Testtalks | Automation Awesomeness | Helping You Succeed With Test Automation

In this episode, we’ll be test talking with Dave Cadwallader, a senior engineering manager in automation infrastructure, about a fleet of proven, open-source test automation tools developed by WalmartLabs that can help you succeed with automation. Get ready to discover lessons learned about building and maintaining code and infrastructure that support massive- scale testing at Walmart, as well as tips for working with front end web development teams on making them successful.

Have you ever wondered how gaming companies test their video games? If so, this episode is for you. Amber Race, a senior test developer at Big Fish Games, gives us an insider’s peek at how she approaches game testing. Amber shares some of her favorite testing techniques and tools like Postman, which helps her to leverage APIs to automate many back-end testing activities. So if you ever wanted to know what it takes to become a tester at a gaming company you won’t want to miss this episode.

Metasploit is a cool open-source framework for conducting penetration tests. Not only does it help you conduct your tests, but it has a bunch of modules that can help you scan a target system looking for vulnerabilities. In this episode Keith Watson, author of the Introduction to Penetration Testing Using Metasploit Pluralsight course will give us a high-level overview of how to get started with Metasploit, as well as some best practices for penetration testing. Get your white hats on and listen up!

Are you looking for an awesome mobile grid solution like Sauce Labs, but don’t yet have a budget for this type of service? Although using an existing Cloud-based service is optimal, there are times when -- and reasons why -- having your own in-house mobile grid setup can be useful. In this episode Justin Ison, a senior software engineer at Microsoft, will walk us through the tools, best practices and pitfalls to avoid when setting up your own Selenium mobile grid. You’ll want to listen up, because Justin works on the popular and cool app Wunderlist -- a simple task management app that can be used across loads of devices -- so he knows how to get mobile automation done.

Feeling hungry? Have you ever binged on tacos? Do you remember how the first one tasted and thought it couldn’t get much better? But by the time you got to your third and fourth you may have started to tire of the tacos. (You’ll have to listen to this show to find out how this analogy translates to testing!) In this episode, Gregory Schmidt serves up some testing tamales in the form of optimum marginal utility as applied to test value that will help you take your testing “YUM” factor all the way to 100.

Today we’ll be test talking with the founder of Performance Wisdom, Rebecca Clinard, about performance testing and the most frequent rookie mistakes folks make with performance testing. Do you have a web or mobile application you need load tested to determine its scalability limitations? Are you unsure of your tool, technology or skill set requirements? If you’re thinking about getting into performance testing or want to know how you can help your teams with performance-related tasks, you won’t want to miss this episode.

On today’s show we’ll test talk with Andy Tinkham, a software testing expert with over 20 years’ experience, about his views on modern testing. Andy will discuss how testing has evolved, what we as testers need to know, and how we are all responsible for helping to shape the future of testing. Within the philosophy of modern testing there are a series of principles that Andy has broken down into four pillars: Context First, Testers are Not Robots, Using Multiple Lenses for Test Design, and Providing Useful and Timely Information. If you’re a tester who wants to continue being a tester in the 21st century, you’ll want to listen up! Check it out.

On today’s show I’ll be test talking with Maaret Pyhajarvi, a collaborative software specialist with emphasis on testing, all about mob testing, pair testing, exploratory testing and more. Maaret has a soft spot for hands-on testing, and for helping teams grow and build successful products and businesses. Maaret shares a bunch of knowledge in this episode to help us think with a more Agile, Lean startup mindset. Check it out!

Are you struggling with managing you BDD efforts? Wishing you had a central location for your BDD where everyone can contribute to creating a common, domain-specific language as well as help refactor changes across multiple teams spread out across the globe? If so, Hiptest might be the tool for you. Hiptest is an open-source, modern test management collaborative platform for Agile teams that was designed to help you deliver better software faster. On today’s show we’ll be speaking with Laurent Py, co-founder and product manager at Hiptest, all about how to create more collaborative BDD.

Today we’ll be test talking with Angie Jones about why we need more women and minorities in tech, as well as automation with Java. Angie is a consulting automation engineer at LexisNexis and an inventor with more than 20 patented inventions. On top of all that, she has been featured in Ebony magazine as one of the country's top young leaders under the age of 30, you definitely don’t want to miss this show.

