Welcome to the 201st issue, and happy new year!

Let's start it with a reflection:

What QA knowledge did you learn in 2023?

There are some common, as well as unexpected learnings in this thread.

But when it comes to me, I've learned a ton from curating all the great content over the past year.

I hope you did, too.

Happy testing in 2024! 🙂

Dawid Dylowicz  

Meet the tool Superdry, END, Hush & 1,000+ others switched to in 2023

Two SDETs started building an automation test framework back in 2021 and just never stopped. That framework launched publicly in March 2023 and is now the tool of choice for everything from simple site testing to Microsoft's Dynamic 365. Try it out for free!

does.qa  

Dev-to-QA ratio: A tale of burnout? Is there a better way out?

Gaurav Singh wrote an excellent article about navigating different dev-to-QA ratios and how to solve some common problems with them.

Furthermore, Dennis Martinez explains How Testers Help Developers Elevate Their Productivity.

automationhacks.io  

Test smart: How to validate product on a business-facing level?

If you're wondering what types of test techniques you can use to validate products in Agile testing, Julia Kocbek wrote a great overview.

Additionally, Hannah Son emphasises the importance of Acceptance Criteria in Agile Testing.

uxdesign.cc  

Testers — Don't Wait To Be Asked For Info

Testers deliver the most value when they communicate about their findings early. Here's a good reminder from Callum Akehurst-Ryan on why we should be proactive in our efforts.

cakehurstryan.com  

Testing and gen-AI, LLMs — why will testing not go away?

Justas Laužadis lists out the criteria for judging how much we can trust AI and uses them to highlight the importance of testing it.

testwhere.blog  

When can we say that software is tested "enough"?

Fri Rasyidi describes several testing techniques that can help you measure your test coverage and assess whether something is tested enough.

It's also important to remember about The Real Requirements, as Michael Bolton reminds us.

medium.com  

Which app is of higher perceived quality?

I liked Stuart Thomas's take on the definition of quality based on examples of two different problems with apps.

thequalityduck.co.uk  

7 Principles for Test Automation

There are some great principles and pieces of advice on how to do test automation properly in this list created by John Gluck.

qaclub.io  

Do Not Put Ids Into Test Ids

Gleb Bahmutov shows us why we should avoid using auto-generated test IDs in web elements with some comprehensive examples.

glebbahmutov.com  

Test your code!

If you're unsure about the benefits of testing, especially at the unit level, Daniel Draper has a good explanation.

Additionally, Google engineers Shiva Garg and Francois Aube have great advice on Letting Code Speak for Itself.

hashnode.dev  

The most important thing with test automation

While test automation can bring great benefits to testing at scale, Kemal Taskin reminds us that it also comes at the cost of maintenance and advises how to minimise that.

Also, Ivy Murphy explains why The Automation Utopia is a Mirage.

hashnode.dev  

Run Selenium Email Tests in GitHub Actions

Validating the contents of an email doesn't have to run the risk of sending test emails to paying customers. Learn how to simulate real emails and validate the contents in an automated fashion with our Selenium email testing guide.

mailsac.com  

API Contract Testing on Frontend with Playwright

Playwright is a versatile tool and Andrey Enin shows how you can use it to validate contracts of your APIs.

Moreover, Kostiantyn Teltov explains the Controller and action layer concepts in API test design.

medium.com  

How to Optimize Your XCode Project for Fast Test Feedback

This article by Jon Reid has some great practical advice on speeding up your iOS test setup in XCode.

Furthermore, Emin Deniz wrote a comprehensive guide on iOS UI Testing with Deep Links.

qualitycoding.org  

Is Selenium Webdriver dead?

With the rise of modern test tools and frameworks, one may wonder whether it's time for Selenium to go away. This thread contains a lot of fair answers.

On that note, Butch Mayhew asks: Will Playwright Replace Cypress?

reddit.com  

My Debugging Bot Saves 90% Time

Harshit Daftary shares a very interesting approach to using AI to automatically debug failed tests and speed up the investigation process.

medium.com  

AI Resources That Might Boost Your Testing

Wondering which AI tools can help you with testing? Daniel Knott recorded another great overview.

youtube.com  

QA Career Growth: Expert Tips

If you're looking for advice on building and growing your career in testing, Anna Patterson and Nikolay Advolodkin have got you covered in this comprehensive, one-hour discussion.

youtube.com  

First day as a new QA Engineer be like... 🤣

Thanks for reading!

If you like this newsletter and it helps you become a better tester, you can say thanks and buy me a coffee.

Dawid Dylowicz