test masonry - Angie Jones

10 Portfolio Projects for Automation Engineers

Those looking to break into the test automation field have difficulty doing so because of lack of experience. One way to gain experience is, of course, to study and practice on your own. But how do you demonstrate your newfound knowledge to employers? Other professionals, such as front-end developers,...

Those looking to break into th...

December 12, 2021

Crypto

Blockchain 101: A Quick Primer for Absolute Beginners

Lately, I'm hearing a lot about crypto, blockchain, bitcoin, Ethereum, smart contracts, defi (decentralized finance), dapps (decentralized applications), DAOs (decentralized autonomous organizations), NFTs (non-fungible tokens), web3, and on and on. I wanted to learn more about all of this stuff so I started digging around for...

Lately, I'm hearing a lot abou...

September 26, 2021

Deserializing API Responses Into Java Records

Here is a recipe for deserializing API responses into the new Java construct: Record, and using it for easier verification....

Here is a recipe for deseriali...

July 27, 2021

Test Automation Career Path

A common frequently asked question is "what is the career ladder for a test automation engineer?". This is a great question, as this role is often perceived as a flat one which makes it difficult for managers and practitioners alike to determine how one can...

A common frequently asked ques...

June 21, 2021

Events

Let’s Discuss: Developer Relations

I had the pleasure of getting some of my favorite developer advocates together in one virtual space to discuss the role of Developer Relations! If you are interested in becoming a developer advocate, are currently a developer advocate, or just want to know what is...

I had the pleasure of getting ...

May 25, 2021

automated tests within continuous integration pipeline

Test Management within Continuous Integration Pipelines

Techniques to manage a large suite of automated tests within a CI environment and yet still get fast feedback....

Techniques to manage a large s...

April 23, 2021

Guide to Conducting Test Automation Code Reviews

Do you know what to look for when reviewing test code? Here are 8 specific things I pay close attention to when conducting code reviews for tests....

Do you know what to look for w...

March 19, 2021

Selenium Chrome DevTools Protocol (CDP) API: How Does It Work?

Angie Jones explains the architecture behind Selenium 4’s new Chrome DevTools API and how to use it to take your tests to the next level....

Angie Jones explains the arc...

March 9, 2021

3 Ways to Achieve In-Sprint Test Automation

Learn 3 practical approaches to achieve in-sprint test automation to reduce risk and technical debt....

Learn 3 practical approaches t...

February 15, 2021

Playing with Playwright – Java API

The Playwright open source automation framework has released a Java API for cross-browser end-to-end testing! See how to install Playwright, create tests, and implement the Page Object Model design pattern....

The Playwright open source aut...

January 29, 2021

Automation Recipes

Past Live Streams: Automation Cookbook

June 23, 2020

Events

Test Automation University 50K Live Stream Party

Join the TAU community as we celebrate this amazing milestone - 50,000 engineers now enrolled! I'll be hosting a Live Stream Party which will include special guests (instructors and students), trivia games, and TAU swag prizes! All who attend will also get a cool new...

Join the TAU community as we c...

June 9, 2020

Selenium for Games: Automating Tic Tac Toe

This recipe shows how to automate the playing of an online tic-tac-toe game using Selenium WebDriver and Java...

This recipe shows how to autom...

May 27, 2020

Automation Conferences Talks

Test Automation Beyond Java 8

While most people are still using Java 8 from six years ago, new versions of the language are being released every six months! The latest Java versions provide an abundance of new features, such as functional programming capabilities, switch expressions, local variable type inference, additions to...

While most people are still us...

May 21, 2020

Selenium 4: Mocking Geolocation

This recipe demonstrates how to use Selenium 4 to mock geolocation of user within Chrome DevTools....

This recipe demonstrates how t...

May 13, 2020

Sharing State Between Cucumber Steps with Dependency Injection

When using Cucumber, if you want to share state between multiple step definition files, you'll need to use dependency injection (DI). There are several options: PicoContainer, Spring, OpenEJB, etc. If you're not already using DI, then I recommend PicoContainer. Otherwise, use the one that's already...