It’s the middle of 2016 – a good time to take a mid-year pulse of what’s going on in the test automation community. In this episode we’ll TestTalk with Greg Paskal, author of Test Automation in the Real World and Director of Quality Assurance-Automation at Ramsey Solutions, A Dave Ramsey Company, all about his latest “testing in the real world “survey to find out what folks are currently succeeding and struggling with in their test automation efforts.

What is pair testing? It’s exactly what it sounds like -- two people on the same machine, trying to complete a test together. On today’s show, Katrina Clokie shares with us all the benefits her organization has enjoyed since starting pair testing, as well as how it’s helping to change culture through testing. If your Agile sprint teams are struggling with testing, you won’t want to miss this episode.

Coming up with a solid plan for the right test coverage mix for your mobile app testing efforts can sometimes feel like a black art. And like with all black arts, you usually end up paying the price with bad results. On today’s show we’ll test talk with Eran Kinsbruner, Director and Mobile Technical Evangelist from Perfecto, about mobile testing coverage optimization using a free online resource called Digital Test Coverage Optimizer. Eran will also share some of his best tips to ensure you’re consistently creating mobile testing automation awesomeness.  

Today’s show is all about how to improve your Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) efforts as we TestTalk with Matt Angerer, an SR Solutions Architect for Results Positive. In this episode Matt shares with us a methodology called RPALM that will help you improve you ALM efforts. If you’re struggling with managing and creating traceability between your requirements, tests and defects, or if your results lack visibility to your team, this episode is for you -- check it out.

The testing dead have risen, and they’re hungry…consumed with an unnatural desire for bad automation practices to feast on. Your test automation efforts are crumbling, and they’re coming for you next. What do you do? Matt Barbour, Senior Director of Engineering at Comcast Silicon Valley, shares with us some lessons learned about end-to-end testing from Zombieland. Listen up and discover how to escape the coming test automation zombie apocalypse.

Are you just starting off with Appium and not sure where to begin? Not sure which tool to use for your mobile testing automation efforts? In this episode, James covers the basics of how to get started with mobile testing using Appium.

Today we'll be test talking with Derick Baily, a software developer and founder of watchmecode.net , a community dedicated to learning JavaScript, Node.js RabbitMQ and more. He is also one of the co-hosts of my favorite podcast, Entreprogrammers. In this episode we’ll discuss Testing Javascript and RabbitMQ applications from a developer’s perspective, so if you’re either a developer or a tester and need to get up to speed quickly with JavaScript, this episode is for you.

On today’s show we’ll be test talking about data strategies in testing with Paul Merrill, Principle Software Development Engineer in Test and Found at Beaufort Fairmont, a consulting company dedicated to ridding the world of bad code. Many of the testers I know have a testing or automation framework strategy, but most seem to overlook having a data strategy in place. It doesn’t matter what automation framework you’re using; if you haven’t planned how you will manage the data your tests need in order to interact with the system(s) under test, you’re in trouble. A data strategy is a combination of procedure and infrastructure that affects the way tests interact with data to simulate your systems under test. That’s what today’s show is all about. Check it out.

One of the top issues I find when trying to automate applications is how to test custom controls. I know I’m not the only one; one of my most popular posts is on what to do when UFT doesn’t recognize an object. I believe one of the most overlooked solutions is to actually contact the custom control vendor to ask whether they have a solution to the problem.. In this episode we’ll speak with Michael Germann from Infragistics about custom control automation using IG TestAutomation. Michael will share all kinds of tips for testing unrecognizable objects with UFT and RFT as well as general extensibility best practices for testing custom controls.

Today we’ll be test talking with Paul Grossman, AKA the “Dark Arts Automation Engineer” about his five secrets of test automation. I’ve been following Paul for a long time on Linkedin, Facebook and other automation boards. He’s always posting useful test automation tips and tricks to help out the testing and automation community, so it was great to finally speak with him -- and he did not disappoint. I think you’re really going to enjoy this episode. Check it out!