What test automation skills will be useful in 5 years?

Photo by Greg Rakozy on Unsplash

A year ago, I would have said that you should learn Java very well and then use it with an automation library that works for your application.

But today, I do not have the same answer.

The test automation field is very crowded today with many free and paid solutions, for different languages, different platforms and environments.

You have Selenium WebDriver for web automation but also Puppeteer, Cypress, Katalon Studio, Tosca and others.

On the commercial side, popular solutions are Ranorex, UFT, Test Complete, Tricentis, to name only a few.

Test automation projects can be created in Java, C#, JavaScript, Python and Ruby.

What should one learn for a test automation career?

Which technologies are going to be useful in test automation in 5 years?

The last StackOverFlow survey shows JavaScript as the most popular technology in 2019 with 68% from all votes.

This means that the majority of developers write code in JavaScript either for front end (using frameworks like React JS and Angulaj JS) or for back end (with Node.JS).

Aside from the developer popularity of JavaScript, there is another interesting evolution to take in consideration.

Many high traffic websites are either completely rebuilt in JavaScript or ported gradually to JavaScript.

This has started to happen to companies of all sizes with JavaScript solutions becoming preferred to anything else.

All companies use websites for business. They usually have a responsive website that works on desktop and mobile devices and native applications for smartphones and tables. Native apps were preferred to mobile websites due to the superior design and functionality but recently, things started to change in the favor of mobile websites.

Due to the incredible recent expansion of JavaScript frameworks, it is possible today to create mobile websites that are similar in functionality, performance and look and feel to native apps.

And, between a mobile website and a native app, the website is always easier to maintain and change since…