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The Tester SkillsProgram 41 2 WhyaNew Tester SkillsProgram? This chapter starts with the existential crisis that companies face when hiring and retaining testers. Later sections provide a wider industry view and a proposed new skills set. 2.1 ExistentialCrisis for Testers TestingIsObsolete Thegeneralfeelingwasthattheapproachesofferedbytraining providers,booksand the certificationscheme(s) are no longerfit for purpose.They are outdated and have not kept pace with the industry changes experienced by all members. Replaced by Automation A common perception is that testers and testing in general can be replaced by automated approaches. Managers are swayed by the promise of Continuous Delivery (CD), pervasive automation and the emergence of machine learning and artificial intelligence. Testers have not found a way to articulate the reasons why testing is much harder to automate and eliminate than peoplebelieve. How Do You Add Value to the Team? If you ask a tester what value they bring to their teams, they find it extremely difficult to make a strong case. The argument that testing is important is won already.But how do testers explain their value?My experience is that almost all testers don’t know who their customers (stakeholders) are; theydon’tknowwhatstakeholderswantorhowthe informationtestersprovide is used to make decisions still. As a profession (if testing actually is a profession) wehave failed tomake thecase. TitlesChanging––EvolutionofSDETRole Companiesareimplementingvarious ways of redistributing testing in their teams. The Shift-Left idea has caught on, with developers taking more responsibility, testers acting as coach/mentors to devs and other team members and being more closely involved in requirements. These are all good things. More popular in the US than Europe, the SDET (Software DevelopmentEngineerinTest)roleisahardonetofill.Whatisclearisthat testingis inastateofflux.Testersarefindingithardtoassimilate thechangeandtocontribute towards it. We’re All Engineers; Everyone Must Write Code Related to the SDET approach, testers who never wrote code (and might not ever want to) are being encouraged to learn a programming or scripting language and automated test execution tools. The pressure to programand use tools is significant. This is partly because of the relentless marketing of the vendors. But it is also fuelled by a lack of understandingof what tools can and shoulddo and what they cannotand should