Well, this blog is actually inspired by the excellent training programs that are conjured up to train fresher’s from campus in the field of Software Testing. The investment in terms of time, effort and money is just phenomenal. They typically go through a series of lectures, power point presentations, quizzes, self-reading (more like mugging up definitions for your board exams), etc… for a period of 3 – 6 months at the end of which they take up exams (again very similar to the board exams conducted by our prestigious universities). And the interesting point to note here is that these very same companies lament the fact that the university curriculum does not really prepare students for the industry. Talk about hypocrisy.
I am not sure how many hours Sachin Tendulkar spent in classrooms, theoretically learning about the nuances of batting; listening to lectures and power point presentations rather than honing his skills on the field. Or for that matter how many lectures Aamir Khan had to listen to learn the art of acting. Well I really don’t think they would have spent too many valuable hours listening to just theoretical concepts. They are excelling in their fields due to the fact that they learnt from their seniors by observing them, picking up tips from their respective coaches, honing their skills with hours of practice, being unafraid to make mistakes with the conviction that it will only help them become a better practitioner in their chosen field.
This is true of not only sports and the film industry. Look at the people who paint our houses so well, or our excellent carpenters. They did not pick up their skills in the classroom. Which brings us to the question – “Why can’t we do the same in the software industry? Especially Software Testing”. We can introduce fresher’s from campus to Software Testing by first letting them observe how some experienced Testers test applications / products, then engage them in ‘Paired Testing’ sessions with experienced Testers and giving them good direction to do a lot of self-learning in the Software Testing space. One really good link where there is a consolidated source of key things an aspiring tester should learn is –
Apart from this, there are also some great Software Testing experts, whose articles one can read and follow their blogs to get regular updates on Software Testing and also new approaches to Testing, some of them are listed below –
good job Varun !
ReplyDeleteThanks Akhila, hopefully the powers that be, recognize the need for change in the training needs of people who join the Software Testing industry straight from college campuses and bring in the change.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Varun... Such training will be more effective..
ReplyDeleteIts the perfect blog wat freshers expect. Instead of getting theoretical experience...practical one is better.
ReplyDeleteThanks Madhavi, if we get experienced Testers like you to work with freshers from campus and learn from you through a 'Paired Testing' approach, it would be a great learning experience for them.
ReplyDelete@ Rahul - please visit this blog -
ReplyDeletehttp://prabhatnayak.blogspot.com/2011/11/roadmap-for-aspiring-tester.html
it will really be useful to you to start off with.
Good blog Varun, I would also recommend self learning for the freshers from campus to learn about Software Testing.
ReplyDeleteAgree with you Dileep, self-learning is really important and direction to what one should learn / read about is equally important.
ReplyDeleteAgreed! Software testing program should be full of practical exercises. And at the end of each exercise, the budding tester should be able to understand an important concept. I would say training on Software Testing should start at the level to which a fresh campus recruit can relate to. At this point a fresher can just about write a simple program and execute it.
ReplyDeleteThe training program could start with a simple exercise as below:
Freshers could be asked to test a program by giving input values such that all paths of the program are covered. Bugs should have been introduced before hand on some of the paths and the fresher gets to discover them. This will help them to understand the concept of test coverage and its importance.
The next few exercises could be on testing the business requirement document to help the new tester understand the importance of testing an application so it meets the business needs.
Once the importance of software testing and why it is done is understood by the fresher, then only should the other tools and methods of testing be introduced. The training program should be interesting enough that it creates an urge in the tester to want to implement whatever he has learnt. At this point, the new tester could be exposed to the actual testing environment so he gets hands on experience in testing and also his confidence that he can do more and make a difference to the project!
Varun, I am partially agreed with your point.
ReplyDeleteCampus freshers not necessarily would learn from experienced Tester. Because to learn or observe you need to have those skills. What if a fresher sees James Bach testing the application but he / she fails to observe or fails to learn the testing.
I feel fresher should get proper guidance first and also the awareness of Software Testing. Once he / she is aware then one can decide what the person is good at and then pick up that skill. Practice and practice till you become Expert :-)
Cheers!
Savi
http://savitamunde.wordpress.com