Software testing like any other constantly evolving field is surrounded by false notions or myths. Some of these myths are for so long in the testing industry that it is hard to separate these myths from facts. In this article, we will address the top 5 software testing myths, unveil the reality behind it, and debunk them. So, let’s begin.
Testers are inferior to developers
It is true that developers are the creators of the software application but it is the testers that make sure that the application works as intended. In fact, the very need for testing emerged when the businesses faced a lot of problems including loss of revenue, loss of customers, customer dissatisfaction, etc when software applications were not tested properly.
So, it is not about being inferior or superior, both the fields are separate with different goals and career paths.
Developers are better at automation testing than manual testers
It is one the most debatable topics: who is better at automation testing, a developer who can automate the test cases, or a manual tester who can learn a programming language and some automation tool to create test scripts.
The fact is, even in the case of test automation, the person needs to have a testing mentality. A developer can write an efficient program but without the testing mindset, there can be missing tests or false-positive test cases.
Whereas, a manual tester with a decent understanding of a programming language can learn automation tools like Selenium and prepare from various online or offline resources to simply automate the manual testing process and create an effective test automation suite.
Automation can eliminate the need for manual testing
Just like the other fields, software testing is also affected by automation. There is a widespread myth that automation has or in the near future will completely eliminate the need for manual testing.
So first of all, even the most efficient automated tool requires test script creation which is based on manual test cases prepared by manual testers. Also, even with all the advancements in automation, some of the types of testing like exploratory testing, accessibility testing, usability testing, etc can’t be automated. So, the need for manual testing will always be there, no matter at what rate the automation industry advances.
Software testing is a destructive activity
Some people consider the job of software testing as a destructive activity as they think the testing is all about finding faults and breaking the system.
Instead, software testing is a constructive activity as it helps with the creation of quality software by finding faults in the system before releasing them to the end-user or the customer.
Testing should be done after the coding phase
It is true that testing was traditionally done after the coding phase only but with the requirement of complex software applications and the evolution of the Software development life cycle models, the testing phase was introduced much early in the software development process.
Even some of the old SDLC models like - V model, Spiral model have the testing activities integrated with the development efforts. In those models and all the emerging SDLC models, testing and development activities go in parallel and in various iterations. So, the myth that testing should be done after coding or the implementation phase doesn’t hold water now.
Conclusion
Whether you are new to software testing or you have a fair bit of experience in the testing field, you must have encountered the different myths related to software testing. I hope this article will help you in understanding the reality of the software testing myths with facts and the real truth behind those notions.
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