Rise of the Software Development Engineer in Test – SDET

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Rise of the Software Development Engineer in Test
SDET
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Introduction Edsger Dijkstra, a Dutch systems
scientist, programmer, software engineer, and
pioneer in computing science says, If debugging
is the process of removing bugs, then programming
must be the process of putting them in.   We
have awakened to the fact that testing is
actually more important than programming. Testing
requires a bigger budget for tools and
resources. With increasing Agile adoption and
rising demands for faster responsiveness to the
market, the traditional testers fall short. The
typical programmers write code, testers assess
code quality scenario is changing. Now, testers
are getting involved right from the stage of code
development. From being a constraint, testers
have evolved to become an asset to any
organization. In fact, there is a steep rise in
the demand for such talent who can both write as
well as test the codes based on the requirements.
Such professionals are known as Software
Development Engineers in Test or SDETs. 
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SDETs vs QA Engineers  While the roles of SDETs
may seem very similar to those of QA Automation
Engineers, with even most of the tools and
language expertise required being the same
(Selenium, Java, and Jenkins), there are certain
very obvious and clear differences between the
two roles.  An SDET, in layman terms, is a
developer who instead of working in the product
development team, works as part of the test team.
In essence, SDETs are responsible not only for
writing code but are required to test the code as
well. SDETs are required to continuously write,
test, and fix the written code. Their roles and
responsibilities are based on the Agile lifecycle
model. SDETs usually are professionals who have
very strong analytical, technical, and
problemsolving skills.  On the other hand, QA
Engineers are testers who do not need to have any
programming experience as they usually are not
exposed to the code. This clearly creates a
demarcation between the roles and
responsibilities of SDETs and QA Engineers.

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SDETs The need  With the need and importance of
software testing accepted across the globe, what,
when, and how to test are areas that have never
stopped evolving.  Most of the modern products
and apps require end-to-end Test Automation 
especially in the areas of functional,
performance, and security testing. SDETs, with
their dual abilities in the areas of code
development as well as performing tests (such as
those listed), are a great fit in this digital
age. They help improve the code quality by
performing strict and detailed source code
reviews along with checking for
the testability of the code.  Armed with
specialized testing knowledge of multiple tools,
techniques, best practices, and processes, SDETs
have become a crucial part of the development
ecosystems. Based on their development
experience, knowledge of technical architecture
and design, and their programming skills, SDETs
are required to write a code to test the code
written by developers. In addition, they are also
required to write unit tests and perform
whitebox testing.  Read Full Blog at
https//www.cigniti.com/blog/rise-of-the-software-
development-engineer-in-test-sdet/
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