Preface:
Hello, everyone, I am Yifei. Recently, many friends sent me private letters: They want to know the career development path of test engineers, so I specially wrote this article, hoping to bring some help to you.
Body:
Generally speaking, career development planning for testing positions can be divided into “management” and “technical” categories. For the IT software testing industry technology and management personnel, do technology is fundamental, is the most important, the top priority in the work. If a company uses a manager who does not understand technology, it is not in line with the company’s pursuit of profit maximization rules. Therefore, in order to save costs, most companies do not use pure managers, but use technical managers. In software testing industry technology and management is often not so strict, software testing jobs in general are: the junior engineers, intermediate engineer, senior engineer, test/technical manager, senior technical/test manager, test director, deputy director/testing experts/senior experts, the test architect, etc. Some of the people with these job titles will also be in management positions, while others will be test leader, test lead, test Representative, project leader, test Manager, test leader, test director, test director, etc. Of course, the junior engineer is the most junior position here, and basically will not serve as a management position. Although, efficiency is the eternal subject of management, but the scale of each company, the product is not the same, the set of system and subsystem, gradation, the characteristics of the system, such as correlation between each other by the restriction and the various elements of the impact of changes also have differences, so the effective management of each path is different; The design of positions and the delegation of authority are also different. The responsibilities and scope of the management post, rights, responsibilities and so on are various, but there is no responsibility or responsibility power small this is dry testing this line often encounter common disease, plus there are some people on the test misunderstanding is deep-rooted. Therefore, in the testing industry, people often see the test manager or test director and people quarrel, be called around, be ignored or ignored everywhere, some even take the money to buy cabbage, hold the heart of selling white powder. Some companies divide the scope of test management according to product lines. For example, product 1 has a team leader or a person in charge, and product 2 has a team leader or a person in charge. Some companies are divided according to platform. For example, in an Internet, APP is a group, WAP is a group and PC is a group. Some companies have groups of 2 to 5 people, 5 to 8 people, etc. The test supervisor/Test manager is the next level above these group leaders or principals, the test supervisor/test manager is the next level above the Deputy Director/Director of testing, and the CTO/department manager is the next level above the Deputy Director/Director of testing. In some small companies, the test lead is also the test lead, or there is no test leader or test lead and the development lead reports directly. Of course, there are companies that seem to be poorly divided, with groups based on functionality, performance, and automation, and they try to block the development of testers. Originally, for a professional tester, these things are not so easy to isolate, if limited in these aspects, the development of both individuals and enterprises are unfavorable, the enterprise does not get the optimization of salary and personnel, the improvement of personal skills is hindered, the loss of talent is inevitable. Some companies are involved in the design of test architectures and have a test architect position, but at present, this position is very rare. The area of responsibility of the test and have the ability, test engineer (junior, middle and senior), besides some test related professional skills, will write all kinds of test documents, such as plans, reports, use cases, execute test task, will use the test tool, to master one or several speakers is very popular, have strong communication skills, and various departments, All kinds of people bickering. The guidance and training of new employees are generally taken charge of by management personnel or personnel with strong technical ability. Good testers need to understand the business goals of the product; The test manager is responsible for the planning and allocation of resources, continuous improvement of testing ability, improve testing efficiency; Test managers are generally directly responsible for product quality, play a vital role in improving product quality, and are responsible for the cost, cycle and quality of delivered products from the perspective of testing. At the end of the test, the relevant responsible personnel of the test should give suggestions as an important basis for whether the product can be released and the project can be launched; Senior test management personnel are responsible for the development of the test team, have the right to recruit personnel and have the obligation to train subordinates, improve the team’s competence and professional ability; Whether the key talent can be retained, this needs a variety of reasons. In some companies, senior test managers are responsible for the financial management of related projects such as budget and control.
The career development of software testers is basically these. After many people develop to a certain stage, they will encounter the bottleneck of career development, and it is very difficult to break through. It may be easier to move from development to test, but it may be harder to move from test to development, and the test development positions currently in vogue are, to some extent, as demanding as the development positions, and some are even more demanding. For testers or developers who want to work in the IT industry, entering the industry must be cautious.
In this life, people need to face many ups and downs and many setbacks. Relatively strong setbacks often because of the loss, and expectations are too high, resulting in the height of the reality and divide, thank you, never give up fearless, so friends in struggle on the road when you feel tired, you can find a corner to temporarily take a rest, after a rest, don’t forget to back up their bags and move on, come on.