Automation testing is set to become the fastest-growing community in the software testing market, at a staggering CAGR of 16.9% between 2019 and 2026.
The extension of the automation testing domain enables technologists to participate in online communities discussing and analyzing the foundational concepts, trends, and technical and business prospects.
Today we can find numerous online automation testing communities with one Google search.
With the growing popularity of different content formats, the transformation in this space has become more inevitable than ever.
Suppose you are an aspiring professional in automation testing. In that case, you will read about what these online communities are offering, how they are helping professionals and learners, enabling growth and research, and a lot more here.
Key Topics Online Automation Testing Communities Talking About
Among a heap of topics in the world of automation testing, a few of them are talked about more often.
Here is a list of key topics commonly discussed in online testing communities.
- Tools and Frameworks
Popular automation testing tools include Selenium, Appium, Cypress, and Playwright. Aspiring testers are often confused about which one they pick to enable efficient test automation which becomes an important topic of discussion in online communities.
- Best Practices:
While pursuing an automation testing course, aspiring learners want to learn the real-time implementation of the concept they would be learning in their pursuit of an automation testing career. Online communities come in handy with discussions over creating maintainable and reusable test scripts, effective test automation tactics, and integration of automation testing into the CI/CD pipeline.
- Test Strategies and Design:
While testing is a prolific career option, it can be significantly challenging at times when you have to handle flaky tests and improve test reliability. This is when designing robust test cases has to be the way out.
- Scripting and Programming Languages:
You can find communities discussing foundational practices like using the most compatible scripting and programming languages. Among many options, one has to consider the coding guidelines and standards before they opt for a language to write or run test cases.
- Test Automation in Agile and DevOps:
Agile and DevOps are two key buzzwords in the Software industry which is why every tester wants to be comfortable working in agile projects.
Continuous testing has been popularly implemented by testers, quality analysts, and developers across the industry. So, a fast-paced automation testing cycle demands discussion on identifying and implementing modern tools with impactful strategies.
- Performance and Load Testing:
Performance testing is yet another popular contender in the topics of discussion in online testing communities. Online communities are discussing tools and techniques for performance testing analysis and seamless integration of functional tests.
- AI and Machine Learning in Test Automation:
With a fast-growing adoption of AI in software processes, the field of test automation looks to optimize the best of AI and Machine Learning capabilities to enable quality, timely, and efficient test results.
- Security Testing:
You can take chances when it comes to application security on a certain set of processes. You always have to keep an extra edge which makes online communities discuss tools and best security practices within the automation framework
However, the above-discussed topics are the ones you will find the most of podcasts, webinars, or forums running on, testing is a transforming field. For example; reporting and analytics has also become a major topic of discussion among peers in testing.
Hence, there is always something new in the market and creators do not want to miss out on what’s trending or needs to be discussed.
How Can One Optimize These Online Automation Testing Communities?
Online communities are a big source of learning for professionals. You find people who share your pain points making it easier to comprehend the problems. These communities help you accelerate your learning and grow.
- A Chance to Learn From The Best
An online test automation community can provide you with the golden opportunity to connect and interact with an expert. You can know their experiences of working on different tools and frameworks, advantages, challenges, and other industry insights.
- Remain Updated on What’s On Trend
Community discussions are an important source of knowledge on industry trends. You can participate in webinars or join a newsletter. You become aware of key updates, tools, frameworks, and methods.
- Exchange Resources
Online testing communities are all about sharing and acquiring knowledge. You can not only get somebody else’s knowledge but also become somebody who earns a name in the market for easy, to-the-point, and swift explanations to queries.
Community participants can exchange educational resources such as tutorials, user guides, case studies, blogs, or whitepapers.
- Solve Together
Communities are about growing collaboratively. You can share your problems in the community. People will be ready to help you with your issue by providing a solution using their knowledge, experience, and expertise. The same goes the other way around. You can also contribute to the community by helping others with what you know and can solve.
- Network
Networking is another important perk of online test automation communities. You get to connect with far more experienced people than yourself. You read their ideas and also get the opportunity to share your ideas.
- Gigs
Young aspirants are strongly benefitted by these communities as they are exposed to a good amount of opportunities.
- A Chance to Earn Limelight
Online communities provide a way to become a point of discussion in your domain. In the testing domain, people generally go online looking for debugging. If you can combine the queries and become a one-stop station for the answers, you get recognition.
What Are The Most Popular Online Automation Testing Communities?
Here are some of the most popular online communities for automation testing where enthusiasts and professionals gather to share knowledge and discuss trends:
1. LambdaTest Community
LambdaTest Community is a full-fledged online community dedicated to automation testing using prominent frameworks such as Selenium, Cypress, Playwright and Puppeteer. It provides everything you expect from a platform of this kind. From discussion forums, issue tracking, and networking to coding challenges, and certifications, LambdaTest Community is yet another example of the growing popularity and user base of this AI-powered test orchestration and execution platform. The discussion about their online-only conference initiative through the Testμ Conference where bigshots of the automation testing world are coming together to share hands-on learning experiences and discuss the future of robust testing culture.
2. Stack Overflow:
In Stack Overflow’s Developer Survey of 2020, 65.5% of respondents accepted contributing to online communities for skill development.
Stack Overflow has one of the largest online communities of testers, developers, and other Software industry professionals. It is an ideal example of an online community with educational resources, user-generated content, a job board, Q&A, and community moderation.
3. Ministry of Testing
Ministry of Testing is a dedicated online testing community popularly known for its rich content library, community resources, and tools and resources.
4. Test Automation University (TAU)
Test Automation University (TAU) is an educational platform designed to help aspiring learners and experts learn the fundamentals and trends of this advancing domain, at no cost. This website provides access to quality certification and skill badges.
5. Reddit (r/QualityAssurance):
Reddit’s r/QualityAssurance is all about discussions and getting references to connect with testing superstars, educational content, support, and even career development opportunities.
6. Software Testing Help
With extensive educational resources, comprehensive articles and blog posts, tool reviews, comparisons, community engagement, career development resources, and news and updates.
7. SeleniumHQ Google Group
SeleniumHQ Google Group is particularly to help testing learners and professionals to excel in the Selenium framework. You get Q&A threads, troubleshooting, knowledge sharing, tutorials, user documentation, integration advice, plugins and extensions, release announcements, jobs, and networking opportunities.
8. TestGuild
TestGuild is a well-set-up online testing community for professionals working in automation testing. The platform provides several ways community members can use to upgrade their skill set, knowledge, and perspective about the key industry buzzwords. People on this platform are exchanging educational resources, conducting podcasts, organizing interviews, enabling community engagement, sharing reviews and recommendations, industry updates, and posting jobs.
9. GitHub
GitHub provides a platform that enables efficient version control and software development backed by a vibrant community of testers and developers. The platform’s issue-tracking system is a great aid to managing and reporting bugs. Testers can seamlessly integrate CI/CD tools and services that help significantly to set up workflows to automatically run test suites at the time code is pushed to the repository.
Conclusion
The global online community market is set to grow to $1.1 billion by 2025, showcasing the more vibrant impact of online communities in the near future.
Online automation testing communities have become an indispensable source of learning and become a crucial part of their day-to-day tasks. These communities are not only enabling them to leverage expanded knowledge sharing and learning but also helping significantly to collaborate and influence.
More features are being introduced in these community platforms to make them even more efficient and robust so they serve the purpose effectively.
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