On Becoming a Tester Who Codes
To be a well-rounded and analytical tester, Adam Satterfield says you should learn to code. Learning to code empowers a tester to be more self-reliant and less dependent on someone else to write their test scripts, which can take valuable time from the critical and time-crunched testing process. Learning to code positions a tester for long-term career growth, opens up new professional opportunities, and gives them the perspective to be a better tester with a deeper understanding of what questions to ask and how to approach a meaningful testing plan to gain better insights. However, learning to code can seem daunting. Adam demystifies the perception that learning to code requires years of education and a formal degree. He shares—step-by-step—how he has helped testers increase their skills to learn a programming language, highlighting potential stumbling blocks along the way, and discussing how to overcome them. To help participants advance their testing careers by learning to code, Adam recommends tools and blogs alongside real-world examples of what he has seen work.
VP of testing services at KMS Technology, Adam Satterfield leads software testing and DevOps for this technology consulting and development firm. He is responsible for integrating manual and automated testing as well as DevOps strategy across the Atlanta and Ho Chi Minh City offices of KMS Technology, where nearly 700 developers and testers create solutions for clients. Adam joined the KMS Technology leadership team in August 2016. Previously, he spent more than fifteen years honing his expertise in cloud and mobile technologies at leading software companies, and was VP of quality assurance at BetterCloud, a data security provider for cloud-based office platforms. In his spare time, Adam takes blacksmithing and metalworking classes.