – Software testing – I can’t speak to these, but they exist.
Coursera – Software Testing – also, only know that they’re out there, not sure how good they are.
Coding – an ever-increasingly important part of many testing jobs:
Courses:
Codecademy – great starting place to learn to code
30 days of code – coding challenges to help inspire and learn
I’m sure there are also courses in Udemy and Coursera. Conestoga college would also be a great option if looking for something more hands on.
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