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Discussion on: I've Built Test Automation for 20 Years, Ask Me Anything!

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Burdette Lamar • Edited

For me, test automation is the grinding work of developing professional-grade software whose purpose is testing. This does not lend itself to deadlines. (Which does not mean that your boss won't set deadlines anyway.)

In building testing for a REST API, for example, I create an class for each endpoint, and a class for each resource. This is not testing -- it's what will permit testing.

The ROI in the beginning is very small, but can increase quickly. It will do so only if the framework is robust and resilient; if not, the test project will be crushed by the costs of maintenance.

So a very short deadline for test automation is self-contradictory (IMO).

But it can attract those who sell test tools that (they say) are easy and wonderful right from the first day. :)