TESTHEAD REDUX: Testing Training? What's That?

Wow, what a difference two and a half years makes!

When I first started my blog, this was one of my first entries (entry number 5, to be exact). It was my first firing salvo, aimed at my frustration as to the value of the testing training I had seen to date, most of which, even then, I was not really thrilled with. I should also note that this is the first entry that received a comment... and it was from Matt Heusser! Interesting to think that this would be my first "formal" meeting of Matt, and what has transpired in the 30 months since would be, well, amazing to discuss... but that's another story (possibly a book's worth of material, to tell the truth).

Having said all that, my point was, I felt it was time to come back and see what I said and what I believe today, now that I'm older and, supposedly, wiser... or more jaded and cynical. Sometimes the two can be hard to tell apart ;).

To be fair, the above statement isn’t as common as it used to be. There are now many options regarding testing training and how to get it. However, up until just a few years ago, being a tester and getting actual training related to testing was not an easy endeavor. Training for programming? Yes. Training for systems administration? Definitely. Training for engineering principles? Just look at MIT or Caltech or any number of engineering schools. Still, you would have been hard pressed to find a school that had an actual course of study related to software testing (and for that matter, just finding a single course was not a wide spread available option).

Today's reality is that there are two types of testing training that exist, and they can vary in value. There is what I call "vocabulary training", where the goal is to cover a lot of ground at a fairly theoretical level, and then take an exam or series of exams to show how well you know the material. The other is what I call "experiential training", where you actually get your hands dirty and test, try things out, talk about your experiences, and have others review your progress. I currently help run and facilitate two versions of this today.

The first and most formal version is the Association for Software Testing's Black Box Software Testing classes. These combine both the theoretical and the experiential aspects, and they allow testers the chance to test their understanding and challenge other participants understanding. So whereas, before, I would say there's nothing out there, today I would say that is absolutely not true.

The second source of "experiential learning" that I am involved with is Weekend Testing, and these events are almost exclusively experiential, done with a Skype connection and a group of willing and active participants. There are chapters around the world, but the India and Americas chapters seem to be the most active at this immediate point in time. Experience level varies dramatically, peer testing is an attribute, and each session is different from the one before. There's no need to feel "I don't know enough to participate." We treat it as a safe environment for everyone to come in, learn, practice their craft, and make connections and share ideas. It's also a lot of fun.

Show of hands, how many testers had any genuinely formal training in how to do their job short of perhaps a quick orientation from a test team lead or test manager? How many people actually participated in training beyond this introductory level? If my experience is indicative of the majority of testers, I’m willing to bet that number is probably very low.  

Today, while there are many who have sought out formal training, the vast majority of testers that I talk to still have this issue. Things are changing, in that I think the Meet-up culture is starting to encourage people to get out and talk about these things and offer alternatives to official training activities.

Testing Blogs: If you look to the side of these posts, you will notice that I have a roll of a number of test blogs. There are hundreds, but these are the ones I keep returning to again and again. I return to them because they challenge the way that I think about things, or they provide me with solid information and ideas to explore. There are hundreds more out there, and to be totally honest, I’d love to have TESTHEAD fill that role for people as well (it’s going to take awhile to develop the credibility so that it will be worth that to someone, but hey, I aim to try :) ).

This has become my number one source for information. several sites do aggregation of just tester's blogs, so those sites are my first stop if I am really interested in seeing what testers have to say and what ideas are being discussed. What's interesting to see if who has changed in my blog roll since I started this. That's to be expected; bloggers come and go based on their energy levels and what they are involved in. What is cool is to see how many are still there two and a half years later that were on my original list :).

Testing Magazines and Communities: There are several magazines and groups that publish information that is readily available to everyone, and while they still require a subscription fee to get everything they offer, the amount of information they offer to the general public for free is substantial. Some of my personal favorites are Software Test and Performance magazine and their online collaboration site and Better Software magazine and the folks at Sticky Minds.

