Future trend and planning of software testing industry

Catalog

1、 International situation

2、 Domestic situation

3、 Software industry model change

4、  Two production methods

5、 Personal experience and perception

6、 Talent market demand

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1、 International situation

• The giant of the functional machine era  Nokia,2014 Sold the equipment and service business to Microsoft , Now it has become a vassal of Microsoft .
• Invented the first mobile phone  Motorola, In these ten years, it has changed its master , Be first Google Acquisition , Later, it was resold to Lenovo .
• In those days, the United States may still be relatively weak Google, Now it has grown into the world's top IT giant .
• That year IT The hottest star of Microsoft, Now I have stepped down from the altar , Replaced by new stars .
• Facebook stay 2004 Founded by a freshman in , Now 2015 Nian Yecheng IT Boundary pole .
• Apple Inc 2007 Launched in 2013 Iphone series , Leading the new wave of mobile Internet .
• Google stay 2008 The first model was released in Android A smart phone . Now it is equal to apple in the era of mobile Internet , stand shoulder to shoulder .
• The era of mobile Internet applications is blooming everywhere . Various startup interests , Dig for gold everywhere .
• Internet companies occupy cities and territories in traditional industries , Caught unprepared .

                              
2、 Domestic situation

• The popular electronic communication equipment in those days   PHS , I'm afraid no one remembers now .
• Tencent, which was not so prominent in those days , In this decade, the number of people online at the same time has broken through 1 Billion , Become a giant in the communications industry .
• Wechat has sprung up inside Tencent , Let Tencent become the first company to get tickets in the mobile Internet era .
• Alibaba listed , It has created the largest in the world IPO. It also puts Jack Ma on the list of the richest man in Asia .
• Xiaomi used 4 Years of time , From zero to 400 Us $100 million market value , At present, it has also become a pole of China's Internet , And the prospect is infinite .
• Lenovo acquired Motorola .
• Xiaomi mode slapped traditional electronic equipment manufacturers several times
• Alipay has made state-owned banks tremble .
• Wechat has made state-owned communication giants feel crisis .
• Electronic boxes make the radio and television departments uneasy .
• Didi and kuaidi panicked the state-owned transportation management department .
• Professionals have brought a more thorough revolution to the rental transportation management industry .

Young people who grew up in this era , Or created these histories , Or witnessed these histories , Or it's making history now .

3、 Software industry model change

Two business concepts
Maybe not everyone knows , Although the same name IT company , however IT Companies can still be divided into two categories ： Outsourcing project driven companies and independent product driven companies .
Outsourcing project
In Baidu Encyclopedia “ outsource ” The following introduction is made ：
In the process of implementing the management system , Outsource those non core departments or businesses to corresponding professional companies , That's a lot of cost savings , Conducive to efficient management .
As a whole , Most outsourcing has the following characteristics ：

1. The entry threshold is relatively low . Basically a database CRUB You can start all information projects .
2. The technical line is short . There are many things that need to be learned , No need for precision drilling .
3. The development process requires extreme standardization .
4. Project driven . Often what comes with money .
5. The project manager is the soul of the development team .
6. The growth of companies is often more regular , It is somewhat similar to the manufacturing industry in physical enterprises .
7. Every project has a development cycle . Many projects are one-off projects .
8. Execution is greater than creativity . Delivering what they want to each customer is the completion .
9. It is physically intensive , Rely heavily on manpower , Overtime is usually serious .
10. The rhythm is gentle . It can often form a situation in which a hundred flowers bloom and coexist for a long time .
11. The treatment of employees , It is often linked to software output . The income is relatively stable , But the ceiling is also easy to reach , After all, human resources are limited , Energy co., LTD. .

This kind of tradition IT At present, the company's external packaging is “ Provide IT Solution ” The company , such as ： Like Neusoft , Soft power and so on are typical . The sales of these companies are often seen at various bidding sites , Or there are people from other companies in Huawei , Many of them are sent by these companies to develop on site , Employees inside often have a “ Different pay for the same work ” A sense of loss .
This kind of company , Personally, I think it will be gradually concentrated in a small number of large groups , Or scattered among some part-time individual software engineers . Because this service is really always needed by the society , The changing development of society must also be done by specially assigned personnel , Outsourcing will definitely not die . This market will always exist , But the business type of employees belongs to making some hard money , Just work hard .

