How long will it take to learn the Selenium tool?

Selenium is a software used for software testing and is a free (open source) automated the testing tool, a combination of tool and a domain-specific language (DSL). Focused on automating web-based applications. To complete selenium successfully, require some programming language like Java, C#, Python, C, Perl, etc. (no need to learn all languages, only one require)

Selenium has grown tremendously and has become one of the most integral parts of various businesses. When it comes to web testing tools, Selenium has surely become one of the best in the industry to help you with automation testing services.

Selenium is having a wider scope in the future as tools are emerging to make and supports Linux, Windows, and OSX. The job opportunities in selenium testing will be available at all times for skilled and training professionals.

The rise in web components with the blocking of APIs by Mozilla, Chrome, and Edge has literally enhanced the use of testing tools. Being the poster boy, the use of Selenium has seen around 300% growth in terms of the job posting in the last 3 years.

As the number of companies has started to use web applications the need for Selenium is shooting up. You will find a number of vendor tool providers are making use of Selenium technology which can help with web application testing. Selenium has experienced good growth in a short period of time and this has boosted the market for test automation.

The clients will be able to receive ROI quicker as the testing cycles get lesser with the use of Selenium. So, as automation test experts, one must have a complete understanding of the domain on the specific application they are working upon. Below mentioned are some of the popular job roles you can consider to work as a Selenium WebDriver professional, take a look:

·        Automation Test Lead

·        Senior Test Engineer

·        Quality Engineer

·        Selenium Automation Analyst

·        QA Engineer

The most interesting part is the industry has experienced a humongous surge in creating job opportunities with very exciting packages. So, you must take the assistance of experts and get yourself qualified enough to make the best of the respective opportunities.

In the present scenario of the IT industry, Selenium is the perfect option for automated website testing. It is being popular with its use rising at a rapid pace as time goes on. It is the first preferred choice of automation testers as well as companies for automating the web-based application testing for both GUI as well as the functionality.

If you are interested in learning Selenium Automation Testing then I would recommend you to enrol in Technogeeks training program by working IT professionals with hands-on projects to get best practice for it.

What are the different types of locators in Selenium?

Locator is a command that tells Selenium IDE which GUI elements (say Text Box, Buttons, Check Boxes etc) it needs to operate on.  Identification of correct GUI elements is a prerequisite to creating an automation script.

There are various types of locators, using which we can identify a web element uniquely on the Webpage. The following figure shows a good depiction of several types of locators that Selenium supports.

Here are the locators included in Selenium: -

Id: This is the most common way of locating elements since ID's are supposed to be unique for each element. It is similar to a class, we can also identify elements by using the ‘id’ attribute. Target Format: id=id of the element.

Name: Name attribute can also identify an element. Locating elements by name are very similar to locating by ID, except that we use the "name=" prefix instead. Target Format: name=name of the element.

Link: Text used in hyperlinks can also locate elements. In other words, this type of locator applies only to hyperlink texts. We access the link by prefixing our target with "link=" and then followed by the hyperlink text. Target Format: link=link_text

DOM: The Document Object Model (DOM), in simple terms, is the way by which HTML elements are structured. Selenium IDE is able to use the DOM in accessing page elements. If we use this method, our Target box will always start with "dom=document..."; however, the "dom=" the prefix is normally removed because Selenium IDE is able to automatically interpret anything that starts with the keyword "document" to be a path within the DOM anyway.

XPath: Xpath is the language used to query the XML document. The same can uniquely identify the web element on any page. Since HTML can be thought of as an implementation of XML, we can also use XPath in locating HTML elements.

CSS: CSS is used to create style rules for webpages and can be used to identify any web element. CSS Selectors are string patterns used to identify an element based on a combination of HTML tag, id, class, and attributes. Locating by CSS Selector is more complicated than the previous methods, but it is the most common locating strategy of advanced Selenium users because it can access even those elements that have no ID or name.

If you are looking for hands-on training with projects then I would recommend you to enrol in Technogeeks Selenium Automation Testing program under a working IT professional.

What is the best available certification on Selenium?

There are no such official certifications in Selenium which can be pursued to portray your skill because it is an open-source community. But yes, there are various Selenium Certification is available in the market. But only the right certification will lead to a great career path. Even if you are looking for any certification then you can go for ISTQB.

Full form of ISTQB is "International Software Testing Qualifications Board." It offers internationally recognized certifications called "ISTQB Certified Tester."

But here is a few pointers which might assist you in your decision:

·        Foremost nothing beats experience. No certification can provide the exposure and the training you get while working on real-time projects.

·        If you are a fresher, or are from a non-technical background and trying to get a job in the software industry, certification will help. Just think about it, as an employer, I do not have any other parameters to judge your technical calibre, so certification is a good start point.

