SDET vs. True Tester – Role of Codeless Automation

Codeless automation is the process of creating automated tests without writing a single line of code 👩‍💻 There are various AI-powered codeless test automation tools available in the market. In the digital era automation is the future, but 100% automation can never be made, no matter what tool you use. We can reduce the gap between a ‘SDET’ and a ‘True Tester’ by using codeless test automation. Codeless automation takes less effort and a SDET can be efficient as ‘True Tester’.

SDET

Today’s generation testers are more SDETs (a.k.a. “Software Development Engineer in Test”) – Java, Python & C# programmers. They are good in programming skills but not in testing and quality concepts. Companies also want SDETs who can simply write code. Hence, they compromise on the quality of the product and the art of testing. They no longer focus on the functional concepts and only concentrate on matters such as programming code, automation concepts, algorithms, and code complexities. SDETs are missing the core skill of testing such as test conditions and levels of test coverage due to the fact that the automation code is not useful and fails in many places ❌

True Tester

A true tester is a person who can understand the business requirements, get clarity on requirements ambiguity, create E2E scenarios that intent to find flaws in the system, create test design with positive/negative validation and find quality bugs. But most importantly, a tester should think like a customer or an end-user. He/she ensures that the test design principles are followed, maximum test coverage is achieved, gives strong domain knowledge and E2E SIT (system integration testing) skills. A ‘True Tester’ is a manual or a functional tester who identifies the scope that can be automated.

How to reduce the gap

Manual QA + SDET (Codeless automation) = Future of automation

In the fast-changing IT and digital market, transforming QA testing by combining manual & codeless automation seems to be a promising future. Manual QA involves manual test designing and validation activities. The same person can also do the automation testing as coding knowledge is not required, you only need domain expertise and functional skills. QA can achieve more automation test coverage with the mindset of a manual tester. Hence reduce the gap between Manual QA & SDET.

Advantages of using codeless automation

• Test automation made easy – Easily create automated scripts for UI/web application/mobile applications directly from the manual test cases and execute them. Manual QA can do test automation since they don’t need extensive training for a codeless tool. A single resource can do both manual & automation testing.
• No maintenance of code/objects – Any coded automation tool needs maintenance of the test code that was developed for the automation, which is one of the biggest challenges in test automation.
• Automate the right test in less time – In Agile or in project development, requirements change frequently. Testers put in the effort to design the right test in a codeless automation tool as it takes less time to create, saves time & it decreases the execution time by running tests in parallel.
• Cost-effective – No need to hire an additional resource for automation since any team member can do it. Hence, codeless automation testing can be managed with fewer resources.
• It’s 6x faster than coded automation – Codeless automation testing is 6x faster than coded automation since QA can record & playback the E2E and regression test scenarios again. In mobile testing, QA needs to execute test scenarios in various operating systems, devices, & versions. Codeless tools can execute the test scenarios much faster than coded automation tools can.
• Enhanced Quality – Codeless automation tools focus on quality & software debugging instead of managing heavy code. It gets better results so companies don’t compromise on the quality.
• Advanced reporting – Codeless automation tools are powerful, customized & have advanced reporting capabilities so it’s easier for stakeholders to understand the test progress and reports.

📍 Although codeless automation has many great advantages, there are a couple of misconceptions that cause its “bad rep”. I recommend exploring more about it in Andreea Draniceanu‘s great article: Codeless Automation Testing Misconceptions and Benefits.

Why select a codeless test automation tool?

• The software is pre-packaged, no need to install complex software & libraries.
• Easy collaboration.
• AI-powered wrapper for Selenium / Appium.
• Saves time & cost with zero maintenance.
• Parallel execution.
• GitHub integration.
• Automatic deployment of tests in the cloud.
• Align testing efforts to agile release cycles.
• Supports web testing, API testing, Cross-browser, Mobile apps (Android/IOS) testing.
• Excellent graphical report representation of test execution & status.
• Remote execution.
• Support of advanced scripting capabilities & BDD.
• Support of Data-driven testing.
• Integration with Jenkins, Sauce Labs, BrowserStack.
• Supports mobile device lab testing & emulators.
• Suitable for agile testing.
• Able to handle a large set of data & supports multiple data sources.

How does a codeless automation tool differ from coded automation tools?

Conclusion

A tester can start test automation as soon as the UI design is completed, without wasting time on test scripting of complex scenarios. This makes it easy to match the development life cycle with continuous integration.

A codeless automation tool is reliable & robust, it works on a record-play principle and it integrates with bug tracking & test management tools and AI-powered features. It’s also cost-effective and has zero code maintenance and cloud infrastructure support. It’s the best solution for faster release cycles for agile & DevOps.

Codeless automation provides the best results in a product’s quality since it reduces the gap between a ‘SDET’ & a ‘True tester’ and helps customers get better product quality coverage compared to coded automation 🥇