För att sammanfatta: Om MS försöker bli mer agila, jobba enligt principer som TDD och liknande, så är det jättebra. Om de drar ner på testteamet så är det dåligt. Flyttar de runt folk så de inte hinner lära sig något ordentligt så är det dåligt. Om de pressar sina utvecklare att jobba mer hela tiden så är det dåligt. Deras bagage med gammal kod är en börda de har att bära men det är inte så mycket att göra åt tyvärr. Men TDD är bra och har inget att göra med alla negativa saker som tas upp.
Intressant om rollen som försvunnit, stödjer din uppfattning: My perspective (as an SDET) of the lay offs recently (self.microsoft)
3.) Ok, lets talk about actually BEING an SDET. First and foremost, PMs and Devs don't respect SDETs at all. The Dev's never included the test team (my team and sister teams) in any email threads or code reviews or hallway discussions regarding anything. Usually we figured out some feature of the product changed when our tests started to break. We never knew what was going on because no one every bothered to invite us in or include us in any conversation.
5.) Here is the uncomfortable truth, SDETs don't contribute enough value to warrant their paychecks. Simple. We are overpaid. I knew that within the first 6 months of starting. I thought to myself "I can't believe I get paid to do what I do". I knew there were people out there working harder and doing more important things who were getting paid much less and I hated it. It made me feel depressed and unworthy. As much pride I had at saying "yeah I work at Microsoft" deep down I had this gnawing feeling that I didn't deserve the money I was getting. What has happened recently confirms this. Guys, listen to the next sentence. THIS WAS A LONG TIME COMING.
7.) A note about devs. From the above you may think I have a hard-on for devs and hate test. You wouldn't be 100% wrong. But you have to admit, why be a test when you can be a dev? Why not challenge yourself instead of just hitting cruise control in the SDET position (I can guarantee you the overwhelming majority of SDET work is not a challenge, more like grunt work).