Introduction
Selenium offers a suite of testing and test-automation tools popular among web applications developers, especially for cross-browser testing. Selenium provides testing and automation support on all major web browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Opera, Edge, and IE) and operating systems (Windows, MAC OS, Linux) – making it one of the most popular testing suites. When you hire Selenium WebDriver developers, then you can rest assured that all tasks related to cross-browser testing like driver instantiation, profile management, browser-specific settings, and scripting of test cases are taken care of systematically and properly.
One of the most popular and preferred testing tools from the Selenium suite is WebDriver. It is a browser automation framework that can work with open-source APIs to automate the testing of web applications by mimicking user actions as closely as possible. The WebDriver accepts commands from the automation script prepared in programming languages such as C#, Java, JavaScript, Python, or PHP.
As each browser handles the rendering of the elements differently, there are differences in automated testing. WebDriver developers have the flexibility to choose the programming language to design test cases.
What is Selenium WebDriver?
An enhanced version of the Selenium RC (Remote Control), Selenium WebDriver runs a browser as a user would. It can be done either locally or from a remote host using the Selenium server. It is a long leap in browser automation and testing of web applications.
Built to the W3C recommendations, WebDriver offers an easy and concise programming interface to developers and testers. It is essentially a compact object-oriented API to drive browsers effectively.
As a Selenium WebDriver developer, one must know at least one programming language like C#, Java, Python, or JavaScript and their unit testing frameworks such as NUnit, JUnit, unit test, or Jest, respectively. By leveraging the power of programming language, this tool lets you develop efficient and comprehensive tests.
Once you can configure and program for it, WebDriver can allow you to run cross-browser tests by automating web-based application testing. There is a separate driver for each browser - such as ChromeDriver for Google’s Chromium/Chrome and GeckoDriver for Mozilla’s Firefox. The drivers run on the same machine as the browser for complete integration.
The WebDriver “talks” to the browser through a browser-specific driver. The communication is two-way – commands get passed to the browser via the driver, and information gets received via the same route.
Benefits of Selenium WebDriver
- Write automation code in any language irrespective of the programming language used for a web application.
- Easy to learn, simple to use, and a popular open-source tool for cross-browser compatibility testing.
- Works on OS like Windows, Mac, Linux, and Unix.
- Compatible with programming languages - Python, Java, C#, JavaScript, Ruby, PHP.
- Support all browsers - Chrome, Firefox, Opera, Safari, IE, and Edge.
- Faster execution of test scripts.
- Concise API.
- Compatibility with AndroidDriver, iPhoneDriver, and HtmlUnitDriver for testing progressive web apps.
- Remote communication using Selenium Server and Selenium Grid.
Development Technologies and Tools for Selenium WebDriver Developers
As WebDriver itself does not carry out testing, it only provides a means of communication, a Selenium WebDriver developer is required to compare values, create assertions, and report test results.
Here is a brief description of the technologies and tools that a Selenium WebDriver developer must know to run automated tests.
Selenium Client Libraries and Language Bindings
Selenium offers multiple programming language libraries for Java, C#, Ruby, Python, etc. It would help if you used the appropriate bindings available from Selenium with the correct browser driver for the programming language you use.
JSON Wire Protocol
JSON is an open standard for communication and data transfer on the web. In addition to simple types, JSON supports complex types like objects and arrays. JSON acts as the REST API exchanging information between HTTP servers required for automation of cross-browser testing.
Browser Drivers
Selenium has provided browser-specific drivers for all major browsers – the WebDriver developer need not know about the internal browser functionality – to act as a secure communications bridge between your test scripts and the browser. Browser drivers are platform and language-dependent.
Programming Languages and Testing Frameworks
You must be proficient in one of the major programming languages supported by Selenium WebDriver – C#, Python, Java, PHP, JavaScript, or Ruby. You need not be an application developer but must understand how the language APIs work and how testing automation gets done.
