What is an SDET?

SDET is an IT professional who can work equally effectively in development and testing. Full form of SDET is Software Development Engineer in Test and he/she takes part in the complete software development process.

An SDET's professional's knowledge is entirely focused on testability, robustness, and performance. They are also able to play a contributory or reviewer role in the creation of designs for production software.

In this tutorial, we will learn-

Difference between SDET and Tester?

SDET	Manual Tester
Knows the entire system start to end	Limited knowledge about the system
SDET is involved in every step of the software development process like Designing, development, and testing.	QA is only involved in the testing life cycle of the software development process.
Highly skilled professional with development as well as testing knowledge.	Software tester is only involved in preparing and executing the test cases
SDET can participate in test automation tool development and may make it for generic use.	Not expected to develop test automation tools or frameworks.
SDETs need to perform duties like performance testing, automated generation of test data, etc.	Only testing related task will be performed by the tester.
Know requirements and guidelines for the products	No such knowledge expected from QA professionals.

When do you need SDET?

Today organizations are looking for a professional who can take part in software development. At the same time, he should also handle testing of the developed software. That's why hiring SDET helps them as they can work for developing high-performance code or designing the testing framework.

Benefits of SDET professional:

SDETs professionals can automate the acceptance test by leveraging their coding skills
These professionals deal with end users or customers and their experiences. They already possessed engineering skills so they can also think like a developer.
Extensive code coverage through unit testing
Can build, deploy, run & manage the application individually
Influence the development, program management, & design teams on technical implementation and user scenarios

What is Difference Between SDET and TESTER?

On a high level side, SDET can be seen as a software developer and also a tester but he will be a part of testing phase and not of development phase of the software development life cycle. To better understand the differences between SDET and Tester, read below points.

SDET is highly skilled resource with development as well as testing skills; on the other hand tester is involved in preparing and executing the test cases either manually or by automation.
Testers are resources with limited programming skills and they are much focused on black box or functional testing whereas SDETs are skilled resources with good programming skills and do the job of tester (white box testing) as well as developer in test automation.
SDET being very proficient in software development, they can participate in test automation tool development and may make it for generic use. Testers are not expected to develop test automation tools, they may use these test automation tool to automate the test cases required for their software application or project.
Often it is seen in an organization, tester or Quality Analyst who have developed the test automation framework are promoted to new role as SDET and can participate in review of design of software application or other test automation framework.
In a comprehensive example we may demonstrate this, if the testing of an API is to be conducted then it cannot be done without writing any line of code. Therefore the test role here could be SDET. However if it is to test user interface or GUI which requires the black box testing and there is no need to write any line of code to test, this test role here could be STE (Software Test Engineer).
SDET are expected for more duties over general testing role like performance testing, security testing, automated generation of test data, test environment setup, developing test automation tool etc.
Unlike manual testers, SDET are expected to have domain knowledge so that they can participate in designing the test cases. All duties of a tester are expected from SDET.
Some organization like Microsoft do not differentiate between the various roles of the tester and expects them to run test manually as well as write test automation scripts or code if needed. Organizations now a days emphasis tester to learn at least one programming language which they can use to work on test automation tools. Also test automation tools like Selenium, FitNesse, SAHI, etc. have flexibility and are available to operate in various programming languages like Python, Pearl, JAVA, etc.

Roles and Responsibilities of SDET:

SDET is an Engineer: They know many programming languages, database concepts, participates in product design, data design and user interfaces.

Software Testers Who can code: SDETs should know to build and test product that can meet user expectations. To test any application deep enough, one should understand the code upon which that application or product is built. Testing starts right at unit level up to its function level with acceptance and product performance testing. A SDET is proficient in all of these testing. SDETs can automate the acceptance test by leveraging their coding skill.

SDET is Customer Advocate: SDETs voice are very important as they know everything on a product. They have participated in all level of product design, worked with product manager, product development team and end product user. They understand the need of a software product as a whole therefore they are the best customer advocate.