When using Cucumber, if you wa...

May 8, 2020

Using Apache POI to Read Excel Files

Here is a recipe for programmatically reading data from an Excel spreadsheet using Apache POI. Note that in this example, I'm using the spreadsheet to store test data. However, this is NOT an endorsement to manage your test data this way. This is just one practical...

Here is a recipe for programma...

May 1, 2020

How to Select Dates from Date Pickers

Here is the recipe for automating the task of selecting a date from a Date Picker component. I illustrate this recipe with Selenium WebDriver and Java, however, the recipe itself can be used with any automation tool and programming language. Recipe to Automate Date Picker Selection Ingredients ...

Here is the recipe for automat...

April 22, 2020

Automation Talks

Automation Cookbook: Coding Recipes for Tests

For the next couple of months, I’ll be live streaming every Wednesday at 12:00 PM PST. In each session, I’ll take a specific automation challenge and come up with a recipe for solving it....

For the next couple of months,...

April 17, 2020

Tips for Healthy Page Object Classes

The most popular design pattern used in web UI test codebases is the Page Object Model (POM) design pattern. These tips should help you design healthy classes that implement the Page Object Model design pattern. The use of this pattern promotes separation of concerns (e.g....

The most popular design patter...

February 3, 2020

Live Stream of Cypress and Applitools

I joined a live Twitch session with Jason Lengstorf on his show "Learn with Jason". We paired as I showed him how to use Cypress for test automation, and also how to add visual testing to his suite, using Applitools. We had an absolute blast building...

I joined a live Twitch session...

January 27, 2020

Selenium 4 Relative Locators

Selenium 4 brings Relative Locators (originally named Friendly Locators). This functionality was added to help you locate elements that are nearby other elements. The available options are above, below, toLeftOf, toRightOf, and near....

Selenium 4 brings Relative Loc...

October 6, 2019

Selenium WebDriver Tutorial with Java

I've released a brand new course - completely free - on Selenium WebDriver with Java! The Test Automation University course takes you from zero to 100, covering introductory and advanced concepts in 3.5 hours! I cover all of the following in this free Selenium tutorial: How to...

I've released a brand new cour...

September 27, 2019

Writing Good Gherkin Enables Good Test Automation

Behavior Driven Development, also known as BDD, is an example-based methodology for developing software. The key to BDD is collaborative exercises between Business, Development, and Testers. These parties are collectively known as the Three Amigos. When beginning the work for a new feature, the three amigos...

Behavior Driven Development, a...

September 16, 2019

How to Achieve In-Sprint Automation

Many teams struggle to automate their tests within the same sprint that the feature is developed, thus leading to technical debt. In my latest article, I've provided 3 techniques to help you close your sprints with tests in place! Read it on Techbeacon by clicking the...

Many teams struggle to automat...

September 13, 2019

A Look at New Java Features in Test Automation

Since Java 8, there have been many cool features introduced. In fact, Java is releasing a new version every 6 months! With so many additions, it can be hard to keep up. Here’s how some of the newer features from Java 8 – 12 can...

Since Java 8, there have been ...

July 13, 2019

Verifying Entire API Responses

Most people do a pretty lazy job of testing APIs. In my ABCs of APIs workshop, I ask people to manually test an API. When looking at a response, they typically glance at it, and maybe carefully review some of the key fields. Same goes...

Most people do a pretty lazy j...

June 24, 2019

Automation Development

My FREE Java Course

With Java being the most popular language for test automation, I decided to create a FREE course that teaches core Java! This course is a self-paced, online video course which includes tons of practical examples and also exercises for you to try on your own. Many...

With Java being the most popul...

May 31, 2019

Automation Conferences Talks

Test Automation Code Smells

A code smell is code that isn't technically wrong, meaning, it works; however, the implementation of said code is problematic in that it's difficult to manage and thus can lead to delayed development time and even the introduction of bugs. There are many writings about code...