You must be able to prepare test cases, preload them, run tests, and compare the results against the expected outcomes to prepare reports in one of the following:
- unit test for Python
- JUnit for Java
- NUnit for C#.Net
- PHPUnit for PHP
- Jest for JavaScript
- RSpec for Ruby
Roles and Responsibility of Selenium WebDriver Developers
WebDriver has only one job of communicating with the browser and does support testing itself. It makes testing automation easier for Selenium WebDriver developers who use various testing frameworks to do the job.
It would help if you used the testing framework that matches your language binding like NUnit for C#.NET, JUnit for Java, or RSpec for Ruby.
The test framework will run and execute your WebDriver code scripted in your tests.
- Proficiency in the commands of WebDriver.
- Be able to run tests on actual devices for accurate results.
- Configure the browser, if required
- Create a WebDriver instance.
- Run the script to navigate to the desired webpage.
- Be able to locate a web element on the webpage via locators in Selenium.
- Be able to perform one or more user actions on the element(s).
- Preload the expected output or browser response to the action.
- Run the tests.
- Record results and compare them to the expected output.
- Verify and validate the actions.
- Write code for automatic generation of test results and reports.
Required Expertise
Requirements - Hard skills
The essential hard skills for a professional Selenium WebDriver Developer are:
- Proficiency in commands of Selenium WebDriver.
- Thorough knowledge of inter-browser differences.
- Solid foundation in the unit and module testing best practices.
- Experience in working on multiple operating systems like Windows, Mac, and Linux.
- Proficiency in at least one of the major programming languages such as Java, C#, Python, PHP, JavaScript, or Ruby.
- Proficiency in using the unit testing frameworks supported by these languages such as JUnit, NUnit, unit test, PHPUnit, Jest, or RSpec.
- Proficient in writing automation scripts for running test cases.
- Experience in building test cases with proper documentation and expected outcomes.
- Experience in generating reports from the comparison of outcomes of test runs with expected outcomes.
- Experience in running parallel tests, bundling of tests, and categorization of tests as per requirements.
Experience
A Selenium WebDriver developer is not just a tester – but a QA engineer who can automate your test processes for efficiency, accuracy, and agility. With the growing number of devices and a diverse range of browsers, the importance of a cross-browser testing engineer can be understood easily.
Selenium WebDriver is one of the front runners of web application testing automation tools. A Selenium WebDriver developer with experience in programming languages and testing frameworks would be in high demand.
Salary Structure of Selenium WebDriver Developers
The average annual salary of an experienced Selenium WebDriver developer is in the range of USD 55,000 and USD 68,000 in the USA. The starting annual average salary for a Selenium WebDriver developer is USD 40,000, while the highest annual salary goes up to USD 95,000.
The salary depends on the experience in using multiple testing frameworks, automation tools and attaining proficiency in Selenium WebDriver technology. It also depends on their location, years of experience, knowledge of technology, and professional certifications.
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Selenium WebDriver Developer- Key Takeaways
- Web application testing is a massive pain point because of many OS, device, and browser combinations.
- Cross-browser testing is a detailed and tedious process that may take many hours and days if done manually. Therefore, automation is the need of the hour.
- Selenium WebDriver offers the flexibility to automate cross-browser testing and unit testing using any programming language and their testing frameworks.
- There are different drivers for different browser and platform combinations and different language libraries for different languages.
- You need not develop and run the testing script in the same programming language as the web application – Selenium WebDriver offers you independence.
Industry Expertise
Finding, hiring, and retaining experienced Selenium WebDriver developers is not an easy task as there are more vacancies than applicants. Also, it may not be justifiable for a small to medium enterprise to hire Selenium WebDriver developers on a full-time basis as they may not have sufficient work from them.
It is where Skuad steps in. We are a leading service provider with an experienced and highly skilled team of Selenium WebDriver developers, along with a host of other technologies, to offer one-stop solutions to businesses.
We can offer best in the class competency and deliver exceptional client experience with timely deliveries to our clients. You may be looking to outsource your requirements or wish to hire the best talent; Skuad can deliver on both counts.
We offer fully compliant services through our successful and time-tested global delivery model on a 24x7x365 basis to clients from all industry domains and verticals.
Therefore, your search to hire Selenium WebDriver developers ends here with Skuad, and you can rest assured.
Talk to Skuad experts today!
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