Onboarding inexperienced developers: struggles and perceptions regarding automated testing

Abstract

Previous research found that inexperienced software engineers may tend to view automatic testing as a waste of time and as an activity completely separate from programming. This could have a negative impact on their later careers and could be a sign that improvements in software engineering education are needed when it comes to testing. At the same time, this stance could negatively influence the perception that practitioners have of recent university graduates. To explore this issue, we conducted a qualitative study and surveyed 170 and interviewed 22 practitioners about their experiences with recent graduates, focusing on software testing skills. We find that practitioners do recognize a skill gap between university graduates and industry expectations and that this perception could be engrained deeply enough already to influence hiring practices. Practitioners use different and at times costly strategies to alleviate this skill gap, such as training and mentoring efforts. We validated core findings in a survey with 698 professional software developers. Our qualitative insights can help industry, research, and educational institutions guide in-depth studies that explore the severity of the effects we have found. The coping strategies we have found can provide valuable starting points that can inform changes in how we educate the software engineers of the future.