ProtoTest Blog

LoadLabs - the Load and Performance division of ProtoTest - has released a new eBook: "Crash Proof: How to Keep Marketing Success from Causing Website Failure"

Ever since we started teaching Applied Agile Testing we have been asked a lot of questions about distributed agile teams and how they work. Up until now all I could say was, "Sounds like it would be difficult." For the last 6 months I have had the incredible opportunity to work as a tester on a widely distributed agile team and see how teams come together virtually to make it work. There are also a huge number of challenges that we have run into. This is the first in a series of challenges we have seen.

Distributed Agile Teams - Challenge # 1: Daily Stand-ups

Fundamentals of Software Testing (FOST) - July 20 - 22, 2010 (Registration deadline - July 13th)
This 3 day course covers all the key components of software testing within the software development lifecycle, as well as specialized testing techniques, metrics and exercises. You can take the optional exam and get ASTQB certified. For more information on the course, go to http://www.prototest.com/training/training or contact us at training@prototest.com. For more information on ASTQB go to http://www.astqb.org.

We are very proud to announce that ProtoTest has a new look, complete with a fresh website that makes it easier than ever to find the right QA services for your needs.

ProtoTest has recently launched a new division and service called LoadLabs, the world's first flat-rate load and performance testing solution. LoadLabs is fast, easy and affordable. It makes load and performance testing so hassle-free that there is no reason not to test. Find us at www.LoadLabs.com.

I've used a variety of tools for system monitoring during load and performance testing, but one that's impressed me lately is RPM by NewRelic, which profiles Java and Ruby web applications. It's extremely lightweight and generates a lot of useful load and performance data. I used it on a website that used Tomcat as the application server and MySQL on the backend, and RPM was able to point out some database bottlenecks pretty quickly. It's especially good at aggregating data from multiple application servers, which can be a colossal pain to monitor individually.

I love Firefox add-ons. Love em, perhaps to a fault*. Here are a few of my favorites that I've used on load and performance testing projects.

* Ironically (for a discussion about using add-ons to enhance performance testing), add-ons can degrade Firefox's own performance. Having many add-ons active can turn Firefox into a remorseless memory-sucking monster. I've tried using a number of workarounds for keeping Firefox memory usage under control, but the best solution is to disable or uninstall as many add-ons as possible.

LoadLabs could best described as a labor of love. But our HR department said we could not describe it like that. So we will say it is the culmination of a lot of hard work. LoadLabs is a wholly owned subsidiary of ProtoTest, llc. ProtoTest has been around since 1998 and has had laser like focus on the QA and software testing industry. We have been providing QA consulting services and staff augmentation for 12 years now. In all that time we have always done a lot of load and performance testing.

We talk a lot about the skill set that all testers must have, such as being detail-oriented, having good written and verbal communication skills and the ability to work in fast-paced environments. But, we know that most companies only take a cursory glance at your skills and then want to see what your personality is like. So, what personality traits make a great tester?

Enthusiastic – If you are not enthusiastic about testing most QA managers will not be interested in you. Enjoying sitting down and breaking software is almost as important as “detail-oriented”.

We here at ProtoTest enjoy our work greatly. We strive to provide great services for all of our customers. One reason we can do that is that we are tool agnostic. In other words, we don't partner with one tool vendor and do all our work with that vendor. Sure we have partnerships but none of them are exclusive. If we were tied to a certain vendor we might not have had the opportunity to work with Web Performance Inc. We have really enjoyed working with their tool - Load Tester.

Lately there seems to be a lot of press coverage about the evils of test certification from uTest’s series of “Testing the Limits” interviews.  uTest seems to be interviewing all of the “cert-slammers” in a row.  While I understand that they are just printing what their interviewees have said, the email notifications going out to subscribers sure seem to stress the cert-slammer rhetoric; that has moved me to write this response to all those cert-slammers out there in the test world.