A code smell is code that isn'...

April 28, 2019

Open Letter to Codeless Test Automation Tool Vendors

There's been a resurgence of codeless test automation tools. I've been burned by these types of tools in the past, so have written an open letter to codeless tool vendors with a list of demands. Many have responded. There's also been lively discussion from community...

There's been a resurgence of c...

March 26, 2019

Most Popular Programming Languages for UI Test Automation

I recently conducted research to determine the most widely used programming languages for UI test automation. A complete write-up of my findings, with percentage breakdowns, can be found on Applitools blog. But here's the results at a quick glance....

I recently conducted research ...

February 18, 2019

Test Automation for PDF Files

There’s two ways to invoke PDF test automation using this tool. In the first one, I'll show how to execute the PDF validation via the command line. In the second, how to execute it as part of an automated test....

There’s two ways to invoke PDF...

January 26, 2019

Testing in Continuous Integration

DZone published a 2019 Guide to DevOps e-Book which contains a chapter that I've written called Testing in CI. In this chapter, I cover key considerations which are needed for your automated tests if you'd like them to be a part of your team's continuous...

DZone published a 2019 Guide ...

January 15, 2019

Test Automation Strategy

I've published a free course on Test Automation University that walks you through how to define a successful test automation strategy and the many considerations you need to make to do so. This course is great for those who are starting a new test automation...

I've published a free course ...

January 1, 2019

Conferences Talks

Selenium Conference Keynote

Fun fact: In addition to being an automation engineer, I am also a game designer. I created a competitive fashion game that has all of the elements that keep players coming back for years. In this talk, I share the key aspects to game design and...

Fun fact: In addition to being...

November 19, 2018

Test Automation in 2019: A Glimpse of the Near Future From the Experts Who Shape It

Joe Colantonio hosted Dave Haeffner, Gil Tayar, and myself for a roundtable to discuss 2019 trends in test automation. We discussed some side effects in tooling and automation practices we're seeing due to the continuous testing movement; the re-emergence of codeless test automation tools; which...

Joe Colantonio hosted Dave Hae...

October 11, 2018

Simplifying Automation with Visual Validation

When automating scenarios, we have to be very careful to capture all of the various verification points that a tester would process when executing a test. I've written about this issue in Adding a Peripheral View to Test Automation, and stressed how important it is...

When automating scenarios, we ...

August 27, 2018

7 Habits of Highly Effective SDETs

There is a great demand for software development engineers in test (SDETs), which is a hybrid role between Developer and Tester. However many employers are finding that simply finding a developer who writes test or a tester who writes code is not enough. There's so...

There is a great demand for ...

August 20, 2018

Automation Talks

Explain Machine Learning to Me Like I’m Five

For many, Machine Learning and AI are nothing more than buzz words. However, machine learning is a realized form of AI that is currently being utilized by top tech companies in products that we use every day. For this reason, it’s important that we understand...

For many, Machine Learning and...

August 17, 2018

TestProject – Sharing Reusable Automation via Addons

I've been exploring some of the newer testing tools lately and this week I had a look at TestProject. This tool promotes itself as a free community-driven test automation application, which really piqued my interest. It works as a graphical interface to industry-standard test automation...

I've been exploring some of th...

July 31, 2018

Development

The 10 Commandments of Navigating Code Reviews

If you've been in software development for any amount of time, chances are you've dealt with code reviews where the comments are harsh, blunt, or sometimes downright rude. Code reviews are a form of feedback, but unfortunately they often lack the thoughtfulness that would be exercised if you were being...

If you've been in software dev...

June 30, 2018

Conferences Talks

The Reality of Testing in an Artificial World

There's a lot of talk nowadays about the impact that artificial intelligence (AI) will have on testing. There's a new generation of testing tools being developed that employ AI with promises of making testing much more efficient for us. This is very exciting, and I look...

There's a lot of talk nowadays...

