Selenium WebDriver User Resources

There has been a sudden shift in the software testing industry. As companies are trying to make their software development life cycle run faster and faster, the lines have blurred between Software Quality Assurance and Software Development. If you are a QA Engineer, in order to speed up the regression tests -- checking that the new additions to the product didn't break the old functionality -- you now need to learn how to code. And Selenium WebDriver -- the open-source software that couples with Java, Python, or other languages to simulate a user operating a web application in a browser -- has been the tool to use.

But where can you find good, solid information on how to use Selenium WebDriver?

SeConf2014: Fish Bowl with the Selenium Committers

Did you know that by going to the Official 2014 Selenium Conference Site and selecting the Program Schedule you can pull up all the slides, handouts, and video recordings of all the talks given at the conference which was held back in September 2014 in Bangalore, India? For the next few blog posts, I will be publishing my notes on a few of these YouTube captured talks.  

SeConf2014: Q&A with Selenium Committers

The Fourth Annual Selenium Conference was held between September 4 to September 6, 2014 in Bangalore, India.

By going to the Program Schedule on their Official 2014 Selenium Conference Site you can see:

• The times each talk had been held
• Bios of each speaker
• Slides shown and handouts that were given out at the time
• Descriptions of each talk
• YouTube links of the talk given that you can watch. 

Book review: Learning Python the Hard Way

Since November 2014, I have been studying the computer programming language Python, with the free online book Learning Python the Hard Way, [link]. Written by Zed Shaw, it seems is a great way to start learning how to code or getting back into coding if it has been a while since you last programmed.

The author's premise of the book is that readers won't be able to learn how to code by just copy-and-paste the Python code from the online book into a text editor. Zed encourages, demands, wheedles, nags, and hectors his viewing audience that in order to really learn the Python language (or any programming language for that matter) they need to:

A bit about Selenium WebDriver

Software companies attempting to become more sensitive to the immediate needs of their customers now measure their software development cycle in months instead of years. The time allowed for Software Quality Assurance to perform regression testing -- testing that the new features of the web and mobile apps being built haven't broken the old functionality -- has been drastically shortened. For software testers this has caused frantic twelve hour days and weekend work in the last two weeks before the product is supposed to go out the door. Selenium WebDriver is a free open source tool that has become the new industry standard in automated testing that can try to alleviate this problem.

Shifts in Software Testing

You might not have recognized this if you have worked at the same job for the past couple of years, but the software testing industry has shifted. There is less demand for traditional QA Engineers. You may know the entire software development process, both Waterfall and Agile. You may be very skilled at working with business analysts examining the business requirements to make sure they are clear and concise. You may be quite good at coming up with great testing scenarios. But there are many new standards, practices and technologies that future employers are going to need from you, most which were unheard of just two or three years ago.