CAREER CHOICE FOR GRADUATES

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In July 2010 a major smart phone maker reported that their software contained a long-time bug that resulted in incorrect indicators of signal strength in the phone's interface. Reportedly customers had been complaining about the problem for several years. The company provided a fix for the problem several weeks later.

SOME INCIDENTS

a fix for the problem several weeks later.

A rail car caught fire in a major underground metro system in April of 2007

In August of 2008 it was reported that more than 600 U.S. airline flights were significantly delayed due to a software glitch in the U.S. FAA air traffic control system. The problem was claimed to be a 'packet switch' that 'failed due to a database mismatch', and occurred in the part of the system that handles required flight plans.

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A rail car caught fire in a major underground metro system in April of 2007 according to newspaper accounts. The software reportedly failed to perform as expected in detecting and preventing excess power usage in equipment on new passenger rail cars, resulting in overheating and fire in the rail car, and evacuation and shutdown of part of the system.

What is the connection between these incidents?What is the connection between these incidents?What is the connection between these incidents?What is the connection between these incidents?

All the mentioned incidents and the problems there, were due to defects in the software programs/systems of the respective productsprograms/systems of the respective products

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Not testing the software/systems effectively,

intelligently and thoroughly from various aspects for various conditions/situations that can create variety of losses to users/systems/businesses

WHAT IS A DEFECT?

…a shortcoming, fault, or imperfection

…lack or want, especially of something essential to perfection or completenessperfection or completeness

In software testing, a defect is considered to be anything that can hamper the functioning or execution of the software application or

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... anything that deviates from meeting the expectations of the customer/users can be considered as defect

the software application or service

IMPACT

A defect is a risk to success of the software product

Cost

Timeline

Reputation

Business

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A software defect is a “material breach” of the contract for sale or license of the software. If it is so serious that the customer can justifiably demand a fix or can cancel the contract, return the software, and demand a refund.

RESULTS OF POOR QUALITY/TESTING

Loss of money due to

..increase in costs with more support calls

..increase in costs with rework in development/testing

..delays resulting in loss of revenue/business..delays resulting in loss of revenue/business

..reduction in market share with diminished reputation

..lawsuits and criminal proceedings with regulatory violations..injuries and deaths in mission critical systems

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Software is all pervading and used in many systems/products that are needed by us in various ways

WHY SHOULD WE BE BOTHERED ABOUT THIS?

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If the software is released to market/users without adequate testing , it will greatly affect the users, the businesses and the eco-system eventually resulting in financial loss and could even result in injury or loss of life to human beings

IMPORTANCE OF SOFTWARE TESTING

Testing is a critical component of software development life cycle. This runs parallel with development activity to ensure that the software product released is of highest quality.

Customers demand “quality”; hence companies realize that investing in testing services today is better rather than risking business failure tomorrow. Software non-performance and failures are expensive to fix once they

are released into the market.

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The size of software products today is millions of lines of code. The increasing complexity along with decreasing average market life expectancy of many software products has heightened concerns over software quality. Software testing is not an ad-hoc process.

Today every IT company has a specialized full time test organization. Starting as a test engineer, you can grow all the way to becoming a Director/VP.

CAREER GROWTH IN TESTING

Software testing is not just a job, you can make a successful career out of it!

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Companies treat test professionals on par with developers, in fact a good tester can command a better salary than a developer!

OBJECTIVES OF TESTING

Check if the system is doing what it is supposed to dosupposed to do

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Check if the system does NOT do what it is NOT supposed to do

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…to ensure that expectations that the end users have from a system is indeed met.

WHO DOES TESTING?

Development Testing Pre-deploymentdeployment

Developers QA Staff Functional SpecialistsEnd Users

It is not just QA staff who do testing.

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Early stage code is tested by developers.QA staff test the system once developers deliver partial/full system.Before deployment, functional domain specialists do testing.Before going live, typical end users also test.

PSYCHOLOGY NEEDED FOR TESTING

Testing requires a “mentality to break”.It requires a ‘negative attitude’.

What can “go-wrong” thinkingHow can end user “abuse”How can end user “abuse”How can I mis-configureWhat if other thing fails

Constantly suspicious

Be very curious

User centric

Persuasive

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Attention to details

Keen sense of observationContinuously learn

Be interactive, stay engagedBig picture thinking

Communicate clearly

OPPORTUNITIES IN TESTING –INDUSTRY REPORTS

“The global testing services market is estimated to be US$ 50 Billion by 2020. The estimated size of testing market in India by 2020 is US$ 13-15 Billion.”

“Testing workforce in India in 2010 was 63,000. According to “Testing workforce in India in 2010 was 63,000. According to current estimate, India will require around 22,000 testing professionals every year over the next 3 years to meet the demand of the software testing market.”“Indian market will require approximately 1,65,000 testers by the year 2013.”

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“Talent remains to be the major challenge for testing companies due to lack of availability of industry-ready graduates from colleges.”

Source: Gartner, IDC and NASSCOM

�Indian IT firms are interested in hiring more and more Non-Engineering graduates such as science (BSc), computer science (BCA) graduates for testing and support services

WHAT IS IN IT FOR NON-ENGINEERING GRADUATES?

�Companies like Wipro, Infosys, TCS, Cognizant, ITC Infotech and KPIT Cummins among others are hiring more of science and computer science graduates already

�Professionals from non-engineering backgrounds form about 5% of the total engineering workforce of Infosys. The company has hired close to 14,000

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Infosys. The company has hired close to 14,000 engineers and about 700 BSc graduates in 2010 –2011

�Wipro Technologies hires non-engineering graduates (science & commerce) from colleges as part of it’s Wipro Academy of Software Excellence

INDUSTRY EXPECTATIONS

Software companies expect test engineers to be project-ready from Day #1

They expect you to be skilled, independent and possess good analytical skills.

Knowing testing concepts is just not enough anymore. Organizations expect you to have exposure to techniques & technologies, be familiar with programming concepts, databases etc. They also expect you to be conversant with tools and be capable of supporting the development team in test specification, execution and reporting needs.

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Today organizations value soft skills like communication, teamwork in the youngsters more than just academic knowledge. They not only expect good technical skills, but expect you to communicate well, work well in a team and be less dependent on others.In short, the industry expects YOU to be CONFIDENT.