We are witnessing an overwhelming evolution in technology which is demanding QA teams to upskill beyond traditional functional testing and gear up for integrated testing of embedded software, devices, IT solutions and big data. Here are some of the top trends in software testing that QA teams must be prepared for to help their organizations to create reliable products and services that elevate the digital customer experiences.
1. Agile is Ubiquitous
Digital transformation is revolutionizing the way business is done. Organizations need to rollout their products and services out in market in the fastest possible time using the latest technologies and ahead of competition. Majority of the companies adopt agile methodologies to achieve this.
According to the survey conducted by Saucelabs one year ago, agile development was already ubiquitous with 82% of organizations reporting they had adopted the methodology. This number grew in the past year to 88%.
2. Adoption of Dev-ops and Continuous Integration (CI) Grows
Dev-ops and continuous integrations help companies to push releases on a more frequent basis. Managing and implementing the quality and test measures are an increasing challenge. Organizations are struggling to achieve speed with the right level of quality. Testing will move to become more iterative, progressive, and seamlessly integrated with development.
According to World Quality report, the use of DevOps principles has continued to grow, although it is still very much in an emerging stage. Just 12% of CIO respondents this year say they are not using DevOps, compared with 18% in previous years.
Continuous Integration also saw growth in the past year. Saucelabs say that the CI increased from 70% in 2015 77% in this most recent survey. This trend looks set to continue and grow in the future.
3. Selenium - King of Test Automation Tools
It is quite clear now that the more and more businesses are embracing open source tools for efficient execution of Agile, DevOps and Test automation.
Selenium is skyrocketing in the automation tools industry and is the world’s most popular framework. Selenium is getting huge adaptation over other proprietary tools. The most surprising fact regarding Selenium in the United States is that it’s almost 300% more demanded than QTP/UTF which has made to second place.
4. Technology Trends Brings Flood of Challenges to the Testers
Machine learning and Artificial intelligence - In software testing, for every input there is an expected and defined output. We test the application and verify the actual outcome with the expected. But things have changed now, there is no defined output when testing complex machine learning systems.In such cases testers will have come up with objective acceptance criteria and understand the architecture of the network as a part of the testing process and describe their confidence in statistical terms.
Big Data - The amount of data that’s being created and stored globally is almost inconceivable, and it just keeps on multiplying. Testing of Big Data is an enormous and complex process. Testing Big Data application is more a verification of its data processing rather than testing the individual features of the software product. Big Data Testing challenges include virtualization, test automation and dealing with large dataset etc
Internet of Things – IoT Technologies offer amazing user experience and this is one of the prime reasons for user acquisition and growth. Unlike traditional systems, these advancing systems will need rigorous level of QA and test procedures to avoid defects in quality, security and performance. API testing and will gain significant importance in the era of connected devices
AR and VR - Testers need to equip themselves with new techniques pioneered specifically for VR hardware and software to effectively test these devices. VR’s includes a full-body immersive experience as opposed to the usual mobile app or a website. VR/AR devices are still at its infancy, so there are no safety guidelines/regulations to be compliant with. It is necessary to minimize discomfort while using these devices, testing becomes inevitable as there are physical consequences of wearing VR/AR devices such as eye strain, motion sickness, headache etc
5. Popular Python
For Testers who are new to coding, Python remains the first language choice as it is easy to learn and is very powerful. Jobs requiring Python skills have increased by over 300% in the past three years. Close to $7,100 gets added to your salary when Python is listed in your resume.
6. Security Testing Will Be More Significant
Security testing is not an emerging trend, it’s evergreen.
- Recently there was vulnerability found in Facebook Notes which would let a malicious user delete notes from anybody’s account.
- One bug in Slack, the popular work chat application, was enough for a security researcher to design a hack that could trick users into handing over access to their accounts.
- An Indian security researcher successfully discovered and hacked to get a lifetime free Uber rides anywhere in the world.
Tech giants Google and Microsoft have raised the value of the pay-outs they offer security researchers, white hat hackers and bug hunters who find high severity flaws in their products. Security concerns are also rising for Internet of Things devices and security testing of IoT devices will gain prominence.
MarketsandMarkets predicts that the global security testing market is expected to grow to $4.96 billion by 2019 from $2.47 billion in 2014.
7. Rise in Formal training and Certifications
Testers to stay relevant and to improve their competency level either get trained on their jobs, opt for formal training, take up certifications, attend conferences and so on.
According to ISTQB’s testing practices report: testers besides training on the job (72%), organizations are improving the competency level of their test teams by encouraging their employees to undertake relevant certifications (51%) and formal training (46%). This means that learning theory and practicing hands-on activities are both seen as important and should be used in combination. Formal Training and Certification are used in combination by 31% of responders.
