Performance testing has always been on the fringe of testing, valued by some and seen as a obstacle by others. Over the last few years, Google (SRE) and Microsoft (SDET) have created a new form of performance role. Site Reliability Engineer (SRE) and Software Development Engineer in Test. (SDET)

Site Reliability Engineer (SRE)

This role was developed by Google. It provides a method of creating efficient software, developed by software engineers with performance in mind. Meaning software can be released that is efficient now and into the future as the usage grows. An SRE will also be responsible for many of the traditionally held operations roles, including availability and monitoring.

There is a great interview which can be found here between Niall Murphy (SRE) and Ben Treynor (VP of Engineering) which explains SRE in great detail.

Software Development Engineer in Test (SDET)

Microsoft first introduced the role of Software Development Engineer in Test (SDET). It is typically undertaken by developers that can create the application and then go on to test the code (including performance testing). Essentially, they wear the hats of both roles. Test automation engineers do also move to the SDET role as they have experiencing developing code as part of the automation process.

There is a good explanation of the SDET role here on guru99.com.

Performance Testing

Traditionally, performance testing has been a dedicated role performed by the quality assurance team. It has changed over the years from being almost an after thought executed late before the product launch, to a part of the continuous integration pipeline. It’s still to this day very much a QA activity. With it moving more into the pipeline - developers are becoming more accustomed to it very much being part of the process.

Summary

It will certainly be interesting to see which direction business will take. As can be seen even Google and Microsoft have their own ideas.

FURTHER READING

SRE Role

SDET Role