Independent product type
This kind of company , The mainstream Internet companies we are familiar with basically belong to this type . This kind of company has the following characteristics ：

1. At the beginning of the company , Have their own areas of focus , And it is often a small entry point .
2. The technical line is long . image BAT, After developing to this volume level , Each company has its own unique technological level .
3. Product driven . Focus on meeting customers' pain points .
4. The product manager in the development team is the soul .
5. Although it is also known as project driven , But in fact, the different iteration cycles of the product will be realized by stages according to the project . image QQ The client is still under development since Tencent started its business .
6. The project is not a one-time project , It is a project that continues to accumulate .
7. The need for creativity is greater than execution .
8. It is intelligent intensive . Although overtime is often very serious .
9. Super fast tempo . It is also easy to quickly form a monopoly situation or be completely eliminated .
10. Never treat people , People of different levels vary greatly . But the whole can have a relatively high level .

At present, the main domestic companies in this category are ：TABLE The five Internet giants .

               
4、  Two production methods

Software Engineering
In the traditional software industry , Software products are produced and sold in a way similar to physical objects with optical discs as the carrier , The output mode of software also strictly follows the process of software engineering .

1. Demand analysis . Strictly organize documents according to standards , A long period .
2. Systems analysis . Strictly organize documents according to standards , A long period .
3. The system design . Strictly organize documents according to standards , A long period .
4. System development . Organize a large number of people to steadily implement and promote the project process according to the design documents , A long period .
5. software test . Organize a large number of people to test the functions according to the design documents , A long period .
6. Software delivery . After the internal test and customer verification test are completed , Software on the market , Then if you are lucky, you can sell it for several years .
7. Then spend it in the way above N Develop the project for a long time , Or develop next-generation product functions .

Such production mode is very similar to traditional manufacturing enterprises , And if this model develops , It is sure to copy the mode of traditional manufacturing enterprises more and more , Because we need to pursue the standardization of the process , Only in this way can we ensure production and large-scale and orderly .
Software developers who have worked in traditional project driven software enterprises must be impressed ：

1. The meeting , communicate , review , confirm .
2. file , file , file ……
3. Centralized closed door mass production .
4. Develop products that conform to the documentation in isolation .

Why such a strict review process , Why so many meetings and documents ？ In fact, the behaviors mentioned above are only operational means rather than ends , The real purpose is to prevent the following situations ：

1. To avoid disputes between Party A and Party B, we should put forward demands , Finally, complete the originally agreed functional software , Long cycle , There are often quite a lot of uncertain risks , The participants of the software project are bound by the agreement , Therefore, it is necessary to communicate with Party A and make written records , At the same time, developers
2. Reduce communication costs because of the long cycle , There are many developers , Reduce communication costs , There must be as many documents as possible .

These are based on a kind of information asymmetry , The development process produced in the era of unsmooth information flow . A new idea of software production will be mentioned later .、

agile development
This is a software production idea in the era before the rise of the Internet .
The main development process is as follows

1. Determine the most important line objectives at this stage .
2. Requirements analysis, design and development . Only necessary documents , A short period .
3. Continuous integration and continuous automated testing and release online .

The main features are as follows ：

1. The release cycle of new functions of the product is required to be extremely short .
2. The cycle of demand realization and customer confirmation is very short .
3. Every short cycle has a deliverable version that runs online .
4. A good product can be made forever .
5. What you do is often highly inherited .
6. Because of the existence of the Internet , Most of the problems can be solved in the development site .
7. Because of continuous online publishing , You can always let practice test products , Directly connect with front-line needs at any time .

The biggest feature of this development mode is ： fast ！

1. Fast iteration speed .
2. New functions are released and presented to customers quickly .
3. The discovery of problems is fast .
4. The problem is solved quickly .
5. If the direction is not right , The project is also dying fast . This is actually an advantage , If it is a pit , It's also good to be exposed in time

5、 Personal experience and perception

The two companies and two models mentioned above , At present, there is a considerable market in China . From a personal point of view , More optimistic about independent product companies and development models .
My first entrepreneurial experience , It takes two years to develop a large software system , In the end, they failed to deliver successfully and were stillborn . This painful experience and lesson , From now on, I am deeply afraid and resistant to the outsourcing entrepreneurial model . Projects done in the first venture , Very tired very tired , Very attentive, very attentive , At the same time, the outcome is also very miserable .
After the first failure , Joined the current entrepreneurial team . It is a complete Internet operation and production mode , It's a pleasure of long drought and showers . As a member of the development team , Your code is always running on the production server , The functions developed every day work online , Every character you type plays its role , And pave the way for later development .

Changes in software testing
A lot of space has been spent on the big background and big changes , Now it officially begins to enter “ software test ” This topic . Personal knowledge is still necessary . Because most developers are relatively simple groups in thought and communication circles , The objects we deal with are often code or machines , Often unwilling to jump out of the thinking and habits of Technology , Look at what you do from a higher perspective . Because I used to be such a technician , Often put all the route selection on others , And I lack the ability to think independently , As a result, I worked hard , But it always fails to achieve the desired effect .
As an ordinary person , It is inevitable that individual destiny will fluctuate with the background of the times . The ability to think independently is quite important , Be able to see trends , For those routes , It is bound to get twice the result with half the effort .

