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April 26, 2006
Dealing with Frustrating Development Issues
So I was ready to continue ABCWebTest development today and implement some mouse automation into the product (very useful for testing Ajax web applications) but I kept running into the same error/exception when I ran my unit tests.
The details aren't important but if you must know (and there is a selfish side to this post to solicit help) I get a System.InvalidCastException when I try and obtain the "parentWindow" property from an MSHTML.IHTMLDocument2 object. Try as I might to work my way around it, I can't find a way to avoid this exception today.
The really frustrating thing is that this was working before! In previous days, there was no exception. I tried a few techniques to get past this blocker - I took a brief nap to come back with fresh eyes (no luck), I tried researching for a solution to this problem on the web (no luck), I tried reading other people's unrelated blogs to take a break from banging my head against the wall (no luck). So in the end, I decided it's better to stop banging my head against the wall, take my losses for the day and move on to other business activities.
Posted by Misha Rybalov at 11:34 AM | Comments (0)
April 21, 2006
IT Recruitment Agencies Should Think Outside the Box
I find it interesting how IT recruiting companies (and many HR departments for that matter) tend to see things in boxes. For example, if a company is looking for a QA Analyst to do automated testing, then they don't know what to do with someone who offers to do full automated testing solutions instead of a junior person who happens to know how to use a test tool.
I'm currently exploring the option of using IT recruitment agencies to generate leads. The jury is still out but one thing is for sure - I'm not the run-of-the-mill person they're accustomed to dealing with. For one, I have an automated tested company. For another, I offer an automated web testing tool, (ABCWebTest), that is different from the standard commercial test tools out there. And finally, I have many years of experience implementing low-maintenance automated testing solutions, and not just using record-playback tools (which break down for complex testing scenarios).
While this all presents a nice offering, I find that IT recruiters don't quite know what to do with me. I don't blame them. After all, the companies that hired them are asking for a normal tester to do automated testing. They might not be aware that automated testing takes a lot of planning, technical knowledge and experience to implement properly.
So if you're an IT recruitment company reading this (or a company that's hired a recruitment company for an automated testing consultant), keep in mind - automated testing is a development activity requiring as much forethought, planning, and technical knowledge as regular development. Don't fall for the hype of commercial test tool vendors.
Posted by Misha Rybalov at 06:01 PM | Comments (0)