What Makes My Articles Unique? Part 1: Originally for my daughter and myself.
Uncompromised and direct views from 18+ years of hands-on Test Automation experience, International Award-Winning Software Developer, and Micro-ISV
After three years of writing on Medium, the number of individuals following my blog has now surpassed 3000. As E2E test automation (my main topic) is relatively quite small in software development, I don’t know (and don’t care) whether the 3K is big or not.
Anyway, I would like to take this opportunity to reflect on my three years of writing on Medium and share it with my subscribers. (I prefer not to use the term ‘followers’. We are equal; a reader who likes one of my articles might be interested in more, that’s all).
I consider my articles to be quite unique. Unique does not infer high quality or correctness, and of course, every tech blogger can claim that. I list my reasons in this article series so that my subscribers can understand how I write articles.
Table of Contents:
· The main purpose of my blogging is to help my daughter’s career in IT
∘ This purpose decides the content
∘ This purpose sets the non-commercial direction
· My Medium Articles became my searchable notes
· I care about my audience, too
The main purpose of my blogging is to help my daughter’s career in IT
Articles in technical fields, particularly those focused on cold areas like E2E Test Automation, have a limited audience. To my knowledge, few individuals (excluding commercial promoters) consistently write so many articles about E2E Test Automation and Continuous Testing. Also, real test automation engineers are extremely rare, even at software giants (see quotes here).
My motive was simple. Three years ago, as my daughter approached her graduation from University with a major in computer science, I felt compelled to document the knowledge and wisdom acquired over my 25-year career. Mastering E2E test automation was the best thing that ever happened to my software career. My hope was that these writings could aid my daughter in securing a job or advancing her career in the field of IT.
Also, I think writing skills are important to software engineers. Why Are Good Writing Skills Important for Good Software Engineers?
To convince my daughter, I lead by example.
This purpose decides the content
Long-time readers might know that my articles cover a range of topics, such as:
Web Test Automation
mostly in Selenium WebDriver + RSpec, but might include others e.g. Playwright;
mostly in Ruby, but it might include examples in Java, C#, and JavaScript.Desktop App Test Automation
Using Appium + WinAppDriver in RSpec.
Some might wonder, Why not Mobile Test Automation, in which Appium dominates? The reason: my daughter knows more than me on that. She is writing a book on this.
API Testing
Continuous Testing
Software Design
e.g. Design PatternsPerformance and Load Testing
Behaviours in Fake Agile Teams
Real Stories that I experienced and with teaching values
Writing
Side Hustles and Passive Income
Numerous article ideas sparked from my conversations with my daughter, particularly topics (such as, e.g. someone demonstrating ‘codeless test automation’ or proposing to use Cypress) where I can leverage my knowledge and experience to offer guidance for her present or forthcoming challenges.
Therefore, my articles might appear unorganized and on a wide range of topics.
This purpose sets the non-commercial direction
Most parents would give the best advice to their children and endeavour to exhibit integrity in their presence. I don’t want to compromise that with commercial influence in my writing. For example, I can’t take money to write nice things about a ‘codeless testing tool’ while I have been telling my daughter “Codeless Test Automation is Irrational”. I simply won’t do that.
Long-time readers know that I can script JavaScript tests well. JavaScript, unfortunately, has dominated the E2E Test automation over recent years, but with a bad reputation. Writing articles using JavaScript certainly would boost my audience. But, I wouldn’t do that. My daughter knows that I have been primarily scripting test automation in Ruby, which I deeply enjoy.
My Medium Articles became my searchable notes
The other primary audience of my article is myself. Why? I often receive inquiries and requests for help from my book readers, former colleagues, and LinkedIn contacts. I would answer every one, within my reach.
However, replying to LinkedIn DM or emails is not effective. Why?
My immediate response might not be well-thought-through
Long text is hard to convey, and people can easily misinterpret
I often needed to reply to similar questions repeatedly
I discovered that these articles (I wrote on Medium) are handy. I just need to post the article link back. Whether they will read and follow is not my concern, I provided the best possible answer.
Soon, I found another good use of my Medium articles: they became my searchable notes.
For example, I forgot a quote by Steve McConnel about regression testing. But I remember I wrote it along with some book quotes in my ‘regression testing clarified’ article.
I google “zhiminzhan medium regression testing”, then get it.
Another example: During a consulting session, I encountered a web page using Shadow Dom. Previously, I would get my “Selenium WebDriver Recipe” book to find a recipe (a working example). Now, I have a new approach: Google “zhiminzhan medium shadow dom”.
I suggest you give a try of “zhiminzhan medium XXX” when facing a test automation challenge or wanting to clear a particular concept.
I care about my audience, too
A motivated QA Engineer receives the same guidance I provide to my daughter through my Medium articles and books. The sole distinction is that she has access to my mentoring conveniently, free of charge.
I respond to meaningful questions received on Medium. While some have requested articles on specific topics, I can’t guarantee that. Understanding my approach to writing articles, some readers might comprehend why.
In fact, I responded to quite a number of requests from Medium readers. The results were not satisfactory, mainly due to my working habits as a test automaton mentor.
While working with a mentee (who, or his/her company, pays $525 for 2 hours of my time), I give the best answer directly. Then, I would show them how it is done immediately. The situation is quite different when answering questions anonymously, in asynchronous mode. My best advice, which involves hands-on action, won’t be treated with respect and realized.
Anyhow, I welcome my readers to share their professional views, which I can learn from.
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