·        If you are an experienced professional and looking for a job change, a certification will embellish your resume. More so, no matter how rich your experience may be, there will always be some new area of QA that you will learn while studying for the certification. But do not think that you will get a job just based on the certification.

Certifications have found its way in almost every industry. The reason being, certifications are helpful to advance the career. Not to mention it allows candidates to evaluate their skills and knowledge. Moreover, these work as a recognition of their competency and shows your commitment towards your profession.

There are various certification bodies which offer certification in selenium. Therefore, you may find various training institutes who offer the same. However, don’t get lured by them. Now, understand and keep this in mind that there are only a few who are widely accepted. So, make sure you make your choice wisely.

When you have the knowledge, it will help you ace your interview. So, don’t expect there to be any certification which will make your resume stronger. Instead, you should focus on improving your skills.

So, I would recommend you to enrol in Technogeeks Selenium Automation Testing certification training program by working IT professionals with hands-on experience in projects. After the completion, of course, you will also be awarded course completion certificate which is industry recognizable and will also help you with mock interview and resume preparation.

Which one is better for an automation testing career, Selenium or RPA?

Selenium is a widely accepted and popularly used testing tool that does automated testing of web applications with amazing ease and speed. It is the open-source interface used for automation testing. With so many tools around, the market is shifting towards automation testing rather than manual testing. Automation Testing is cost-saving and errorless. If walking on the road is manual testing then choosing a vehicle is automation testing. Selenium automates the test scripts.

Gaining technical knowledge of Selenium is obviously the right choice for you. Because the future is with qualified Selenium test automation engineers. Since companies are increasingly making use of web applications, test automation market trends are steadily shooting up with extensive demand with Selenium.

RPA can be used to perform any type of monotonous work at the UI level related to web applications. Some of the tasks that RPA can perform with ease and save a lot of time and cost are listed here: -

· Website scraping

· Data Transfer from one system to another

· Front office operations such as patient registration

· Online shopping-related transactions such as sending shipping updates to customers, order updates, etc.

· Basic HR operations such as payroll processing and forms processing

· Processing and working with credit card applications.

Scope of an RPA Developer: -

· RPA developers are already in an under-supply number decorated in the DREAM qualifications of - skills, background, training and most important- the experience.

· Committed RPA enthusiasts are always looking for creating well versed and technology-oriented tools and techniques using the RPA structure.

· Due to the skills shortage, employers are often looking for skills-oriented and well-trained individuals in RPA.

· Thus, there are fair chances of getting a guaranteed job after undergoing RPA training.

They both are not in competition with each other but two very important aspects of the software that depend on each other for achieving the desired result. The generally seen comparison across the two doesn’t stand. We can also understand that testing software’s are necessary tool all across the operation of an organization hence it’s a daily tool and cost-effective and amendable to updates wherever required whereas an RPA is more specific to the industrial requirements and not just in the initial stage but right across the implementation of the automation system many global factors like the lack of desired skills, employee turnover and requirement of the higher volume of products and services are driving full-scale automation of sectors of business that was traditionally manpower dominated. The future definitely looks bright for the combination.

If you are looking to learn these technologies then I would recommend you to take a look in Technogeeks training program by working in professionals with hands-on projects.

Is data science really a rising career?

A huge amount of data is generated every day by companies. This means every company is now sitting with a pile of data and does not really know what to do with that data. So, to organize this volume of data and draw meaningful insights from it, they require people who are experts in Data Science.

Organizations (irrespective of their size) are on the lookout of those employees who can fathom as well as synthesize data and then, in turn, communicate those very outcomes in a method that serves advantageous to the organization and assists the management in making decisions.

A data scientist can work in any global location. In addition, along with the technology industry, a data scientist can work in different industries as well as domains, ranging from pharma/healthcare to sales/marketing. They can also work in domains like consulting, financial services, CPG industries, and retail.

Apart from the above-mentioned uses, data science has proven to solve many complex real-time problems. A few examples of the real-world problems which have found peace in the modern-day data-driven solutions are:

· Advancement in the field of data science has made it easier to detect fraud and abuse in insurance firms now. The credit card fraud detection system works on similar grounds. It protects the security of customers, thus, minimizing losses due to fraud.

· Automated piloting: The concept behind self-driven vehicles runs on data science. Still, in its nascent stage, this will change the functioning of the automobile industry entirely.

· Prediction of short term (local) and long term (global) weather.

The demand for professionals in data is increasing due to the rise in the popularity of data-driven decision making. Where people used Excel to work on data earlier, tools like Hadoop have nowadays secured a place for managing Big Data. With frequent advancement in technology, several other tools find a meaningful use for organizations to make impactful decisions. The usage of a few is listed below:

· Tools like Python and R have witnessed exceptional improvements in their codes. These allow users to solve complex problems with only a few lines of codes.

