What Skills Do You Need to Become an Automation Tester?

Should this test be automated?
Runs often (every release)? ............... yes / no
Stable feature (not changing weekly)? ..... yes / no
Clear expected result? .................... yes / no
Tedious or error-prone manually? .......... yes / no
Mostly yes -> automate
Mostly no  -> keep manual or exploratory

# Readable test code: clear names, one purpose per function
def calculate_discount(total: float, coupon_percent: int) -> float:
    if not 0 <= coupon_percent <= 100:
        raise ValueError("coupon percent must be 0-100")
    return round(total * coupon_percent / 100, 2)

def test_ten_percent_coupon_on_1000_gives_100():
    assert calculate_discount(1000, 10) == 100.0

import requests

def test_create_post_returns_201():
    payload = {"title": "Automation", "body": "Learning API tests", "userId": 1}
    r = requests.post("https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/posts", json=payload, timeout=10)
    assert r.status_code == 201
    body = r.json()
    assert body["title"] == "Automation"
    assert "id" in body

import { test, expect } from "@playwright/test";

test("todo can be added", async ({ page }) => {
  await page.goto("https://demo.playwright.dev/todomvc");
  await page.getByPlaceholder("What needs to be done?").fill("Learn automation");
  await page.keyboard.press("Enter");
  await expect(page.getByTestId("todo-title")).toHaveText(["Learn automation"]);
});

name: automation
on: [push, pull_request]
jobs:
  tests:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: actions/setup-python@v5
        with: { python-version: "3.12" }
      - run: pip install -r requirements.txt
      - run: pytest -q --junitxml=reports/results.xml

Flaky test triage
1. Re-run in isolation: does it fail alone or only in the suite?
2. Check timing: fixed sleeps, missing waits?
3. Check data: shared users or records between tests?
4. Check environment: slow APIs, unstable test server?
5. Fix the cause; quarantine with a ticket if it cannot be fixed today

Self-rating (0 none - 3 confident)
Test design ........................ _
Programming (Java or Python) ....... _
Git ................................ _
SQL basics ......................... _
UI automation tool ................. _
API testing ........................ _
Framework design ................... _
CI integration ..................... _
Debugging and flaky tests .......... _

Learning order
1. Test design + bug reporting
2. Programming basics + Git
3. API testing
4. One UI automation tool
5. Framework structure (page objects, fixtures)
6. CI pipeline
7. Reporting and debugging practice

Automation portfolio
[ ] Test design document for a sample app
[ ] API test suite with positive and negative tests
[ ] UI test suite with page objects
[ ] CI workflow running on every push
[ ] README explaining structure and how to run