Different role from QA or Software Tester: A Quality Analyst (QA) tests the software only after the development phase is over whereas SDETs are active during the development phase and work shoulder to shoulder with developer to understand the underlying code. QA role is not as technical as an engineer. Software tester on the other side is focused on all the steps of software development lifecycle, they prepare test cases and execute them to find bugs in a software product or application and ensures high quality software product release. This is also the part of Job duties for a SDET.

Heart and Brain of the Process: Being part of the project management, SDETs deal with end users or customers and their experiences and they already possessed engineering skills. This all in one job exposure and skill set make SDETs the heart and the brain of the software process.

Conclusion: SDET are not just more than a tester. SDET is a mix of developer as well as tester who has exposure to project management, interacts and understands end user software requirements, knows product or domain knowledge, participates in product or software designing, knows how to code and build test automation tools. This all in one kind of skill set make the SDET role very unique and high demand in present software industry.

If you are not regular reader of this website then highly recommends you to sign up for our free email newsletter!! Sign up just providing your email address below:

Industries in need of SDET

There is a trend among companies to adopt new technology and methodologies. Therefore, SDET software professionals are highly on demand. Software developer engineer in the test are mainly needed in the following fields:

Technical and Nontechnical skills

Following are some essential nontechnical skills for an SDET:

Communication skill

A SDET must have excellent verbal and written communication skill. Testing materials like test cases, plans, test strategies, bug reports created should be easy to read and comprehend.

Time Management & Organization Skills

An SDET job is very demanding especially during the release of code. A software tester must efficiently manage workload, have high productivity, time management skills

GREAT Attitude

To become good Software Development Engineer in Test, you must have a GREAT attitude. You should able to upgrade your technical skills with the changing technologies. Your attitude should have some level of independence. So that, you can take ownership of the task allocated without too much supervision.

Passion

To enjoy success in any IT professional, you must have a significant degree of the passion for it. A SDET should have a passion for testing, development, and designing.

Below given are some Technical skills expected from SDET:

Knowledge of C#,.NET, Java or other programming languages.
Experience of working "AGILE + DevOps" process management methodology.
SDET should have knowledge about various test method & corresponding tools like MS Test, NUnit, TestNG, Selenium WebDriver, etc.
SDET should have exposure to Behaviour Driven Development.
Able to find bottlenecks and thresholds in existing code with the help of automation tools.
Understanding of Object-Oriented Design

What are the roles and responsibilities of an SDET?

SDET should able to perform Test Automation and setting up frameworks on multiple application platforms like Web, Mobile, and Desktop.
Investigate customer problems referred by the technical support team.
Create & manage bug reports and communicate with the team.
Able to build different test scenarios and acceptance tests.
SDET needs to handle technical communications with Partners to understand client's systems or APIs.
SDET also work with deployments teams and resolving any level issues for the system.
SDET should also able to set up, maintain, and operate test automation frameworks.

The above are key skills and responsibilities of SDET. They may vary with different companies.

Salary

The salary structure of a SDET varies from company to company. The average annual salary for a Software Development Engineer in Test (SDET) is ₹6,92,692 in India and $74,291 in the USA.

An SDET is also given health insurance, gratuity, and other perks.

Typical Work Day

On a daily basis, you will be busy understanding project documents, creating & executing test cases, reporting, and testing bugs. You will also put your inputs to designing team, suggest development team and other team building activities.

Career Progression

Your career progression as a SDET in typical CMMI level 5 company will look like following but will vary from company to company

SDET (Fresher) => Sr. SDET (2-3 years' experience) => SDET Team Coordinator (5-8 years' experience> =>SDET Manager (8+ years' experience)

Conclusion

A SDET professional is a mix of developer as well as a tester who has exposure to project management. This all in one type of skill set make the SDET jobs more challenging and highly demanding in the current market.

SRIKAR'S

Monday, April 22, 2019

SDET Roles

What is SDET? Full Form, Meaning, Role and Responsibilities