10 books every tester should read

If you want to make a career in testing you need to spend time to enrich your knowledge. There are multiple trainings and certifications out there. But most will not make you a better tester. Most of the writers I know are not a fan of test certifications.

I prefer to dedicate time in reading a variety of books because that is the best way to obtain knowledge. If you read, you are really dedicating time and put your mind to work.

 The book you don’t read won’t help. - Jim Rohn

The following books have wonderfully helped my career. I recommend you purchase some of the books I list here. Based upon your career path you can (should) of course get more books to get more knowledge on your specialism.

My personal top 10

1.      Testing according to TMap – Martin Pol (a.o). If you have not studied the original TMap book you really miss the basics of software testing. It surprises me to encounter “testers” that do not know how to write a good test case. TMap gives you all you need from Tester to Test Management. All the later versions like TMap Next do not really add additional value to the original. This book was my baseline and first encounter with testing. Although people consider it more Waterfall, I still think it is one of the most complete books on Testing.

2.      How to break software – James A Whitaker.  This book opened my mind on how to approach test objects. After reading and applying things I learned for this book, testing became more fun and surprising. I never had heard about Bug Hunts prior to reading this. It book really helped me to find a lot of bugs and become a better tester.

3.      The PRISMA approach – Practical Risk Based Testing – Erik van Veenendaal. This book is a great complement for TMap. It helps you if you want to move more to Test Leader/Coordinator roles. This approach was very helpful when working for big implementation projects (ERP for example). It gives you an easy method to using risk to define your test approach.

4.      The Way of the Web Tester – A beginners guide to Automating tests – Jonathan Rasmussen. This is a must read for anyone who wants to grow in the testing. When you have never done Test Automation, this will get you to the right level. More important, it helps you to explain what to automate and what not in a better way. This helped me to advice companies that were struggling with test automation. Not only to start but to make the right choices.

5.      Java for Testers – Alan Richardson. This is also a book for non-test automators. Of course this will not make you an expert, but you will know enough Junit to create and understand test scripts. It has real examples you can use while studying.  You can start with the previous book or this one. I recommend both.

6.      Agile Testing, a practical guide for testers and agile teams. – Lisa Crispin/Janet Gregory. When Agile became more and more important the test community needed this book. Testers and Test Managers where struggling to apply the V-model and more Waterfall like test methods in Agile. The role of the tester changed. This helped me to fluidly enter in Agile projects by applying some great tips and tricks. If TMap can be considered the Old Testament, this one is for sure the New Testament of testing. I recommend having both!

7.      30 Things every software tester should learn - Heather Reid. This book is really a post of the ministryoftesting.com blog. One of the great blogs for testers. If you walk thru the 30 points mentioned, you will know the ins and outs of testing. I always recommend this to new software testers I train of coach. If you fall in love with testing there are NO excuses.

8.      Performance Testing with JMeter3 - Bayo Erinle. From my point of view every tester should know how to do Performance testing. This book not only explains what performance testing is and why it is so necessary. It also gives practical steps to use the open source JMeter tool to create and execute performance tests. Personally, I have used this book (earlier version) when I had to do a performance test for the 2014 Sochi Olympics results app. I was able to quickly set up, prepare, execute the performance test and use the JMeter reports to explain the results.

9.      TED Talks, the official TED guide to public speaking – Chris Anderson. The following 2 books may seem out of place, but I feel they are important for any tester who wants to grow. Independent of your testing role (from tester to test manager) you will have to be able to present (explain test results to management, give a training, explain UAT to end users, etc). This is a skill we regularly miss. Most test professionals are not natural born public speakers. I have read multiple books on public speaking, and still need to learn a lot. This is the last book I have read in relation to public speaking. It gives some great tips on how to prepare for a public talk.

10.  Loyalty and Disloyalty, a leader’s manual – Dag Heward-Mills. This is maybe the strangest book in the list. But the book has made an impact on me. The book is especially thought-provoking for people that are in Leadership. It helps you to identify and deal with disloyal people and teaches to surround yourself with loyal people. As a test manager you will need to deal with different kind of people. This book helped me to make some vital decisions in my career.  

Conclusion:

Ralph Waldo Emerson once said:

If we encounter a man of rare intellect, we should ask him what books he reads.

Everyone will have his personal top 10. For me these books have been essential in my career. I encourage everyone to read more and diversify in what you read. Dare to move away from the typical.

What books do you recommend?