Recently I had the opportunity to go through the cycle of augmenting an automation engineer to join our team. It had been a while since I used to do this (much frequently) few years ago. This time I stumbled upon few \u2018new\u2019 realizations, especially for hiring automation engineers, which never occurred to me before. With many folks I see struggling to find suitable candidates for this title, I thought of jotting down some lessons learned through the process. The best part, its one step really (to being with)<\/p>\n

\u00a0Cut the Crap<\/h2>\n

Candidates undervalue their skill set (especially the ones you want to hire). Furthermore, seeing a huge job description with all the buzz words the hiring manager could find on the internet, scares away potential candidates from applying. There are usually a few key skills for any given position which are vital for the team. With a lot of \u2018name dropping\u2019, candidates get confused and hesitate to apply due to lines like \u2018Expert with 3+ years experience in SQL server\u2019, which in many cases, there is a 5% probability the new hire will be writing complex queries.<\/p>\n

Our job ad was not performing well. The candidates we got were not even a match on paper. HR suggested to have another look at the job description, and she was right. Hesitantly I reviewed and found the job add was scary to say the least. No doubt the position had considerable requirements, but the essentials were few. While cutting down the content, the few skills I felt were essential for an automation engineer \/ SDET (NOT a lead position) are presented here.<\/p>\n

Programming aptitude<\/h2>\n

Not \u201810+ years of experience in Java’, who could code a talking parrot. If your project is in Java, don’t necessarily look for a Java guru. If a person has the aptitude of constructing algorithms and can demonstrate good programming skills with any language, he\/she can learn the new language or framework. When the technology changes (which it will), they will be most comfortable to adapt, more willing to learn new tools \/ languages and leave their comfort zone.<\/p>\n

Testing acumen<\/h2>\n

A term I use referring to a tester’s mind set. Who is able to craft test scenarios covering different aspects of the AUT, having the process related knowledge, the skill to extract requirements, to tell a great story when writing up an issue and so on. I always believe an automation project is as good as the scenarios being automated. If the scripts are checking trivial functionality, it\u2019s not going to create the difference we want.<\/p>\n

The counter argument I\u2019ve heard, since test cases are being given, automation folks don\u2019t need in depth testing experience or knowledge. Well, a person with technical insight and a tester\u2019s eye will be more suitable to suggest what areas are not being tested and how to test them. Even if a team has Unit tests, integration tests and UI tests, still someone needs to create scenarios for the system level tests verifying the business logic on system level.<\/p>\n

Attitude<\/h2>\n

The one thing an automation team might never get rid of is ‘technical problems’. Each day is going to be a new day. Either you will make mistakes and learn (for the most part) or you would be wise and spend considerable time in learning to avoid making the mistake. Through all these endeavors, the only thing to keep you going is the right attitude.<\/p>\n

In any job having the right attitude is the most fundamental aspect, specially true for automation folks. They never run out of problems, and they can never get tired of solving them!<\/p>\n

Smart creative<\/h2>\n

Under non-technical skills there are many qualities hiring managers aspire to, this one which I found lacking in some cases and most relevant specially in this type of position. A term coined by Google’s “Smart creatives”, which is the enhanced version of Peter Drucker’s\u00a0knowledge workers.<\/em>\u00a0I understood it as \u2018A person with the fire to learn new things, who is technical and business savy and has a creative personality\u2019. Imagine what a smart creative technical tester would do \u2013 Put development on DEFCON 1! Actually no, instead I feel he \/ she should bridge the gap between both camps and get best of both worlds.<\/p>\n

Automation exposure<\/h2>\n

I had some candidates who were not very savy with the traditional automation frameworks, but had great programming and learning skills, could develop algorithms and had learned other programming languages. Those candidates were equally good in my dictionary and I would definitely hire such a person.<\/p>\n

If your project is in Selenium Cucumber, it would be unwise to hire someone who is already working on this technology, because there is no new learning for them. The increased salary will keep them content only for so long. Look for people who have the level of exposure you need, not necessarily in the same tool. For elementary positions a basic understanding of how generally UI automation works, common problems faced in automation and how the DOM works would suffice.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The predicament<\/h2>\n

This position is fundamentally hard to fill. QA folks with the \u2018testing acumen\u2019 have traditionally kept a distance between them and technical aspects of developing software. Development folks have the technical exposure but lack the testing acumen. Where to find this mix breed!<\/p>\n

Hence focus on the fundamentals. I feel by going deep into finding testing knowledge or technical skill set, the job gets even harder. Not to say hire someone with less of any of the two, instead hire someone with the \u2018aptitude\u2019, not necessarily +x years with a huge checklist.<\/p>\n

The job description should revolve around the fundamentals, not more than a hand full of bullets. As the founding smart creatives put it “Widen the aperture”. Employers tend to narrow down candidates with very specific backgrounds only. We had an interesting candidate when we widened the aperture. He had an accounting background and demonstrated great skill in different development technologies too. A lot of hidden gems are left out when the filters are too tight around filtering resumes.<\/p>\n

Care to share what else you would consider while hiring an automation engineer?<\/p>\n<\/div>

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