Software testers are now relying heavily on DevOps, with the market pushing for the wide adoption of DevOps and the demand for test automation continuously growing. But what comes after DevOps? How will the software testing landscape look like in the next few months or years?
The tech industry is a rapidly-changing domain and it is scary how fast the trends come and go every year. Most of these trends fade away very quickly, but those that stay have the power to reshape and rule the industry.
This article takes a closer look at the test automation trends, as well as the changes in the testing industry that will have significant impact in the overall scenario. It is important to analyze these factors and how they will affect software testing and quality assurance in the future.
Organizations today are incorporating their testing process in the software development cycle, while some organizations engage third-party firms for their testing needs. This proves just how large the role of testing is in the software industry and how it can help organizations adjust to the requirements of the rapidly-evolving modern world.
So what test automation trends can we expect in the near future and what changes are they going to bring?
Trend #1: Coding Skill Requirements.
Selenium, the portable framework used for testing web applications, has caused the increased demand for coding skills among QA testers. Testers are now expected to know coding and it is not entirely a bad thing because another skill means another upgrade in quality. However, this emerging trend has left current testers with zero coding skills scrambling to learn to code.
In the long run, it will be better for future testers and the organizations they are affiliated with if they can code. This can help testers step up their skills and their careers in the software development industry. Unfortunately, testing teams who don’t know how to code don’t have enough time to learn coding knowledge. To bridge this gap, they can only rely on tools and online resources to develop the level of coding skills that the team needs.
Trend #2: AI-Powered Test Automation
Software testing is the critical process of scrutinizing an application under specific conditions to help testers identify the potential risks or issues involved in software implementation. But because of the growing popularity of artificial intelligence, testing is slowly turning to higher automation to improve accuracy and precision in the scrutiny of the applications being tested. This is evidenced by the increasing demand for AI-powered test automation tools and processes.
In order to make the applications more reliable, the software industry is turning towards the use of Artificial Intelligence or AI to reduce test failures, execute impacted tests, aggregating and analysing test results, and generating automated tests. This means that instead of manual testing and human judgement, the trend is moving towards a future where AI will be gradually assuming control.
Trend #3: Robotic Process Automation (RPA)
Robotic Process Automation revolutionizes the way organizations think about and administer business processes, workflow, remote infrastructure, and back-office work. It is the technology that configures a piece of computer software, called a robot, to gather and interpret existing applications for various processes. The arrival of AI, the Internet of Things (IoT), Machine Learning, and Cognitive Computing paved the way for the emergence of Robotic Process Automation. RPA has the ability to re-develop the business process management side of software testing.
Trend #4: Chaos Engineering
Chaos engineering is defined by Principlesofchaos.org as the study of experimenting on a distributed system in a way that builds confidence in the system’s power to withstand chaotic or turbulent conditions during production, prompting the need for Failure Injection Testing.
Chaos Engineering testers use tools to simulate failures in order to test the security, reliability, and resiliency of the system. This version of disaster simulation is growing in use and we can expect this unique type of testing to be implemented by testers using out-of-the-box tools.
Trend #5: IoT Testing
Most businesses these days are embracing the Internet of Things or IoT. With the emergence of smart devices, it has become more important for IoT apps and devices to be tested for performance, reliability, and usability. Customers depend on IoT testing before purchasing their products because they want to make sure that they actually work. All IoT devices are designed to work with internet connectivity, therefore, increasing security and privacy risks. Hence, the need for IoT Testing.
Trend #6: Blockchain Testing
If you’re updated on the latest tech news, you’ve probably heard about Bitcoin or Ethereum recently. These are cryptocurrencies powered by the Blockchain technology. Although these topics get more press time, it doesn’t mean that blockchain should be put aside. Blockchain has a more varied range of applications across industries and blockchain apps will likely experience explosive growth as more industries adopt this technology.
In fact, organizations, such as IBM, Oracle, and Amazon, have already launched their products for the blockchain industry. This coming year, more blockchain applications are expected to be developed, and they will require testing as well. However, testing for blockchain apps is different from normal ones. Testers need to set up a challenging test environment that requires extensive knowledge of various testing factors.
Trend #7: JavaScript Automation
Over the years, JavaScript has become a popular language choice for test automation. New app development projects right now are based on JavaScript frameworks. With the release of WebDriver, the platform with a set of different software tools to support browser automation, JavaScript will only become popular because it is shipped with the browser itself. In the future, it is expected that JavaScript, and its super set, TypeScript, will become the definitive scripting language for automation projects.
Bottom Line
Changes in the testing automation industry will have a huge impact, not only on software testing, but the whole software development process as a whole. The technological improvements, as well as the new trends in software testing, have pushed testers and QA to enhance their skills and expertise. New testing environments will continue to grow so QA teams will have to reconfigure their existing teams to cope with these new developments.
New trends come and go, but some of them fade away really quickly. Which automation trends do you think will benefit you and your organization in the near future?
A Computer Engineer by degree and a writer by profession, Cathy Trimidal writes for Software Tested and Outbyte. For years now, she has contributed articles focusing on the trends in IT, VPN, web apps, SEO, and digital marketing. Although she spends most of her days living in a virtual realm, she still finds time to satisfy her infinite list of interests.