Is the market on the up or not ?

[SuperZ]

Problem with test automation as a contractor is that most clients want someone with the skills but hardly ever get around to actually implementing the tools or implementing test automation on the project.
A friend has held five such positions and only ever used one of the tools in one role, for a short period . SO it is more of a door opener rather than a specialist position.

Non-func testing is where it`s at, and where there will be a good future in the UK.

I think testing has a future in the UK. Even if all dev jobs are outsourced there will still be a decent demand for testers.

Don`t worry about the age thing, we are not an ageist nation are we? . Seriously, I hear of people in their 50`s going permanent in testing positions so it`s probably not a big barrier to overcome.

[HeadOfTesting]

I am a BA/Technical analyst from a development background, at my present gig they always ask me to do the automation testing development cuz no one wants to do it (even though I have not done it before) at the start I was pi$$ed off about having to learn all this scripting stuff and tools (QTP and TestComplete) especially its nothing to do with my role, OK as a BA I normally get involved with testing but normally the UAT part, not the automation systems testing, however, seeing your post above made me feel better

Good for you and you're right (imo) to take those opportunties. But don't get too excited - things like QTP are quite different in terms of their likely market appeal going forward (with apologies to all those who hate the phrase "going forward").

[RichardCranium]

I'm finding that recruiters are only looking for local candidates

That is one of the stock excuses they use when they mean:
- I've found the 3 I need, so I don't want to know about any more;
- you're too old;
- you're too expensive;
- you're CV is more than 2 pages long and I don't even look at ones longer than that 'on principle';
- I'm too bored / tired to do my job;
- I'm not working on that task at the moment.

I'm wondering whether to start applying for roles close to my family's place with a cv where address is changed.

Do so and see what happens. Then you'll know for sure AND increase the chance of getting a gig.

[HeadOfTesting]

Problem with test automation as a contractor is that most clients want someone with the skills but hardly ever get around to actually implementing the tools or implementing test automation on the project.
A friend has held five such positions and only ever used one of the tools in one role, for a short period . SO it is more of a door opener rather than a specialist position.

Non-func testing is where it`s at, and where there will be a good future in the UK.

I think testing has a future in the UK. Even if all dev jobs are outsourced there will still be a decent demand for testers.

Don`t worry about the age thing, we are not an ageist nation are we? . Seriously, I hear of people in their 50`s going permanent in testing positions so it`s probably not a big barrier to overcome.

It's true that inadequate expectation management kills a lot of these automation initiatives off. Things like QTP often become shelfware (hence my previous comment on this thread) but at least the start-up costs with stuff like Selenium and Ruby are virtually non-existent.

It definitely is a proper specialism but I take the point about being a door opener also.

As for non-functional testing, I think it will be a good area but I'm much more cautious about it than I used to be. It used to be that people with Loadrunner could walk into a job anywhere but that's no longer the case. There are some substantial trends at work here. For one, the cost of replicating production is so high that this work is tending to be farmed out to the big consultancies - it's extremely rare to see a non-func contractor working for the end client via a recruitment agency and this is a growing trend. It's also a high margin area and there are often big politics around consultancy engagements (cash in envelopes etc) so they are hoovering up this work and using much cheapness labour to discharge the work. Also cloud computing is developing at quite a pace and automated load injectors in the cloud are coming to the fore. So all in all as a specialism it's as valid as any other - but in terms of the mega rates of the past I think the party's over.

I also think that there's a future for UK testing as I've said before, but there are a lot of uncertainties around it.

As for the age thing - views on it are very subjective - it's all down to the outlook of the hiring manager at the end of the day.

[zamzummim]

Good for you and you're right (imo) to take those opportunties. But don't get too excited - things like QTP are quite different in terms of their likely market appeal going forward (with apologies to all those who hate the phrase "going forward").

Agreed re QTP, that's why they are moving to TestComplete now (Automated QA) I have no intention of specializing in automation testing, but no one else at my present gig wants to do the job, so its keeping me in a job, I am OK doing it until the market is better, can't deny I hated it at the start, but I should be grateful they have work for me to do.

[norrahe]

From what my other half says the agencies cannot really get their heads around what he does (but that's pimps for ya).

When it comes to interviews, the one phone interview he's had so far it became very obvious early on that from the questions that HR were asking (e.g. so your previous position was your first out of uni??) that they blatantly hadn't read his CV, given that he finished uni about 20 years ago!!!!!

Ah well.

He's looking at all angles, using the outsourcing company that came with his redundancy package. Heck, he's evening looking worldwide, and reduced his salary expectations.

I just hope that my contract gets renewed when it's due up soon

Though if any of you guys know of pimps or contacts that you use regularly that would be very helpful.

[SuperZ]

In my tseting days I`ve done QTP and Winrunner automation, must admit I was never a big fan of QTP, especially the eariler version (6.5).

What`s the attraction of TestComplete over QTP......and why would a company invested in QTP switch to TestComplete?

[zamzummim]

In my tseting days I`ve done QTP and Winrunner automation, must admit I was never a big fan of QTP, especially the eariler version (6.5).

What`s the attraction of TestComplete over QTP......and why would a company invested in QTP switch to TestComplete?

I wasn't invovled in the strategic decision, I understand there were many technical reasons/limitations to QTP, I don't think they invested heavily in QTP, one of the technical limitation to QTP is that it doesn't support infragistics.

[vfr_rider]

I am a BA/Technical analyst from a development background, at my present gig they always ask me to do the automation testing development cuz no one wants to do it (even though I have not done it before) at the start I was pi$$ed off about having to learn all this scripting stuff and tools (QTP and TestComplete) especially its nothing to do with my role, OK as a BA I normally get involved with testing but normally the UAT part, not the automation systems testing, however, seeing your post above made me feel better

automation is my speciality. get into it properly and you might find yourself hooked - it's utterly fascinating and extremely satisfying when you eventually make it work

[vfr_rider]

Problem with test automation as a contractor is that most clients want someone with the skills but hardly ever get around to actually implementing the tools or implementing test automation on the project.

exactly. usually as a result of being put off by the initial up front cost of both the tooling and the approach itself - which needs to be done properly for any sort of payoff further down the project.