May 8, 2018

Test Automation Utility to Verify Email

With JavaMail API, I've been able to not only verify that an email was received, but also verify its contents, open links within the email, extract data sent (temp passwords, verification codes, etc). Someone recently asked me about email verification within automation, so I decided...

With JavaMail API, I've been a...

January 28, 2018

6 Reasons to Co-locate Your Application and Automation Code

Does your application and test automation code reside in separate repositories? If so you're missing out. Angie Jones explains the benefits....

Does your application and test...

January 11, 2018

Inheriting WebDriver Throughout Your Page Object Classes

I’ve seen (and written) several automation projects where each page class requires a constructor that takes a WebDriver object so that the page classes can access the current browser instance. There’s nothing particularly wrong with this, but I do find it a bit annoying to...

I’ve seen (and written) severa...

December 21, 2017

Automation Talks

2018 Test Automation Trends

Before 2018 kicks in, 4 leading experts joined forces to share the test automation trends that will dominate our daily work procedures and processes in the upcoming year. Automation Guild Conference founder, Joe Colantonio, hosted a panel with three Dev/Test thought leaders: Angie Jones, Richard Bradshaw,...

Before 2018 kicks in, 4 leadin...

December 14, 2017

How to Become an Automation Engineer

Are you interested in becoming a test automation engineer? Do you lead a team you'd like to see transition toward test automation by learning the skills needed to do this role? Here's a 3-step guide on how to get started with the test automation career path. Simply...

Are you interested in becoming...

December 11, 2017

Keynote: Owning Our Narrative

The concept of shifting left suggests that testing be done earlier in the software development process. The notion of this is admirable and, when done properly, can enable teams to be very successful with their quality initiatives. However, the implementation of this practice is often...

The concept of shifting left s...

November 26, 2017

Applying Object-Oriented Programming Principles to Test Automation Design

When learning an object-oriented programming (OOP) language, we learn about key concepts in theory, but it's not always clear on how to apply those concepts to practical software development. And many automation engineers learn programming by taking the hands-on approach and jumping head first into scripting...

When learning an object-orient...

October 16, 2017

Automation Sync: Exploring Strategy and Results

At Twitter, we currently have 14 automation engineers and more than a quarter of them are new college hires. All of us work on different projects which span various areas and platforms: web, iOS, android, web services, etc. In a shop like this, it's very...

At Twitter, we currently have ...

September 24, 2017

#WSC2017Conf: Developing Your Brand Inside and Out

Don’t become a closet rock star! While developing your brand as a thought leader, your company may not be aware of the impact that you’re making on the industry. Learn key strategies to ensure that your external stardom is also recognized and celebrated internally within...

Don’t become a closet rock sta...

August 24, 2017

The Future of Software Testing

I was recently featured in QASymphony's e-book, The Future of Software Testing: 12 Testing Experts Share Their Predictions discussing my thoughts on what's in store for the future of software testing, and how testers can prepare and adapt to this transformation. Here's an excerpt of...

I was recently featured in...

August 20, 2017

Acing the Technical Interview for SDETs

Test Automation Engineers are in high demand, but that doesn’t mean companies are willing to lower the bar in hiring for these roles. With test automation projects failing left and right, flaky tests crippling continuous integration pipelines, and automated tests causing maintenance nightmares, managers feel...

Test Automation Engineers are ...

August 2, 2017

Make Your Automation Behave: Extending Your Framework for BDD

When done properly, Behavior-Driven Development (BDD) can drastically improve the communication and understanding of requirements. An additional benefit is being able to utilize the domain-specific language of the requirements to drive test automation. However, like any other automation initiative, when done poorly, this too can...

When done properly, Behavior-D...

June 30, 2017

Test Automation 101

Mike Horn, a writer for Smartsheet, reached out to me and several other test automation practitioners for a piece he was writing on the basics of test automation. Mike, not being an automation engineer himself, didn't know what he was getting into when he opened...

Mike Horn, a writer for Smarts...

