For the past few years I have mostly been testing backend services written in Java. But now that I’ll be working more in Unity, I wanted to see if one of my favorite Java testing libraries, WireMock, is available for C# development. WireMock allows you to set up a mock HTTP service at run-time with request matching and pre-set responses. If you need to write tests with any kind of micro-service or other HTTP dependencies, then WireMock is an invaluable tool for setting up fast and reliable mock responses. Thankfully, a port is available for .Net development: WireMock.Net! Continue reading “C# Advent: WireMock.Net” →

From the ages of 9 to 18 I dedicated at least an hour most days to practicing the cello. I was far from a prodigy, but with work, private lessons, and endless nagging by my mother, I was able to achieve a moderately high level of mediocre. Seattle has one of the best youth symphony orchestra organizations in the country and for two years I played in the top level orchestra. I was clinging by my fingernails to the very back of the section, but I was there, nonetheless

It has been 30 years since I played the cello seriously, but I find many parallels between my experiences as a cellist and my career as a software tester. Being in a siloed test team, such as the ones I experienced at Microsoft, is like playing in an orchestra. Ideally, the different sections work in concert towards a shared goal, watching management for cues on where to put the most effort. But there isn’t very much communication between the dev and test teams. At my last Microsoft position, the dev and test teams were on completely different floors, so we didn’t even see each other in the break room. Continue reading “A Little Agile Night Music” →