TOP 5 books about testing

What should you expect while working in the IT field - in an area where there is an endless stream of new information? Definitely, you need to tune in to a long endless learning process throughout your career.

What is the role of self-study in a career?

An important skill of IT workers, after knowing English, is self-study. It is necessary to have stable motivation to learn how to set goals and achieve them, by learning new material and gaining practical experience. In the process of constant evolution and modernization of technology, self-education helps to be progressive, forward-looking and keep up with the times. Being attentive to this process will allow you to understand and assimilate new knowledge that will remain with you for a long time.

Some tips for successful self-study:

• Learn about new, yet incomprehensible things. Do not ignore any unfamiliar term.
• Discipline. No one controls the learning process except you, you need to develop self-discipline.
• Apply different teaching methods. Do not just take courses or just read books, you can combine everything and then the self-study will not seem so monotonous.
• Form a habit. It is better to study every day for half an hour than once a week - all day.
• Go out of your comfort zone. Apply the acquired knowledge on practice, discuss the poorly studied material. A survey for the  experienced colleagues about the necessary literature can have useful advice and  they will be able to recommend and comment on the books they have read.
• Take short notes. During or after reading the book, write down the main ideas in your own words to assimilate the material you have read. You can also use text highlighting, focusing on the main thing, making notes in the form of schemes, diagrams, tables. From time to time it is necessary to re-read your notes - this will refresh the memory of the main things, in the books you have read long ago, and will help in further work.

With the help of what resources are self-learning possible? You can define the personal training program - it can be books, online courses, conferences, seminars, or online resources. Well-known search engines can help you to find the information you need, displaying the required information for quick perception, but when working with the Internet, you also need the skill of filtering the information, because the quality of information from the network is not always reliable. Books are another matter.
They describe and formulate various broad topics step by step with a smooth transition between sections, which is very necessary in understanding technical literature, because it is not always easy to study it. It is necessary to start self-education from relevant and high-quality sources, from well-known books read by more than one dozen IT specialists, from books that have benefited not only newbie testers, but are also used by leading experts in this field.

The first problem that you can face when choosing a book is the insufficient level of English. If knowledge of a foreign language allows you to read technical documentation, then there is no point in wasting time on Russian-language books and their versions. It is better to start reading the material in English, which is so widespread in the IT sphere - this will help you immediately understand the terms, the initial basics of testing, and will undoubtedly help to expand your professional knowledge.

There is no one universal book that will be relevant throughout the entire time, from the advent of software testing to the present, and is unlikely to ever appear.

List 5 books on testing for beginners and more advanced ones.

1. Roman Savin «Testing Dot Com, or A Manual on Abuse of Bugs in Internet Startups»

This book has become a true classic of the genre. With its help, most beginners take the first step in learning software testing. It is quite easy to read, even the terms are duplicated in English and Russian. This literature can hardly be called serious; rather, it is general material with useful recommendations, which is very diluted with jokes.

2. Svyatoslav Kulikov «Software testing. Basic course»

Perfectly complements the initial knowledge about testing, contains a lot of new terminology that must be understood and remembered. The book is a conversation with the reader, which is why it is easily perceived. With the help of questions at the end of sections, you can take out the main from the сhapter. The book was written based on the author's personal experience, therefore, common questions and difficulties of novice testers are included.

3. Glenford J. Myers «The Art of Software Testing»

Universal book for different levels of testers. Despite the old publication date, it is constantly updated and supplemented with relevant material. Contains amusing examples, some of which are easy to understand and others to think about. Classic testing principles are also described.

4. Lee Copeland «A Practitioner’s Guide to Software Test Design»

Book describes the topic of test design well, attracts with its accuracy and many examples. Available only in English, which will help you familiarize yourself with the terminology. Most of the tips can be tried out right away. The structure of the information provided is also important, the author often uses tables in the book. Examples and tables will help you to better understand and remember the material. But, you should take into account the fact that the book is narrowly focused, unlike other books on testing.

5. Boris Beizer «Black box testing. Technologies for Functional Testing of Software and Systems»

Serious and well-known book intended for testers and programmers. The description deeply covers the main issues during software testing. The book describes how to find the maximum errors with the minimum amount of cost. It should also be noted that it was written in an accessible language for different levels of English knowledge.

There are many well-known and worthy books on testing, including for each branch separately. All books differ both in the degree of perception and in the teaching method. They discover the new things in an interesting field and teach with their practical tasks and advice. In IT, it is important to test everything in practice, but theory is no less significant. By studying theory, many of the daily and complex things in testing will become simple and clear.