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I don't want to bring any argument. Just want to know who should do the automation test.

I heard from somebody that automation is a dev activity should own by developers. But I should 100% think this is the tester's duty, because of the purpose is testing.

Like a singer, his or her tool may be guitar for the show.

So, how do you think?

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  • Lucas, this isn't a good fit for a question and answer site like Stack Exchange. As worded, it's just a trigger for discussion - it would be better in a forum aimed at discussion, or if you want to discuss here, head over to chat.
    – testerab
    Commented Sep 7, 2014 at 21:13

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The exact answer to this question is opinion based, although saying automation testing is 100% the developers job or 100% the testers job is clearly incorrect.

Just like there are many kinds of developers, and many kinds of testers, there are also many kinds of automated tests - and people discussing automated tests don't always agree what kinds of tests they are talking about. Very low level tests like Unit Tests are clearly the job of the same person who writes the code (not "another developer" but "the same person"). Everything else is not so clear anymore, and details vary from company to company, department to department, and team to team. But all kinds of test automation (beyond Unit Tests) require the collaboration of testers and developers. Testers can give valuable input on how the tests should be structured, developers can give valuable input on how the tests can be implemented.

The short answer to your question is: If you have an argument like that, both sides of the argument need professional training on test automation. Such situations rarely get resolved with discussion.

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  • Thanks for the reply, I think it's helpful for me. Is it automation or is it automation test? Everyone can do automation, but tester should be the most suitable for doing test (that's not a word game). Automation test is essentially a quality assurance work, while automation could make the work be more efficiency. You don't need to be a super star on the code, but should integrate all kinds of things to help you.
    – Lucas Luo
    Commented Sep 5, 2014 at 6:57
  • @Lucas This related question may be helpful too: sqa.stackexchange.com/questions/6493/…
    – Peter
    Commented Sep 5, 2014 at 7:10
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I think we have two types of testers:

  • Manual Testers (Write test cases, run manual test-suites, Processes, etc)
  • Software Test Engineers (Developers who only write automated test suites)

Personally I think you should have focus on one or the other. Its very hard to combine both into a single person and therefor manual testers should not do test automation. If in a team this means the developers write all the automated test so be it.

Also see my answer to this question: Suite of automated tests - owned by devs or testers?

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Why not both? Tester has the test idea and the dev codes it up

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Basically developers do test their codes, no question about it. However, there is a proper set of test processes in which a software should undergo and this is the job of a Software Quality Assurance Engineer. To ensure that the released software is stable, it is being tested through a series of software tests. For instance, Google has their SET(Software Engineering Test) to check their products before public release. Hence, a simple log in page may consists of around 5 test cases.

For more information about Software Testing, please search it on Google.

Happy Testing!

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  • I agree that dev should test his/her code, especially for the unit test to prevent 50% defect from being introduced into system. However, to make testing more efficiency that we need to automate the repeatable work. And automation or say coding should be a basic skill for a tester, a weapon for fighting enemy.
    – Lucas Luo
    Commented Sep 5, 2014 at 6:23
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There are two Type of Automation (in this specific Scenario)

  1. Unit Test Automation, in which we develop automation scripts for Unit testing. I have seen project where Jmeter and other tools are used and the automation testing teams doing this automation with the help of Developers.

  2. Function Test Automation, in which Automation team gets the product / service with test cases (Waterfall model not agile that is different story) and do the automation using specific automation testing tools.

Now For your precise question "Who Should Do the Automation Test ? " (in which you have not cleared what automation) Answer is Test Automation team should do the automation.

If you ask any of the following questions then answer(s) will be different

Who should do the Unit Test Automation ?

Who should do the Load Automation Test ?

Who should do the non function Automation test ?

Who should do the Black box test automation ? (In other words Functional automation)

Then There are several (read hundreds) other test automation areas.

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