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I've talked to hundreds, if not thousands of developers at this point, and I think that although mobile test automation isn't as common as it should be, it's definitely growing in popularity (Think of the rise in popularity around web automation via frameworks like Selenium over the past 10 years). One of the major reasons is competition is ridiculously fierce and customers are very unforgiving, so quality is increasingly important. Regarding tools, on both of the major platforms there are a number of popular, open source frameworks for writing tests. Robotium, UI Automator, Calabash, UI Automation, KIF, and on and on. Which one is best depends on the people creating the automation and the type of app under test. Lastly, regarding the education piece, you're absolutely right. Automation is a software engineering project, yet all too often it's not treated like one. You can look for a magical solution (Test recorders, "crawlers," etc), but in the end it takes time to build sustainable tests, and those magical solutions end up being hindrances in the long run. Disclaimer: I'm a founder at AppThwack...and even though we have a built-in compatibility suite with an automatic app explorer and stress test, I still push everyone I talk to to invest in engineering good, reliable test automation. We come from the enterprise world of test automation and have seen the massive time and money sinks a poor automation strategy creates. P.S. Congrats Kevin! Best of luck at Appurify! |