Career in Software Testing - How Did You Get Started?

For me, it was a camping holiday and a guy in a field, hooked up to the internet… way back in 1995, but let me ask you…

How did you get into testing?

It’s a question I often ask new team members about their career in software testing. In the old days, many arrived in testing as a result of being a User Tester for new software that their company was rolling out. In more recent years, the answers have been much more focused around having trained in an IT discipline and then choosing to specialise in a test role.

Types of Software Testing - a Glossary

It's amusing that software testing is a conversation starter or stopper at a party when you exchange details on what you do for a living during first greetings, depending upon whether you meet a fellow ‘techie’ or not! Software testing doesn't have to be daunting; it can be fun and interesting!

Improving Software Quality - Test Practice Cards

Are you looking to mature the understanding of testing within your organisation, improve software quality or looking for an event for a remote team meeting?

If so, Test Practice Cards might hold the answer!

So, what are they?

Test Practice Cards are a set of digital or physical cards. Each card contains a succinct, pithy sentence with regards to a single aspect of testing. Together, the cards contain the essence of what ‘Good Test Practice’ looks like in your organisation.

Why Web Accessibility is Important? - 4 Reasons

The internet is a vast, overwhelming universe of competing information in which your website must stand out among a trillion other websites all trying to stand out. That’s why it is essential to gain any advantage you can. You spend your hard-earned money on web design, on marketing, on ads and on improving your SEO but how much attention are you paying to simply making sure that everyone who wants to do business with you is able to do business with you?

The good news is that it’s very easy to do, so, here are 4 compelling reasons to make your website accessible to all: 

No Code Web Development - Is No Code Coding devaluing Developers?

Way back when I was learning to use computers and write my first code, we interfaced with our computers via the command line and wrote our code in BASIC. I even remember saving my programs onto cassette tapes before my school upgraded to the much easier to use, 5-1/4” floppy disks.

Q&A with our Test Consultant - Ryan Dudley

1. How long have you been working in testing?

I've been in testing now for 6 and a half years. I joined nFocus fresh out of college as an apprentice at the age of 18 and never looked back! I've been exposed to a wide range of testing approaches and technologies and I've been able to work on a variety of different projects all with their own challenges.

2. What is your favourite area of testing?

Automation Testing - I find it fascinating how you can automate a task, removing the need to check that piece of functionality manually. This then allows you to have a great regression pack to be run whenever you like, giving you confidence when you are heading into a new release.

Returning to the Office - Surprising Things that I Miss

My normal weekend routine is to get up early and make a large coffee. Then I crawl back into bed with my iPad and start writing. In addition to this blog, I’m also working on two novels, so I rather enjoy the peace and quiet of weekend mornings to hammer out as many words as I can on my various projects. However, as a writer, I’m also an expert procrastinator (comes part and parcel with the job title) and my procrastination tool of choice this morning, was sleeping in late followed by a McDonalds!

The Pomodoro Technique - An Agile Way of Working

If you’re able to work from home, then you have probably been working from home for some time now. You probably have mastered a routine, have adjusted your work/life balance and are used to attending meetings in jogging bottoms and bedroom slippers!

But then, someone like me comes along and asks if you know what a ‘Pomodoro’ is and how it may help you improve your working day. The Pomodoro Technique is a very simple technique to learn, incredibly quick and easy to apply. All you need is a pencil, paper and a timer then you’re ready to go!

Quality Assurance in Education - An Insight into the Role of a QA Tester

The higher education sector seems to be ever-growing with different faculties updating old student management systems to innovative new ones. Working on a project in this industry has a lot to offer and it can be really exciting to see how a system/application can evolve over different development and test phases.

As a tester of Quality Assurance in Education, this sector has the potential to expose you to many different types of testing. Here are just a few I have been party to so far:

Returning to the Office - do we really need to? 

Our guest writer, Renée Mineart explores how and where we work has changed. There has been a lot of discussion lately at work about returning to work or perhaps I should say returning to the office and considering the new lockdown exit plan announced recently, I imagine a lot of you are thinking about this as well.