Community highlight: Ramona Schwering

Ramona Schwering is simply a package technologist and Google Developer Expert pinch inheritance successful value assurance.

This station highlights a organization expert, arsenic a portion of nan Test automation blog series.

Ramona Schwering is simply a package technologist pinch a inheritance successful value assurance. She is besides a Google Developer Expert successful web technologies. Ramona is passionate astir trial automation. She has made important contributions to trial automation done her nationalist acquisition efforts, which see speaking astatine conferences, publishing articles, contributing to open-source projects, and organizing meetups.

Jecelyn: What was your way into web improvement and testing?

Ramona: My travel towards improvement began done my emotion for art: In precocious school, I spent a batch of clip drafting and creating illustrations I wanted to publish. However, I wanted to usage thing different than DeviantArt and Animexx, truthful I created my ain website. This led maine to study astir web development. Later on, I developed a passion for trial automation during my first job. I wanted to destruct nan mundane testing tasks truthful that I could attraction connected tasks that required quality productivity and experience.

Jecelyn: There are truthful galore trial automation tools. How tin 1 study them each aliases cognize which to choose?

Ramona: This is simply a really bully question. First things first: Although it's surely bully to play astir pinch galore automation frameworks, don't consciousness pressured to study each and each one. Start pinch building mini projects aliases constitute a first mini trial to spot if you for illustration nan acquisition and quirks of a framework. It's good to determine connected 1 aliases 2 that lucifer your requirements and are to your liking. I for illustration choosing by trying retired and seeing if I for illustration nan developer acquisition of a definite framework. I effort to find retired if it feels flawless to use. Remember, testing should consciousness for illustration a habit, not claiming immoderate headspace. And, of course, it depends connected nan task you build and its requirements.

Jecelyn: Testing is often delayed until nan extremity of nan process, like, "Oh we don't person clip for that yet." What's your return connected that?

Ramona: Writing tests takes clip for sure, particularly if you determine to usage Test-Driven-Development. However, I conjecture it's a communal misconception that testing eats up A LOT of time: I would see it an finance that has galore advantages: You get early feedback, and frankincense you tin hole bugs earlier, starring to little costs of bug fixing because bugs don't accumulate and won't get much costly to hole astatine a later stage. Apart from that, nan much you automate, nan little you request to trial manually but you still get a awesome overview of nan position of your project. So, successful my opinion, it's really nan opposite—tests will prevention you clip and springiness you assurance without changeless effort.

Jecelyn: Tell maine astir nan civilization of trial automation astatine your company.

Ramona: In my existent team, testing is considered a shared responsibility—everyone owns it together. We implemented a process called "Quality astatine Speed," which was primitively introduced by Atlassian. This process ensures that testers only enactment arsenic a information net, deciding whether a propulsion petition requires testing aliases not. Therefore, developers cannot trust connected nan thought that nan tester will return attraction of everything. Instead, developers and testers activity together pinch nan thief of value engineers who enactment arsenic coaches and thatch developers really to test. Developers constitute nan basal tests for their changes, and if value engineers deliberation it's necessary, they will complement those tests later on. This attack accrued empathy betwixt developers and value engineers and allowed them to activity together while sharing nan responsibility.

Jecelyn: You are participating successful truthful galore organization activities for illustration speaking, writing, and contributing to unfastened source! How do you find clip and equilibrium that?

Ramona: I consciousness fortunate that my employer supports my nationalist speaking engagements, which intends I don't person to return days disconnected from activity erstwhile attending conferences aliases preparing contented for talks. However, I must admit that I still usage immoderate of my free clip for nationalist learning. To negociate my clip effectively, I've adopted a time-boxing strategy wherever I dedicate, let's say,two hours each time to, for example, contributing to unfastened root projects, penning my articles, aliases rehearsing my presentations. It's important to return a break for nan time aft these 2 hours to person capable leisure time. Although location are times erstwhile this attack doesn't activity retired arsenic planned, generally, it has helped maine onslaught a bully equilibrium betwixt my work, my organization engagement, and individual life without neglecting immoderate important tasks.

Jecelyn: Is location immoderate proposal that you wish you had heard earlier you started moving successful trial automation?

Ramona: It's important not to go excessively biased towards a peculiar solution model and prioritize it complete solving nan existent problems astatine hand. Our eventual extremity is to supply nan champion value and personification acquisition for our users, and immoderate model tin thief america execute that. Therefore, it's champion not to prosecute successful model wars. At nan very opening of your testing career, I'd counsel you to commencement by learning nan fundamentals of testing and trial automation, and only usage frameworks arsenic devices erstwhile necessary.

Jecelyn: How do you negociate to support up pinch trial automation and web development?

Ramona: I bask keeping up pinch nan latest trends and innovative ideas by monitoring news sources and societal media. However, filtering retired applicable accusation tin beryllium difficult, truthful I make judge to travel reliable sources and individuals. I besides consolidate my sources by utilizing features specified arsenic Twitter lists and bookmarks. Here is 1 of nan list of sources I followed. Attending conferences and meetups is different measurement I enactment informed, arsenic I tin study from talks and prosecute successful conversations pinch different attendees.