· Google Analytics is another effective tool for the marketing department.

· Tools like Tableau, Microsoft Power BI and Sisense have found relevance in the business intelligence departments for the purpose of data visualization.

Nowadays, there are plenty of options for data science training that one can opt for. There are many institutes offering data science courses and I would recommend you to enrol in Technogeeks data science program, they offer the best combination of data science courses which are in demand and the course which they offer is provided by working IT professionals.

What should I learn, AI or blockchain?

Artificial Intelligence is the science and engineering of making computer machines able to perform tasks which normally require human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making, and translation between languages.

The ultimate effort is to make a computer programs that can solve problems and achieve goals in the world, as well as humans.

There is a scope in developing the machines in game playing, speech recognition machine, language detection machine, computer vision, expert systems, robotics and many more.

70% of the companies in the world believe that they need to adopt Artificial Intelligence, in some way or another, to remain competitive by 2020. While most of them have already started using Artificial Intelligence to automate most of their work-force. The use of Artificial Intelligence has helped companies in being more productive in less time.

The biggest challenge corporates across the globe are facing is the lack of Artificial Intelligence professionals. The rate at which the field of Artificial Intelligence is growing the demand for Artificial Intelligence professionals are growing at the same rate or even faster.

Blockchain has given rise to a new field of development called blockchain development. Blockchain development involves developing and optimizing blockchain protocols and crafting the architecture of blockchain systems. A blockchain developer is responsible for creating integrated smart contracts and web applications using blockchain technology. The two types of blockchain developers are:

·        Core Blockchain Developers: They develop and design the architecture and protocols of a blockchain system and design consensus protocols and high-level development decisions related to blockchain.

·        Blockchain Software Developers: They use the protocols and architecture designed by core blockchain developers to build decentralized applications.

As Blockchain technology continues to evolve, so will its professional opportunities. The Blockchain is here with us to stay which means that Blockchain Expertise is to be in high demand for years and years to come. So, whether you are a techie or not, a career in Blockchain is a new and exciting opportunity worth exploring.

The combination of AI and blockchain holds many exciting potential applications. It’s worth remembering, though, that these technologies are still very young. Most of these hybrid applications will take years to develop or may not even develop at all. They’re certainly powerful ideas, but researchers and developers should take great care when working on such projects. The ethical implications of both blockchain and AI are massive, and the stakes are high for the economy, governance, and society as a whole.

If you are looking to learn these technologies then I would recommend you to enrol in Technogeeks training program under a working IT professional.

What kind of degree do I need to work with/on artificial intelligence?

AI is a sound career choice for a while now and as the adoption of AI in various verticals continues to grow, the demand for trained professionals to do the jobs created by this growth is also skyrocketing. Even though many AI pundits have prophesied that this technology will wipe out a massive amount of human jobs, there other pundits too who have said this will offer many unique and viable career opportunities. Therefore, if you are an AI enthusiast then be optimistic and prepare for a great career in AI.

Basic computer technology and math backgrounds form the backbone of most artificial intelligence programs. Entry-level positions require at least a bachelor’s degree while positions entailing supervision, leadership or administrative roles frequently require master’s or doctoral degrees. Typical coursework involves the study of:

·    Various levels of math, including probability, statistics, algebra, calculus, logic and algorithms.

·        Bayesian networking or graphical modelling, including neural nets.

·        Physics, engineering and robotics.

·        Computer science, programming languages and coding.

·        Cognitive science theory.

Candidates can find degree programs that offer specific majors in AI or pursue an AI specialization from within majors such as computer science, health informatics, graphic design, information technology or engineering.

Earning a bachelor’s degree in artificial intelligence can develop strong analytical thinking skills and problem-solving abilities that benefit graduates personally and professionally. Graduates may also develop proficiency in data mining and analysis that will open doors in a diverse range of industries. 

Having a bachelor’s degree in artificial intelligence may open the door to new and exciting career paths. Possible jobs include data scientist, machine learning specialist, or computer engineer. Someone who enjoys teaching could train others to develop and use artificial intelligence or may wish to teach at the secondary level or in higher education. Another alternative is working in sales for companies that market artificial intelligence applications to consumers. This is a growing field, so jobs may become available in a few years that do not exist today.

If you are not able or interested to do a degree in AI then you can also opt for an AI course from any reputed institution that will also help you to get into Artificial Intelligence field and boost your career in AI. So, I would recommend you to enrol in Technogeeks AI program, the course they offer is provided by working IT professionals and after the completion, of course, you will also get certification which is recognisable in the IT industry.