Emily Eberly

EMILY L. EBERLY
Cincinnati, Ohio 45242 Phone: 513.481.5128 Fax: 513.661.0567
EmilyEberly@TheSoftwareTester.com

These are some of my favorite technical books and methodologies. They embody many of my core work beliefs and philosophies, and are representative of my general thought patterns and daily work habits. They are great reference items and make for interesting reading. Books such as these inspire me to learn something new from them every time I pick them up.

An interesting point to share is that I began my software testing many years ago, where very few test methodology books existed (and those that did were rather "dry"); this was certainly prior to the plethora of books and certification programs that we find available today.

I learned about software testing first hand from the truly gifted people at Apple Computer, whose test plans and methodologies were far beyond other firms' of the day. Just having come from Apple made me extremely employable, and the excellence that I pursued there and at every job thereafter, earned me a reputation in Silicon Valley as a solid, reliable, and skillful worker.

Over the years, I would seek association with the brightest minds available to me in this field. I worked diligently with ambition to become the best I could be. My skills as a technician grew and expanded into hardware, training, test automation, the writing of test plans, developing methodologies, and providing team leadership.
I gained a real sense of confirmation that what I have been doing all along was "right on target", when I discovered the outstanding people and products of Rational Software, now owned by IBM. I was pleasantly amazed to find that a lot of what I had already been doing "by hand" had been organized, streamlined, and automated, by the software development specialists at Rational. I attend their local seminars at every opportunity.

For a truly "State of the Art" experience in Software Test Automation, I am excited about the Mercury Interactive tool set - and in particular, the latest versions of Quick Test Pro and Test Director. These, in combination with some or all of the iterative RUP Software Development practices of "Test Early - Test Often and find your worst bugs early in the process, rather than later", create a dynamic and robust testing environment.

Automation, by the way, does not replace people and it sure isn't an instant "Silver Bullet". It takes a large amount of time and some very dedicated resources to ramp up the program from a tried n' true manual test environment to one that approaches full automation; noting that not everything can be or should be automated. Maintaining and enhancing a set of coordinated automated scripts from build to build also takes concerted effort. Automation is a full time development commitment and although everyone on the QA team should be involved in creating and running test scripts, it requires at least one dedicated full time expert to design and debug a robust automation methodology, to ensure consistent script development and maintenance, and to manage an efficient blend of automated and manual testing that includes progress tracking and reporting.

Another area that grabs my attention is that of virus prevention, becoming aware of which viruses are actively out there, and gaining insight into how they are spread.

And of course, I can't fail to mention my constant interest in self improvement on both the inner and outer levels.