June 27, 2017

3 Lessons from the Test Automation School of Hard Knocks

It's no secret that I've led several successful automation projects, however, to get to this point I had to learn quite a few painful lessons the hard way. As the saying goes, experience is the greatest teacher. Well hopefully, you can utilize my experiences to...

It's no secret that I've led s...

May 25, 2017

Book Chapter – The Digital Quality Handbook: Guide for Achieving Continuous Quality in a DevOps Reality

I had the honor of contributing a chapter to Eran Kinsbruner's new book, The Digital Quality Handbook: Guide for Achieving Continuous Quality in a DevOps Reality. My chapter is titled "Actualizing Quality While Practicing Agile" and focuses on how to effectively perform mobile testing in...

I had the honor of contributin...

May 25, 2017

Test Automation for Machine Learning: An Experience Report

Once upon a time I needed to automate tests for machine learning...

Once upon a time I needed to a...

April 14, 2017

#SeConfAustin: The Build that Cried Broken

#SeConfAustin - The Build that Cried Broken ...

#SeConfAustin - The Build that...

April 7, 2017

Talks Workshops

#STPCon: Dominoes of Automation & Build that Cried Broken

#STPCON Spring 2017 ...

#STPCON Spring 2017 ......

March 23, 2017

5 ways to drive your automation engineers away

As someone who regularly interviews candidates for test automation roles, there are common mistakes I see companies making that drive their automation engineers away. On TechBeacon, I've written about the top five actions that may cause your automation engineers to bail. Review your practices and see if...

As someone who regularly inter...

March 2, 2017

#EuroTestConf – How to Get Automation Included In Your Definition of Done

European Testing Conference 2017 ...

European Testing Conference 20...

February 13, 2017

Hybrid Tests: Blurring the lines of the Automation Pyramid

Mike Cohn's Test Automation Pyramid is a guide that is frequently cited as a good practice to follow. It suggests that: the bulk of your automated tests should be unit tests the next largest group of tests should be developed to target the service layer...

Mike Cohn's Test Automation Py...

February 6, 2017

TechGirlz Workshop: Motion Detection with Raspberry Pi and Python

TechGirlz, a wonderful organization that I volunteer with who is committed to bridging the gender gap by exposing middle school girls to technology, recently held an exciting workshop that introduced 25 girls to Raspberry Pi, a credit-card sized computer, and Python, a programming language. The girls...

TechGirlz, a wonderful organiz...

January 26, 2017

BDD Without the Three Amigos: Maybe Talking To Yourself Isn’t So Bad

If you search online for articles on Behavior-Driven Development (BDD), you're likely to find more literature on how everyone is doing it wrong versus what it really is and practical success stories in using it. I've read article after article explaining how teams are claiming...

If you search online for artic...

January 5, 2017

How to Create a Test Automation Framework from Scratch

As quality initiatives shift left in an agile world, software testing teams realize that they must rely on the fast feedback of automated scenarios for continuous integration and deployment. But even when people understand test automation basics, most automation initiatives fail. There are many reasons why test automation initiatives fall short,...

As quality initiatives shift l...

December 15, 2016

Adding a Peripheral View to Test Automation

One reason why human testers are far better at finding bugs than automated scenarios is because testers aren't just validating the expected results. They are also able to recognize unexpected surprises and anomalies within the application. For example, take a look at this application and assume...

One reason why human testers a...

November 22, 2016

#TestBash – How to Get Automation Included in Your Definition of Done

TestBash Philly 2016 ...

TestBash Philly 2016 ....

November 21, 2016

#SeConf16 – How to Get Automation Included in Your Definition of Done

Selenium Conf 2016, London, UK ...

Selenium Conf 2016, London...

November 21, 2016

Conferences Talks Workshops

Upcoming Events

Angie speaks all over the world about emerging technologies and software development. Here are upcoming events where Angie will be speaking or teaching technical workshops....

Angie speaks all over the worl...

