How to get started with testing

Every now and then someone asks me: „Where should I start if I’m interested in testing?“. My typical course of action was to pull together a list of links to all kinds of resources and hand it to the interested person.

However, at one point I was surrounded by ten people who asked the same question, so I decided to make my ‚starter kit‚ public and easily shareable for all.

I’ve seen quite a few lists of resources for testers over several years. I’m thankful for these curated and well-selected lists that people have put together, and which I also often use. But for these lists to be useful, you typically need to have some sense of context to decide what to read first and to successfully filter the information. Some of the lists are very long, so just looking at them may make you feel hopeless. At least that’s how I remember feeling when I got started in testing: so much information that I should know.

So I wanted to create a ’nutshell‘ that is manageable. Something that guides you instead of being a catalogue of rabbit holes. Something that suggests different directions, and also contains some practical bits. Because how else to decide if you’re really interested in testing if you don’t actually try it out.

If you’re curious about testing and are looking to dip in your toes, then my starter kit is probably for you. You can always move on from this to search for more stuff that interests you when you’re ready to dive deep (and get positively overwhelmed).