Tricky Driver Dilemma

Ability to learn

Decades ago I had a colleague without a driving license. In case of trouble he would take public traffic or got a ride of his boss. His boss decided to give him driving lessons during office hours. It saved the company time and money.

Suppose you have a delivery firm. Your company picks up packages and delivers them to the right addresses.

It takes about a few months to get a driving license for a car. But sometimes a motorcycle is more convenient. This will take another few months. If a lot of packages must be delivered, then another driving license for a truck is needed.

For super fast and expensive delivery you can use a spacecraft and …

This is the point, that a favourite quote of a project leader is used:
“This is no rocket science. ”

Searching testers

OK time for the real message.

Suppose you are a manager of a Dutch software delivery company.
You look surprised, but you mentioned Continuous Delivery. Let me continue with writing.

You happen to need a tester. On the Dutch tester job market there is a shortage of qualified men and women. The basic requirement is test automation.

A paper with "Qualified" lies on 2 steps "Advanced" and "Expert"

Why is test automation so hot?
My guess is DevOps or competitors.
But you are the manager and you have all the clues.

So you have to hire consultants to get things tested. And that is quite expensive.
At the end of the project or sprints you have less profit and less experience in your own workforce.
A graphs with a vertical axis with "Profit" and a horizonal axis with "Time" containing a red slow rising line with "Consultant" and a green steeper rising line with "Employed tester" above the red line

A graph with vertical axis with "Company expertise" and a horizonal axis with "Time" containing a red slow rising line with "Consultant" and a green steeper rising line with "Employed tester" above the red line

The only solution is to hire and train testers. Just like the driving license story it takes months and probably years to get testers at the right level.

New testers should be hired for their ability to learn. Of course you can wait, until an experienced test automation tester knocks on your door. Maybe you are lucky this year.

Basically you have a vendor lock in. You desperately need a consultant for the test automation.

A piece of paper with a picture of a lock and "Lock" lies on a step with "Expert"

According to me there are more unskilled testers willing to learn than qualified testers looking for a new job.

A tester is just unlucky, if he or she was not able to touch tools like Selenium and Cucumber during project or sprints.

Teaching matters

One of the things I learned is Zone of Proximity. If people are in the same zone, then they can teach each other.

Stairs with steps "Intermediate", "Advanced", and "Expert" on a floor "Beginner". A rubber band lies on the step “Intermediate” and “Beginner”

There are companies which really want qualified or expert testers.  It is too difficult to  teach test automation to testers with beginner level. In this case they are outside the Zone of Proximity. It would cost your company too much time and money.

Stairs with steps "Intermediate", "Advanced", and "Expert" on a floor "Beginner". A rubber band lies only on the step “Intermediate”.

  • A solution is to lower the requirements for testers and invest more time in teaching. This might attract more candidates.
  • The other option is to keep the requirements and hope high to attract the expert tester. Wait a minute. Wait a week. Wait a quarter.

In the ever changing world of software delivery you need a new edge: how well can you teach testers test automation?