Either you are planning upskill yourself from Manual Tester to Automation Tester or you are planning to start a career as Automation Test Engineer/SDET choosing a right automation testing course is critical because you would be going to invest our time and money in the same in return of that we have some expectation like
To start a new career as Automation Test Engineer
To get a better salary as you up-skilled yourself from Manual + Automation.
To get higher in the hierarchy in an existing company by having some unique skills.
Below are the factors which you should consider before deciding to go with an automation testing course.
Automation Tool: In the market we have a lot of automation testing tools some of them are open-source some of them are paid tools . Moreover a single tool is generally not capable of fulfilling automation test needs like Ex- Mobile Automation , API Automation , SOAP Web Services automation , Web Application Automation.
Most of the companies prefer to go with open-source tools as they don’t need investment so we should focus more on open-source tools.
In the market many open-source tools are available but from a career perspective we should focus on those tools whose market adoption is much . We should go for the tool which is highly adopted by the companies so that in future once you will look for a job you would have the skills which are required by the company.
One of the major open-source tools which is widely adopted for Web Application automation testing is Selenium & for Rest Api automation testing is Rest Assured which is a Java Library.
If you plan to grow with-in your company and any tool which has already been adopted in your company you can go for that too.
Programming Language: Programming language is one of the most important and confusing things while choosing the automation testing course because different companies use different programming languages and it's not possible to learn all of them.
So how to choose? , we should choose the programming language which would be widely adopted and demanding in the market so that in future once you go for interviews you would have the skills which they are looking for.
As per the market analysis approx 70% companies use the Java Programming language for the automation testing so it's a good idea to start with Java and later you can learn others.
So going with an automation testing course which covers the Selenium Test Automation with Java as a Programming Language would be a good fit.
One more advantage of choosing Java is you can easily learn Rest Api automation testing with the help of Rest-Assured Java Library.
Curriculum: Curriculum plays an important factor in your learning and we fairly know this , still some points which you should be in curriculum
Should have consider basics of topic (specially for Non-IT people else it become difficult to understand the concept)
It should be extensive enough and cover all major topics (to know about the topics you can compare various curriculums from various places)
It should cover all major tools/techs which are being asked in the job description of the companies who hire for automation testing role
It should cover project based learning because coding can only be learned by doing
Keep an eye on hours of training as it's a new topic for you and someone teach it quickly it would be difficult to understand so it's one of the most important aspect
Mode of Training: Once you have decided to go for learning now you need to choose how to do it. In general you have various ways do the training like
Self placed - where you learn through pre-recorded videos and you have freedom to decide your date and time , whenever you are free you can access. This kind of training is generally less costly/free of cost but the main drawback is they are pre-recorded if you are stuck somewhere you are stuck. Some trainings have live classes twice a week but if you are stuck in general people lose interest.
Live Training - where you have classes on specific days and a trainer would teach you online and help you to resolve your doubts if you have any. But those are in general costly compared to self-paced learning.
Choosing LIVE training is generally recommended because that helps you to solve your doubts where you would have many if you are a Non-IT person or don't have programming language
Training Fee: This is the most critical part once you have decided to go for training. Below are the tips which would help you for sure.
Consider instalments Option if you go for LIVE training as in general fee is high
Go with automation testing learning package that cost less compare to learning independent course
Compare the cost of training for the same curriculum with other institutes too
Average cost of the Selenium Automation Testing Course in Canada on Udemy which is one of the best online platforms to learn is 50 USD whereas for the LIVE training it can go up-to 300 to 400 USD in Canada.
Now you know how to choose the right automation testing course and now if you are planning to join any institute to learn it , here are some more features recommended which a training institute should have.
Free Trial/Demo Classes: Institute should provide some free trial classes days so that you check the training quality and make a decision easily. Many students end up paying and later identify the trainer is not good or they are not able to understand from the training so it's an important thing.
Recorded Session: Even you are doing living training many times we end us not attending them and once we miss that if we don't have any recording we lose the track, so its important the course which you are attending should have recorded feature so that in case you miss if you can consume the missed session though video and back to the track
Free Repetition Feature: As automation testing concept is a very new concept for many of the students who join the course so it's very likely then you would not be able to understand that in the very first time. So having free repetition is a must have feature which helps to learn unless you reach perfection.
Mock Interview Preparation: We are learning automation testing to get a high paid job or increasing our knowledge. Having the mock interview increases the chances to achieve our goal because that would help you to understand where you stand and what you need to improve for the future so it's a must to have.
Resume Preparation: Once you are done with your training definitely you would like to edit your resume so that you can start applying for a job so having this feature helps a lot.