November 27th, 2007 — Automation Testing, QTP
There are hundreds of automation tools in the market. Choosing automation tool for your organization is really a difficult task.
Here I am reviewing HP- QTP (QuickTest Pro) tool for Automation testing.
QTP is widely used test automation tool mainly for functional testing. QTP has many more advanced options and HP recommends that all existing and new users should begin with QTP instead of WinRunner.
November 21st, 2007 — Bug Defect tracking
I came across an interesting software testing outsourcing technique here based on pay per bug approach. This testing consultancy is offering testing services and clients will be charged on the basis of number of bugs found in the application.Why outsourcing?
Many companies are outsourcing software testing work to concentrate on their core business competencies. The company will save time and money on testing processes that is tedious to perform in house.
Current offshore teams are working on per project deal means cost of software testing is decided according to the:
What if offshore teams start charging the clients on the basis of number of bugs?
Many companies don’t want to pay for documentation, as they might not require it in future. So such clients are more interested in getting the testing work done in less cost and within their budget. Pay per bug approach can work greatly for small projects where requirements are straightforward and clear. In this approach client have freedom to select the testing area as only UI or only Functional or only Security testing as per their requirements.
Will Pay per bug outsourcing technique work?
But I see many complexities in this model. It might not work for all kinds of projects. What if the tester is working to find only smaller and easy to find bugs to increase the bug count and not concentrating on the complex modules? One solution for this could be – Charge the client depending on fixed price per bug or can you can vary this amount according to the bug complexity and the type of testing.
Another problem with this module is – How to decide the severity of the bug? Tester will log bugs with high severity if they are earning high rate on the basis of bug complexity. Client will try to reduce the bug severity as to reduce the testing cost. It’s also difficult to decide whether it is a bug or not Or it is a feature itself? And what about the rejected or ‘won’t fix’ type bugs?
Worst case is if you are getting paid on the basis of number of bugs and you spent enough time to find the bugs, but if application is robust enough that you end up with very few or no bugs then how would you cover the testing recourses cost in this case?
There are lots many such areas of controversies but the concept is good and can be a good outsourcing solution if handled effectively.
I am interested to know what our readers think about this pay per bug approach. Is it a good model or service to outsource the testing services on pay per bug basis?
November 2nd, 2007 — Career in software Testing, Questions & answers
Today I am going to answer some reader’s questions. Actually I am thinking to start a weekly column on “Software Testing Questions and Answers”. Usually I get dozens of mails daily asking me on some software testing queries. Instead of answering them privately I will put them collectively in posts so that many similar questions of other readers will also get addressed. You can submit your questions in comment sections of posts. Before submitting question I will strongly recommend you to search here on this site if your queries are answered previously.
So I will kick it with some questions in this post.
Shivika asks:
“I have been given the assignment to test a UI based application page. They want me to break the functionality in any way. The first page is Sign up page containing fields like username password, email, url address field and some check box selection options . I have tried all the ways in which I can test the page. Can you also please suggest that what can be possible ways in which we can test the page?”
I will cover some major negative test cases to break the sign up page:
1) See the limit of username field. I mean the data type of this field in DB and the field size. Try adding more characters to this field than the field size limit. See how application respond to this.
2) Repeat above case for number fields. Insert number beyond the field storage capacity. This is typically a boundary test.
3) For username field try adding numbers and special characters in various combinations. (Characters like !@#$%^&*()_+}{“:?><,./;’[]). If not allowed specific message should be displayed to the user.
4) Try above special character combination for all the input fields on your sign up page having some validations. Like Email address field, URL field validations etc.
5) Many applications crash for the input field containing ‘ (single quote) and ” (double quote) examples field like: “Vijay’s web”. Try it in all the input fields one by one.
6) Try adding only numbers to input fields having validation to enter only characters and vice versa.
7) If URL validation is there then see different rules for url validation and add urls not fitting to the rules to observe the system behavior.
Example urls like: vijay.com/?q=vijay’s!@#$%^&*()_+}{“:?><,./;’[]web_page
Also add urls containing http:// and https:// while inserting into url input box.
8 ) If your sign up page is of some steps like step 1 step 2 etc. then try changing parameter values directly into browser address bar. Many times urls are formatted with some parameters to maintain proper user steps. Try altering all those parameters directly without doing anything actually on the sign up page.
9) Do some monkey testing manually or automating (i.e. Insert whatever comes in mind or random typing over keyboard) you will come up with some observations.
10) See if any page is showing JavaScript error either at the browser left bottom corner or enable the browser settings to display popup message to any JavaScript error.
These are all the negative test cases. I assume that you already tested the same sign up page with all valid cases to check application is working fine as per requirements.
If above cases are not breaking the application page then don’t forget to praise the developer 
If you have some killer test cases to break such applications that you learned from your experience, you can specify them in comments below.
Jayant asks:
“Normally freshers pass out have a state of their mind as “we are freshers”, recently pass outs from college and expect that the companies to recruit them should consider the knowledge base they have and further should impact them training. In true terms what is meant by fresher for an industry?”
Good question. When I was fresher I was thinking on the similar lines. But think from employer point of view. Employer will think like “Why should we hire candidates having little knowledge base and experience? and need training first before assigning any work? Well, fortunately not all employers think like this and that’s why frehsers are getting the jobs and training on the board. Thanks to the booming IT industry. Demand will continue for freshers having good educational background and appropriate problem solving skill.
Tremendous growth in number of engineering colleges resulted in significant increase in number of graduates passing out each year. And the gap is also increasing between the skill of graduates and the expectations of the companies.
Now I will focus on what industry look specifically in fresh graduates? Typically it will include:
So it will be always better if you try to achieve any experience or skill before trying for any graduate jobs. You are one step ahead than those freshers having no experience at all.
This work experience typically includes:
Internship -
Internship work done in any company during or after the graduation. It may be free or paid internship
Sandwich courses -
In some courses industrial training is included in curriculum itself. It is typically of 6 months to 1 year in most of the universities. You can include this project training in your resume.
Special skill achievements through classes or companies:
Training taken from some institute or companies can be included in your work experience.
Projects:
Projects accomplished for commercial or research purpose. These are the paid or certification projects accomplished for companies during the graduation years.
All above-mentioned work will definitely count as a experience as you get actual idea of company, team work and company working culture. Find out your skill areas and what you can offer to employer before hunting for jobs. Companies always look for all-rounded candidates who can effectively utilize their skill into projects from universities, experience and extra activities.
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