DevOps is a wonderful paradigm that allows software products to move through the development-release pipeline more smoothly and make it to the market faster than competitors’ programs. It requires high levels of cooperation between development, operations, and test departments. Automation is one of the key tools to achieve it. In this article, specialists from ZappleTech, an automation testing company, will explain why automation testing is a must for DevOps.
Reduced Time Consumption
For DevOps to function properly, it requires a maximum of the development processes to work simultaneously and a fast feedback loop, so that the entire scheme won’t stuck. Automated testing aids in achieving both aims.
When done manually, testing usually takes place after developing certain blocks or finishing the whole program. Specialists need to develop and run cases and give a green light for release if everything is right. Meanwhile, all other departments stay idle. Automated testing increases speed, productivity, and scope of testing, so it can be done in synch with the development process to ensure effectiveness.
When it comes to the feedback loop, imagine a situation when a programmer has to fix a certain piece of code weeks after it was submitted to the repository. This programmer could have written dozens of modules by the time a bug was discovered, so the engineer will have to remember all the functionality and dependencies to write a fix. Such situations disrupt the working process and annoy the specialists, lowering their productivity. With automated testing, it will take mere hours to find and report a bug, so it can be fixed quickly and easily.
Lower Risk of Errors
High work temps and large amounts of repetitive tasks can drive potential errors when done manually by testers. This may compromise the regression testing process, which requires a lot of cases to be done many times. Automated scripts help remove the margin of human error and make testing more effective and secure. This is especially important for programs that work with sensitive data or have to comply with strict quality standards, such as software for the financial sector.
Increased Test Coverage
With automated testing, it is much easier and cheaper to cover a larger scope of environments, devices, and hardware, which significantly increases software’s reliability. This can potentially prevent problems with running on certain types of machines while revealing potential weak spots that can be used as exploits. Such tests can be done in parallel thanks to automation.
Why Don’t Everyone Use It?
In companies without a dedicated QA department, testing automation can get complicated due to the necessity to write additional code for testing scripts. If programmers are already packed with their own tasks, the extra workload will slow the production down rather than help it. Thus, testing is done manually.
Outsourcing a QA service is a perfect solution to this problem. ZappleTech offers QA services specifically for DevOps companies at https://zapple.tech/services/testops-and-devops/. Boasting over 7 years on the market, ZappleTech has more than 30 successful cases of in-house AQA. Find out more about DevOps solutions and get a free estimation for your project on their website.
