Improving the software testing skills of novices during onboarding through social transparency

Abstract

Inexperienced software developers - for example, undergraduates entering the workforce - exhibit a lack of testing skills. They have trouble understanding and applying basic testing techniques. These inexperienced developers are hired by software companies, where this lack of testing skills has already been recognized. Companies allocate valuable resources and invest time and money in different onboarding strategies to introduce new hires to the organization’s testing practices. However, if the lack of testing skills is not addressed properly, the new hire is left to her own devices. This hinders her in becoming a high-quality engineer for the software company. This thesis proposes to improve the onboarding strategies with traits of social transparency in order to specifically address testing issues of inexperienced new hires. Social transparency has been shown to influence the testing behavior of development teams on a social coding site. An environment that is open for discussion helps newcomers to understand and adapt a team’s testing culture. Tailoring the onboarding process to better address testing skills of new hires makes it more effective and more efficient. This reduces the danger of carrying new hire’s testing deficits into commercial software development.