Re:Ask HN: For those programming 10+ years, what do you wish...
by zachrose on Thursday May 18, 2017 @09:37PM
(#14372446)
Three answers:
1) Just keep going. Experiencing the pain of less-than-ideal tests is pretty much the best way to learn. It also frees you from outdated dogma about testing.
2) Maybe try testing at different levels? I got into testing by learning to write big slow acceptance tests for a particular user experience and small fast unit tests for a particular module. This helped me see what each kind of test was best for. (Maybe your "big tests" are written in Cucumber and automate a web browser, maybe they test an HTTP API, that's up to the kind of work and environment you're in.)
1) Just keep going. Experiencing the pain of less-than-ideal tests is pretty much the best way to learn. It also frees you from outdated dogma about testing.
2) Maybe try testing at different levels? I got into testing by learning to write big slow acceptance tests for a particular user experience and small fast unit tests for a particular module. This helped me see what each kind of test was best for. (Maybe your "big tests" are written in Cucumber and automate a web browser, maybe they test an HTTP API, that's up to the kind of work and environment you're in.)
3) Watch this video "Boundaries" by Gary Bernhardt: https://www.destroyallsoftware.com/talks/boundaries