"Why do we test software?" seems like a silly question—most people would say, “So we know it works, duh." But there are many other reasons we test our products, as well as many possible benefits besides confirming that a system does what we intended it to do. Figuring out the purpose behind your tests is illuminating.

When automated tests work perfectly one day but fail for no discernible reason the next, it's easy to get frustrated with automation. But you don't have to stay in the dark. Many of the tools we use today allow us to extend their reach with some custom code. Just use some systems thinking and a little imagination.

For testers interested in moving into test automation, Justin Rohrman usually suggests that they get started by learning to write a little code—more specifically, working with their software's API. You don't have to jump into tooling just yet. You can begin testing the data and workflow of the API first. Here's how.