Top Adventures in Automation blog entries for 2017

With Adventures in Automation, How Was 2017?

So far, in 2017, this blog attracted the attention of 33,700 different users, according to Google Analytics.

Here are the top five blog posts for Adventures in Automation for 2017:

#5: What happens when you ask the Twitterverse: "How Can a Manual Tester Switch To Automation?"

#4: Build a Basic Appium Framework: Review How to Inspect Mobile Apps with Appium Desktop

#3: Learning Serenity BDD: An Automation Framework That Uses Specification by Example (SBE)

#2: New automation framework released to test APIs: Introducing Karate, by Intuit India's Peter Thomas 

#1: Learning Appium Desktop: What is Appium Server and How Do You Start It Through Appium Desktop?

Thank you, dear reader, for all your continued support.

Coming in 2018:

New Blog Entries! 

Mid-January 2018, I start a new job as a Software Development Engineer in Test: An SDET role at a security company, tackling brave new technologies -- some I've only tinkered with, some which are brand-new to me.

I have done API testing before, using Apache Http Components, Rest Assured, and Twitter4J. Most of these have been in Java, though. Although I have tinkered with Docker and Vagrant, I have never used DevOps tools such as Chef or Kitchen. And I have never used Scala or Ruby, two of the primary coding languages they will be using.

... I made sure to tell my future employer all of this -- I am nothing if not brutally honest on job interviews. They hired me anyway, saying they would provide plenty of on-the-job training. Not wanting to embarrass myself, I've started to hit the books. There are plenty of resources on Scala, Chef, and even the API of the product I will be testing.

Expect many more blog entries on these subjects in the coming months as I do some extra-curricular learnin'.

New Speaking Engagements! 

I am a speaker at Joe Colantonio's Automation Guild 2018, and will be giving a live Q & A session January 10th, 2018 at 11 AM.

https://youtu.be/Ja7tCXguXXw

A New YouTube Channel!

I will be starting a new weekly video blog, sharing my experience with software testing, starting Monday, January 1st, 2018. Subscribe now!

I hope you and yours have a happy and healthy 2018!

Happy Testing!

-T.J. Maher
Twitter | LinkedIn | GitHub

// Sr. QA Engineer, Software Engineer in Test, Software Tester since 1996.
// Contributing Writer for TechBeacon.
// "Looking to move away from manual QA? Follow Adventures in Automation on Facebook!"

Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy Holiday!

To all you text-based life forms that live on my Twitter Feed:

Have a Merry Christmas, a Happy Hanukkah, a Cool Yule, a Happy Kwanzaa, and a Splendid Solstice.

May you spend this weekend surrounded by friends and loved ones.
And may your days be both merry and / or bright!

— T.J. Maher (@tjmaher1) December 22, 2017

And the same to all you readers of the Adventures in Automation blog!

Without your constant support, I would not be where I am today.

Thank you!

Happy Testing!

-T.J. Maher
Twitter | LinkedIn | GitHub

// Sr. QA Engineer, Software Engineer in Test, Software Tester since 1996.
// Contributing Writer for TechBeacon.
// "Looking to move away from manual QA? Follow Adventures in Automation on Facebook!"

Hello, India! And Welcome!

Namaste! Hello, India! Welcome to this blog! I'd offer you tea or a mango lassi but you can't yet attach a beverage to a blog post.

I'd also translate this page to your native tongue but I don't know Assamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Maithili, Malayalam, Marathi, Meitei, Nepali, Odia, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Santali, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, or Urdu... so English will have to do.

I was checking Google Analytics and saw that I had over 800 unique visitors to this site from your country in November 2017 alone.

Although I started this blog almost three years ago as my own private online collection of research notes, I get next to no feedback.

... Actually, that's not true. The bot that advertises Testing Jobs in Chennai always leaves messages in the comments section. It thinks this site is very helpful.

How did you stumble on this blog? What do you like about it? I hope it is useful to you. Is there anything I can help you with? Do you have any doubts? Let me know in the Comments section below, or follow me on Twitter at @tjmaher1 and say hello!

Happy Testing! Go Team India! Go Men in Blue! Go Virat Kohli!

-T.J. Maher
Twitter | LinkedIn | GitHub

// Sr. QA Engineer, Software Engineer in Test, Software Tester since 1996.
// Contributing Writer for TechBeacon.
// "Looking to move away from manual QA? Follow Adventures in Automation on Facebook!"

Starting January 2018, Adventures in Automation will be on YouTube!

Starting January 2018, I will be trying my hand at starting a YouTube channel, Adventures in Automation. Subscribe now!

This blog will still be quite active. It's where I post all my research notes when I am researching a new automation tool or technology, after all, and I am a big fan of continuous learning.

In order to learn a new tool, I still will be posting sample code on my GitHub site, and posting walkthroughs of the code on the Programming Projects section of this blog.

I wanted to experiment with seeing if I could handle using a video blog as a storytelling medium.

Subscribe now! See you online! And Happy Testing!

-T.J. Maher
Twitter | LinkedIn | GitHub

// Sr. QA Engineer, Software Engineer in Test, Software Tester since 1996.
// Contributing Writer for TechBeacon.
// "Looking to move away from manual QA? Follow Adventures in Automation on Facebook!"

Follow T.J. Maher at @tjmaher1 on Twitter!

Are you on Twitter? 

No? Why not?

Although subscribing to and reading this blog is a perfectly acceptable way to find out what is happening in the software testing ecosystem, joining the Twitterverse is the very best way to keep up to date on new testing and automation toolsets, and articles that are being published.

