Agreed fallacy #3: Testing is easier than programming
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I think the heart of the matter is people measure skill in software by whether you write code or not, and then how well you write it. The glamour is in writing code. So that helps explain why so many people in software want to write ‘automated tests.’ That, plus the dopamine rush you get when your new automated test passes. You can look back on the thing you just created. But the skills in testing are in quickly determining what to test, how much to test, and with what methods… and then how to communicate what was tested and what was discovered. Answering those questions requires serious mental gymnastics, and often does not give a dopamine rush, at least in my case… In other words, it’s like taking the red pill or the blue pill. Feel good in the false reality that writing these limited static automated checks is the be-all-end-all, or constantly feel unsure in the real reality that testing is so much more than that and your work is never done. That’s not easy!
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Nicholas, and especially for mentioning the importance of “quickly determining what to test, how much to test, and with what methods… and then how to communicate what was tested and what was discovered”.
In my case, the dopamine rush is mainly related to figuring out how/when/where a system might fail before a customer does.
I wish more professionals and organizations saw the glamour in it! 😉