How To Become An Automation Engineer?

Automation Engineers are expert professionals who work with numerous latest tools and technologies to control product production and delivery. They are responsible for designing, developing, managing, and optimizing automated systems, often in industrial and manufacturing sectors. These professionals automate and streamline several business tasks to provide a smooth, efficient, and effective function of the manufacturing systems.

This field gives professionals a variety of opportunities across numerous sectors, including manufacturing, food processing, etc. Automation Engineers act as a backbone of companies who ensure that the systems are always operational, safe, and offer the maximum possible production required. Sign up for one of the best Automation Courses curated by industry experts who aim to make you a certified professional in the field of automation.

As per LinkedIn, there are over 87,000 vacancies for Automation Engineers in the United States in top organizations, including Apple, Google, Amazon, Intel, etc.

The average salary earned by Automation Engineers is around US$77,126 per annum according to the salaries available on PayScale.

At present, generally large organizations hire Automation Engineers as they have the resources to use automated systems. However, in a few years, even small companies will be able to enjoy all the possible benefits of automated business processes and systems. This will only lead to a steep rise in the need and demand for Automated Engineers in the coming years, creating a lot more job opportunities.

Now that you have briefly understood the need for Automation Engineers in companies, let’s take a look at the eligibility and the numerous skills that are necessary to build a career in this domain.

Eligibility to be an Automation Engineer

In order to land a job as an Automation Engineer in a reputed organization, you must have the required qualification. The minimum qualification that is required for you to build a career in this domain is to have a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, chemical engineering, computer engineering, engineering physics, or mechanical engineering.

Further, you will read about the skills they are required to land a lucrative job as an Automation Engineer.

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Skills Required to be an Automation Engineer

Listed below are some of the must-have skills for you to become a successful Automation Engineer.

Knowledge of Manual Testing

Although companies prefer to use automated tools for testing without the need for any coding, it is equally important for you to have in-depth knowledge of manual testing to get ahead in the competition and gain expertise in this field. Yes, automation testing is a much-needed replacement for manual testing, but that does not mean that you won’t be required to code at all. Gaining in-depth knowledge of both manual testing and automated testing will give you a clear idea of where you can implement the respective concepts.

2. Programming Skills

Pursuing a career in Automation Engineering does not mean that you can skip learning coding in any programming language. Since it is important for you to gain expertise in manual testing, you also need to be proficient in programming languages to have a successful career in Automation Engineering. Some of the programming languages that you need to master to become an Automation Engineer are mentioned below:

Java
C/C++
Perl
CSS
HTML
Python
XML
SQL

Apart from these, you should also gain proficiency in the following areas:

Design testing
Agility in manual testing
Architecture testing
Configuration management
DevOps, Agile, and continuous delivery
Performance testing

3. Excellent Understanding of the Application

It is mandatory for Automation Engineers to know the inside-out of the application that is being tested to be able to perform the required tests in it. Some of the details that the professionals need to learn about the software application before testing is are as follows:

The languages used to build the application
The platform on which the application is developed
The databases in the application
Whether there are any APIs or web services connected to the system parts and if yes, then how they are connected
The main goal of creating the application
The expected features and functionalities from the application
If the application has gone through manual testing
Whether there are any unresolved bugs or problems that exist
The application’s expected date of delivery

Depending on the application’s complexity, you need to learn all the necessary details about the given application before performing automation testing on it.

4. Gain Experience in Tools for Automation Testing

Automation tools play a significant role in companies with automated systems as they prove to be extremely beneficial for these organizations. So, to gain exposure and get the best out of your job profile, it is important for you to work with some of the best automation tools, like Selenium, TestingWhiz, TestComplete, Sahi, Telerik TestStudio, etc., and get an understanding of how they work, whether they can be used in your applications for testing, and so on. By learning and working with these tools, you will be capable of deciding which one works best for the type of application in which you need to test.

5. Knowledge of ATLC

ATLC stands for Automation Testing Life Cycle that denotes the life cycle of the complete process of automation testing. In order for you to become familiar with the process, you must become an expert in the following steps of this life cycle:

Make decisions related to automated test scripts
Work with the required automation tools
Begin the process of automation testing
Plan, design, and build the test
Execution and management of the test script
Assess and review the test programs

You need to be an expert in this methodology and be capable of executing it in numerous projects in the organization as an Automation Engineer.

6. Ability to Build Strategy for Automation Testing

Further, you need to learn to develop test automation strategies for the client or company based on their requirements. You should be capable of creating the respective customized strategy, select the best-suited tools for the application, and calculate the complete expense and ROI of the application.

Creating an automation testing strategy is among the most significant part of deciding the overall requirements for the application, minimizing the time taken during manual testing, and offering the best ROI to the clients.

7. Keep up with the Latest Trends in Testing

The last and the most important step that you need to take to become a successful Automation Engineer is to stay up to date with the trending tools and technologies in the field.

With the knowledge of the best practices, latest developments, tools, tricks, and techniques, you and the members of your team will be able to optimize the strategies and application in the best possible way, leaving no room for complaints from your clients.

Conclusion

In this ‘How to become an Automation Engineer?’ blog, you have briefly read about who Automation Engineers are, what they do, their demand in the industry, and so on. Further, you learned about the qualifications that you need to have if you are aiming to pursue a career as an Automation Engineer. Finally, you read in detail the steps that you need to follow and the skills you need to acquire to land a job as an Automation Engineer in top organizations. So, enroll in the online course at Intellipaat that will help you gain all the necessary skills and experience through online lectures and industry-based projects, and make you an expert in Automation Engineering.