Still mostly true, but I have to add two more well deserving groups. The first is the Association for Software Testing (AST). I didn't even know they existed when I first started my blog, but I've certainly gotten to know a lot more about them since then! Helping deliver, maintain and develop their educational offerings has been an eye opening experience, and it has helped me interact with a bunch of terrific people, many of whom have become good friends since. The second is the Software Testing Club and "The Testing Planet". This loose knit confederation of testers has some great discussions, and I always look forward to when the next issue of TTP is available.

Webinars and Online Training Sessions: both STP and Better Software listed above host a series of webinars that cover different areas of software testing on a regular basis. Most of the sessions are free and are open to the public, and many of the sessions are “tool agnostic”, meaning that they talk about principles and practices that can be used with any of the common test tools, or applied to home grown solutions. 

Since this was written, I've discovered lots of areas where we can get more information and see live screencasts and pre-recorded webinars of topics useful to testers. Add to that the phenomenon of entire courses of study being made available online. Think of Coursera, Khan Academy, and other initiatives that have become well known that are making it possible for anyone willing to invest the time and energy to learn about any topic. I've also found myself branching into more software development discussions and groups, even though my primary focus is not programming. Codecademy and NetTuts+ are two great sites for this type of interaction.

Books: These were the titles that made my short list two and a half years ago:

• “Testing Computer Software” by Kaner, Falk and Nguyen
• “Effective Methods of Software Testing” by William Perry
• “Linchpin” by Seth Godin 
• “Secrets of a Buccaneer Scholar” by James Bach
• “Software Testing: Fundamental Principles and Essential Knowledge” by James McCaffrey
• “Software Test Automation” by Mark Fewster and Dorothy Graham
• “Surviving the Top Ten Challenges of Software Testing” by William Perry and Randy Rice

What titles do I consider essential today? While many of these are still valid, I've found that I'm turning to different resources now. "Testing Computer Software" has been replaced by "Lessons Learned in Software Testing" (Kaner, Bach & Pettichord) as my backbone "go to" testing book. In addition, Gerald Weinberg's "Perfect Software and Other Illusions About Testing" has become a perennial favorite. I will still recommend "Linchpin" and "Secrets of a Buccaneer Scholar", and add "Explore It" by Elisabeth Hendrickson.

Interestingly, the books that have helped my testing the most have been, shall we say, not testing books at all, but rather, those that focus on philosophy and inquiry, and help us see things in a different way, or at least understand how we have come to see different things over time. I'll also give a plug for my favorite "book discovery" of them all, in that it's not really a book, but a companion volume to a television series; "The Day the Universe Changed" by James Burke.

Wikipedia’s Software Testing Portal: [...] The Wikipedia software testing portal is an example of where this vast resource of people and small contributions comes together to make for a very large repository of information related to testing. Note: a phrase I famously use among friends and colleagues is “Caveat Lektor Wiki”, and this is no exception. Using Wikipedia as a sole resource for anything is never a good idea, but to get started and develop some basic ideas and understanding, it’s a great tool, and again, will provide many jumping off points if you wish to explore them.

Having had a chance to see many discussions about the content and the accuracy of the information, I will now say that "Caveat Lektor Wiki" still applies, but yes, much of the information would stand to being an introduction to ideas that testers may not be as familiar with. Having said that, I also think that we as a community have the responsibility to review the information, and if we see it is in error, challenge it or add our own voices to explain why. It's our collection of experiences that makes that repository, so if you find something is in error or is badly worded, do your part to help make the explanations better (said with a healthy dose of 'Physician, heal thyself!", I might add).

Just like two years ago, I still agree that knowledge begets knowledge, training begets training, and opportunity begets opportunity. Also, as Matt mentioned in the comment to my original post, if you can't get to an official training opportunity, band together with other testers in your area and make your own. Hold a local peer conference for a day, have a writing workshop on testing ideas, host your own local bug party. Whatever it takes, there's rich ore to be mined out there, it just requires that we pick up a shovel and dig.