November 4, 2016

128

Firebug, You’re Fired

When interviewing candidates for UI automation openings, I like to give them typical automation 'problems' to solve. Most of the problems provide them with a picture of a UI and the corresponding HTML, and ask how they would automate something given a tricky DOM. I'm...

When interviewing candidates f...

October 31, 2016

A Day in the Life of an Automation Engineer

TL;DR: taught a workshop and it went great. planned as a Selenium workshop but morphed into a broader automation workshop. presents practical use of automation over simplistic unrealistic intro; raving reviews from attendees. As continuous integration is becoming more of a reality at the company that...

TL;DR: taught a workshop and i...

October 13, 2016

Conferences

Test Masters Academy Reinventing Testers

It's conference season for me! In my role, it's imperative that I stay up to date with current trends and technologies, so for the next few months, I'll be soaking up as much knowledge as possible via tech conferences. One conference that really caught my eye...

It's conference season for me!...

October 4, 2016

Teaching Testing in College Courses

I'm an Adjunct Instructor who teaches Java programming to college students. I was recently asked by Anna Royzman, President of A Quality Leadership Institute, if I taught my students about testing. For a moment, I felt a pang of guilt because I don't have any...

I'm an Adjunct Instructor who ...

September 11, 2016

Rest-Assured with Cucumber: Using BDD for Web Services Automation

Behavior Driven Development (BDD) has become a popular approach in communicating requirements between stakeholders of agile teams. In fact, it's so effective that it's also being adopted in automation strategies by using Cucumber to write test scenarios in Gherkin (a non-technical, human readable language) and...

Behavior Driven Development (B...

August 24, 2016

A Guide to Patent Development

The Ministry of Testing recently launched Gem Webinars, and I did a talk on patent development from a tester's perspective. Recording of Webinar: Slides: Feedback: I clearly got a challenge for my new job. Identify something patentable. Thanks for inspiration, @techgirl1908 #testgems — Maaret Pyhäjärvi (@maaretp) August 22, 2016 Interesting to...

The Ministry of Testing recent...

August 22, 2016

Why Developers Should Not Lead Your Automation Efforts

Developers should not lead your automation efforts. I've never seen this succeed. In fact, many times I have been brought on to teams to clean up the mess that is left behind when developers try to lead this effort. The reason is simple. Developers are not...

Developers should not lead you...

August 16, 2016

Pair Programming as an Automation Training Technique

There's quite a demand for automation engineers. Unfortunately, as the demand grows, so has the difficulty in finding testers with automation skills. As of late, I'm seeing more of a push from companies to transition their existing testers into more of an automation role, and I'm...

There's quite a demand for aut...

August 4, 2016

Self-Writing Test Cases

Test cases are important. They provide step by step instructions on how to validate a feature. They are essential for cross-training and necessary for auditing. They also take quite a bit of time to write, do not seem to be testers' favorite activity, and instantly become outdated...

Test cases are important. They...

July 31, 2016

BDD Believer

I've been in Automation for more than 10 years. I consider myself a hardcore automation engineer, and have always thought that to truly get automation done you need programmers...

I've been in Automation for mo...

July 27, 2016

My Transition From Test to Dev to Test

Marlena Compton wrote a very interesting blog post on the power structure in tech and how she believes women and minorities are pushed into software testing roles. Marlena advises...

Marlena Compton wrote a very i...

July 5, 2016

Keynote Commencement Speech

I received a pleasant surprise when the Principal of Sci Academy High School in New Orleans, LA invited me to deliver the keynote address at their 2016 Commencement Ceremony. While the honor alone overwhelmed me, the bigger story brought me to a moment of reflection....

I received a pleasant surprise...

May 28, 2016

BDPA Workshop: Learn Java in 3 Hours

The Black Data Professionals Association (BDPA) sponsors a wonderful technology training program for high school students in the community. Some of the students even go on to compete regionally and nationally in web development competitions! I was asked to teach a Saturday workshop and was given...

The Black Data Professionals A...

April 16, 2016