Create your account, now! And while you are there, you can follow me on @tjmaher1!

A huge community of software testers hang out and chat virtually throughout the day on Twitter sharing what they are learning right now! Hear from the experts themselves about articles they are working on, and tips they are sharing.

Want to know what is on Lisa Crispin's mind, co-author of Agile Testing: A Practical Guide for Testers and Agile Teams and More Agile Testing: Learning Journeys for the Whole Team? 

You could wait until Lisa's calendar frees up next year and she is a guest speaker for the Ministry of Testing - Boston, or you could follow her, and her co-author Janet Gregory.

Want to know what Jason Huggins, creator of the first version of Selenium, former CTO and co-founder of Sauce Labs, founder of Tapster, and another guest speaker I have been trying to get for the Ministry of Testing Boston, is working on? Follow him on Twitter!

Looking for more people to follow? 

Joe Colantonio from TestTalks.com, AutomationGuild.com and The Performance Testing Guild lists "43 Top Automation & Performance Testing Engineers to Follow in 2018".

Oddly enough... I made the list! 

With this blog, Adventures in Automation, according to Google Analytics, for the month of November 2017 there were:

• 3,244 users visiting this site
• 4,436 unique sessions
• 1,556 sessions from the United States
• 831 sessions from India
• 282 sessions from Germany
• 162 sessions from Canada
• 98 sessions from the Ukraine
• 82 sessions from Poland
• 75 sessions from Israel'
• 65 sessions from Australia
• 60 sessions from France 

... And I don't even know who you people are! Sign up to Twitter, Follow me on Twitter, on @tjmaher1, and say hello! 

Happy Testing!
-T.J. Maher
Twitter | LinkedIn | GitHub

// Sr. QA Engineer, Software Engineer in Test, Software Tester since 1996.
// Contributing Writer for TechBeacon.
// "Looking to move away from manual QA? Follow Adventures in Automation on Facebook!"

Notes: How to Become an Automation Engineer, by Angie Jones

"Are you interested in becoming a test automation engineer? Do you lead a team you'd like to see transition toward test automation by learning the skills needed to do this role?

"Join Angie Jones December 11, 2017 at 1PM EST for 'How to become an automation engineer'. Angie is a preeminent Test Automation Engineer working at Twitter. She has helped countless people make the jump to test automation engineer and will share her insights into this transition".

- Beaufort Fairmont.com

The Speaker:

"Angie Jones is a Senior Software Engineer in Test at Twitter who has developed automation strategies and frameworks for countless software products. As a Master Inventor, she is known for her innovative and out-of-the-box thinking style which has resulted in more than 20 patented inventions in the US and China. Angie shares her wealth of knowledge by speaking and teaching at software conferences all over the world".

Speaker Contact Details:

Angie Jones – Senior Software Engineer in Test, Twitter

• Watch the Video after Registering!
• Slides for this talk
• Twitter: @techgirl1908
• LinkedIn: Angie Jones
• Website: AngieJones.tech

Videos from TestBash Philly 2017 are now online!

Couldn't make it to November's TestBash Philly? Videos taken from the conference are now online, posted on the central Ministry of Testing site at https://dojo.ministryoftesting.com/series/testbash-philadelphia-2017

Although some require a paid Pro subscription to the Testing Dojo, most are accessible with the free Ministry of Testing Dojo subscription.

From the Dojo:

"TestBash Philadelphia 2017 - our third TestBash in the USA was hosted at The Fringe Arts on 9-10th November 2017.

"All TestBash events aim to inspire and educate but in equal measure provide lots of opportunities for testers to meet, make friends and continue to build the amazing testing community we have. A big part of that at Philly this year was the first ever TestBash Circus, you can get low-down on this and all the resources to run the circus activities on The Dojo

"Why Mabl Chose Google Cloud Platform Over AWS" will be LiveStreamed.

Tonight's Ministry of Testing - Boston Meetup will be LiveStreamed! Go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GM_kvui6qUk to 12/5/2017 at 6:30 pm EST to watch!


"How do you compare and contrast technologies such as cloud service providers? What metrics do you use as a comparison? How do you decide to move from a technology you are familiar with to a new and different tool which may be better for your company?

"This evening James Baldassari, a Full Stack Developer from Raytheon, DataXu, and now mabl -- an early stage company that is developing a machine-learning driven automated testing service -- will walk members of the Ministry of Testing - Boston through:

• "What is a cloud service provider? Why use it?

• "What features do cloud services provide?

• "What were mabl's business needs?


The talk will be based on James' blog article, A Detailed Look at Why mabl Chose Google Cloud Platform (GCP) over AWS. From the introduction:

"As product development was beginning at mabl in early 2017, we had to decide which cloud provider to use. While we were most familiar with Amazon Web Services (AWS), we decided to invest some time exploring all of the options available to us. Based on an initial set of requirements, we were able to narrow the list of candidates to just AWS and Google Cloud Platform (GCP). We spent several weeks researching both and building prototypes to familiarize ourselves with features that we had not used before. After a thorough and objective evaluation of both providers we decided unanimously to build on GCP". - https://www.mabl.com/why-we-chose-google-cloud-platform-over-aws-at-mabl/

Happy Testing!

-T.J. Maher
Twitter | LinkedIn | GitHub

// Sr. QA Engineer, Software Engineer in Test, Software Tester since 1996.
// Contributing Writer for TechBeacon.
// "Looking to move away from manual QA? Follow Adventures in Automation on Facebook!"