Overview of software testing
software test （ English ：software testing）, Describe a method to facilitate the verification of software correctness 、 integrity 、 The process of safety and quality . let me put it another way , Software testing is a review or comparison process between actual output and expected output
Whether traditional enterprises or IT Enterprises , There will be such a post , It's called QC（QUALITY CONTROL Abbreviation , chinese “ The quality control ”） Specially responsible for quality control . In manufacturing enterprises, specific items are Corresponding quality inspection .
Whether it is physical industrial production or software industrial production , The ultimate goal is to deliver the products to the corresponding users or use scenarios , Make the product play its role stably . Since there is handover , There must be acceptance . And the discovery of problems about products , From the perspective of the manufacturer , It's best to digest and solve it internally , Instead of being discovered by users after being put on the market , That will do great damage to products and corporate image . So every enterprise needs such a role , Used for quality audit and check .
In the traditional physical production industry , Product quality control is mainly divided into 4 Stages ：

1. Feed control （Incoming Quality Control Abbreviation for IQC）
2. Process quality control （In Process Quality Control Abbreviation for IPQC）
3. Final inspection verification (Final Quality Control Abbreviation for FQC)
4. Shipment quality control （Outgoing Quality Control Abbreviation for OQC）

Also in the software industry , Especially at present, outsourcing or crowdsourcing cooperation mode is gradually emerging , The software industry has gradually formed the so-called supply chain like the physical industry , It also produces quality control posts in traditional industries .

1. As the acceptance test of a bag
2. The company's software process optimization , And small version iterative testing
3. The company's phase release test
4. Delivery test for downstream enterprises

All in all , Software testing is a necessary step to deliver reliable software in software engineering . If you are interested, please check the books related to software engineering . But when looking at these , Please just look at the definition of software testing and its role in software engineering , The following specific operation means can be ignored , Because with the rise of the Internet and mobile Internet in recent years , Many traditional software engineering organization methods and concepts have seriously fallen behind , It has been gradually eliminated by the industry , As a link in software engineering , Great changes have also taken place in the means of software testing , This will be discussed later .

Current working experience
About the experience of practitioners , The following statements come from the current popular communities “ You know ”.
How to become an excellent software tester ？

1. The basic principle of software testing , I call it test 1.0 Time , Such as software test ( douban );
2. Combined with agile development , I call it test 2.0 Time , Such as Agile software testing ( douban );
3. Test is Dead , Tested “ die ”, Adapt to the requirements of the new era of the Internet ( such as Lean Startup ( douban )),“ It doesn't matter whether the cat is black or white , Catching a mouse is a good cat ”, When you jump out “ test ” This circle , Think about the value of testing , I call it test 2.5 Time Such as Google The way of software testing ( douban ), Continuous delivery ( douban ),
4. Will test and complex ( douban ) Combination , I call it test 3.0 Time , But the practice is still relatively few

Read more about relevant topics and the replies of relevant personnel , It is obvious that the testing position is moving towards ” automation , Specialization and long-term technology “ The direction is developing .

6、 Talent market demand

If we say that zhihushang's personal answer may have a strong subjective color , Or the limitations of personal cognition . Then the demand from the talent market should be able to become a more objective weathervane . After all , The main purpose of planning your career direction is nothing more than the following two points ：

1. High salary demand . The income of the work you are engaged in is considerable , This is the most real , It is also what most ordinary people think .
2. Value reflects demand . On the one hand, it is the embodiment of social value , Produce economic benefits and social effects , On the other hand is the embodiment of self-worth , Achieve life satisfaction . This value reflects demand, which in turn affects ” High salary demand “ The implementation of the .

This article through to 2015 year 5 In September, the vertical recruitment website from the Internet   Pull hook net   The recruitment requirements and salary treatment of relevant positions were studied .
About the testing position , There is a big difference in wages , The requirements are also very different .

1. " Beishenhang " Because there is TABLE These internet giants exist . The treatment is generally much higher than that in other cities .
2. Recruitment test of major Internet giants , Only know the test of development . There is no difference in salary between developers .
3. Second tier cities like Wuhan , Recruitment test , The treatment is very low （ Often only a fraction of the testing positions of Internet giants ）, Basically, procedural document maintenance and manual testing are required .

summary   All aspects have been stated above , In fact, it can be summarized as follows ：

1. The Internet age is an age that cannot be underestimated
2. The impact of the Internet has just begun , But its influence will not stop at present
3. Internet companies have become IT The absolute protagonist of field companies
4. The Internet has moved from PC Transfer to mobile terminal , The future trend is to transform into the interconnection of all things
5. If traditional industries do not keep up with the pace of the times in concept and technology , I can only wait for my life to be harvested

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