I was looking at the MoT courses page and it got me thinking about what would be the best order in which should a junior tester take these courses. I came up with an order which made sense to me (especially the begging of the list seemed pretty clear), but, I’m wondering if there is room to optimize the order and maybe add some other learning resources to the list.
Suggested order in which to take courses
-
Essentials - Introduction to Software Development and Testing - a broad overview of software development, roles, and place of testing in SDLC
-
Optimising Manual Test Scripts For An Agile Environment - Matt Archer
-
Be Wise, Do Pairwise - Use the pairwise technique for your tests
-
Bug Reporting 101 - Neil Studd - improve your bug reports
-
The Building Blocks of the Internet - Mark Winteringham - how the internet works in a nutshell
-
Introduction To HTTP - Mark Winteringham - HTTP protocol explained, very important for API testing
-
Automating API Checks With RestSharp - Hilary Weaver-Robb - learn about API automated testing after covering how the internet works, most notably the HTTP protocol, take this course if you’re using C# language
-
For Java route of API automated testing take:
- Introduction to Java - Mike Talks - good intro to Java language, before diving into REST-Assured
- Let’s Build an API Checking Framework - Mark Winteringham - take after the Java introduction and learn how to automate HTTP requests with REST-Assured
-
A Software Tester’s Guide To Chrome Devtools - how to use DevTools, extremely good to know for testing web application
-
Coding For Non-Coders - Jim Holmes - learn extremely important general concepts that will make your life as a tester easier
-
Linux Commands for Beginners - Lim Sim - essential terminal commands
-
Introduction to JavaScript - Mark Winteringham - understanding JavaScript is really useful to be better at testing web applications
-
Introduction to Cypress - take this one after going over JS basics
-
Introduction To Accessibility Testing - basics of accessibility testing, which has been increasingly important in the past few years
-
Beginner’s Guide To Mobile Testing - Daniel Knott - introduction to testing mobile apps, where mobile testing specifics are very well explained
-
Web Application Security Testing 101 - Dan Billing - useful overview of security testing, even though this testing is usually done by highly experienced specialists, knowing the basics is very useful for any tester.
-
Performance Testing 101 - Simon Knight - why is it important and how does knowing the basics of performance with JMeter testing helps make use a better all-around tester.
-
The Complete Guide To CSS Selectors - important for UI automation
-
The Complete Guide To XPath - also important for UI automation
-
Introduction to Python for Software Testers - Dave Westerveld - Only take this one if you’ll be using Python for test automation
Bonus:
- Improving Your Testing Through Operability - not required for juniors per se, as it involves “shift-right” testing in production and not many companies are doing this.
- Introduction To Modern Testing - Alan Page - alternative to traditional testing, not mandatory to be aware of it in the earliest stages of your career. It will make sense as you take note of issues with the old-school approach to testing. Modern testing is rare to see in outsourcing/staffing companies and highly regulated industries where
- 30 Days Of Agile Testing - a 30 challenge where you get to learn a different thing about Agile testing (pairing, visualizing, analyzing risks, etc.) every day and share it with the community, good as a source of motivation for learning. There are plenty of other 30-day challenges you can check out here.