[What does an Automation Engineer in Testing do?]

Community Discussion Automation Test
#1

I’m sharing a jobs profile 6 for an Automation Engineer in Testing role.

The jobs profile below is a list of broad tasks that an Automation Engineer in Testing would complete as part of their job. We collated this list from over 100 surveys taken by Automators and Managers.

Job Profile For an Automation Engineer in Testing Tasks:

Creating The Automation Strategy

Building a Framework / Architecture

Creating Automated Tests

Setting up Test Environments

Setting up CI/CD pipeline

Investigate Failed Automated Tests

Reporting Automation Results

Maintaining Automated Tests

Maintaining Framework / Architecture

Maintaining Test Environments

Developing Testing Tools (not automated tests/checks)

This profile has been developed as part of the Automation Curriculum project where MoT aims to create a modern, open-source curriculum for those looking to get into Automation in Testing.

I’d love to know what you think of this list. Is there anything missing? Is there any task that you think is beyond scope? Or maybe you’d like to share any common pitfalls or misconceptions you’ve encountered when completing any of these tasks.

All feedback is welcome. We want to build a comprehensive and relevant curriculum for the community. Let me know your thoughts.

#2

Greetings!

I personally cringe at the title of Automation Engineer preferring the broader Test Engineer. While most of your list is a part of what a Engineer does, I believe there is a very critical part that encourages collaboration and participates in design AND requirements sessions (much like @conrad.braam suggests). This role is also a conduit between Testers and Developers to facilitate a test approach that yields maximum coverage of risk-based scenarios at both a unit test and integration test levels. Assisting in test design and consulting on where automation may be beneficial is, in my opinion, also important.

I don’t believe that “Building a Framework / Architecture” should be part of the profile. I have seen too many frameworks built only to have the framework steal time away from the Engineer for maintenance when they should be performing the more valuable parts of the role.
Indeed, your list includes maintenance and I agree there is a certain amount required. There are many third-party and community-supported frameworks that should be adopted for automation projects so the Engineer can focus on testing rather than developing. In that manner, the Engineer is maintaining tests (which is on the list) rather than frameworks.