TestNG, skipped tests and "why" related information.

 As usually there are passed, failed and skipped tests. TestNG map skip tests due to failures in
precondition steps (i.e. somewhere inside all those @BeforeSuite/Group/Method routines). In such a case there is no quick-human-readable
explanation why a test was skipped. That is a pity, so what about the following:
1. Go to TestListenerAdapter#onTestSkipped(ITestResult result);
2. Check Throwable of that ITestResult;
3. If null then get skipped configurations - result.getTestContext().getSkippedConfigurations();
4. I haven't found a straight way to link skipped configuration and skipped test, but one could try to do that via TestContext/TestClass:
check whether skippedConfig.getTestClass().equals(result.getTestClass()))
5. If there is skipped config caused the test to be skipped then use result.setThrowable() to transfer throwable to ITestResult;
6. No guarantees but seems to work.

Eng. - be strong and think about others.

Senior engineers!  Just a note - at the very moment you are about to code-up your next shiny, glamorous test automation framework  - think about those middles who will  support and maintain the fruit of your creativity.  Be kind, leave at least couple of notes  on how that "wonderwaffle" is supposed to work!

Interviews - what do you need them for?

Why do you interview people? What are the final goals of that? I am talking about factual goals, not those one which are declared in your company's  policies. In practice I see quite often that "official" goals are "hire an engineer which would be highly effective and production in this very role/position". Good, sounds great. In fact, when it comes down to concrete interviewers the goasl turn into "show how cool I am, show that those candidates are nothing and do not hire him.". Cruel but true. So, by the end of the day we still have an open position, out candidate writes tons of posts on social media and the only guy who is happy  - that interviewer. He is a hero - defended the Company! Well, as for me, I need an interview to understand whether or not this particular engineer good and suites the requirements, could I learn something from him, is he a fat-learned and generally - "do I want to work with him in the same team?". Simply, keep your coolness for real business.

You should read documentation, really - Allure reports + TestNG and run from command line.

 One have to read documentation, no options! It clearly stated that you have to run java process in a special way if you want to get steps, attachments etc info in your Allure report upon running a TestNG based test set.  And no, I had to spend two hours just to re-read the spec and discover that aspectjweaver dependency! And only after that it became clear that here is the way:

aspectjweaver_jar_file_name="$(ls ./lib/aspectjweaver-*.jar | xargs echo)"
java -ea -javaagent:"$aspectjweaver_jar_file_name" -cp "${full_classpath}" org.testng.TestNG ./test_suites/$testXmlName

Yet another traffic lights - CI status indicator.

 Nowadays Continuous Integration is popular and almost a “must-have” on a serious project. The only question is - what is your current CI status? How to make it visible? E-mails are good, but let’s be honest, nobody reads all those tons of “build failed/back to normal” messages. There is a need for some funny and unobtrusive way to let anybody know what’s the status in a, say, second. So, we’ve got “Traffic Lights CI status indicator”:

- visible;

- funny;

- it has DIY appearance(look at that fastening adhesive tape all over it!);

- a bit environmental - an old colour music box was reused;

- portable (about 1 kg, it’s really light);

- inexpensive (~25 pounds).

The workflow is simple: homemade client application checks CI status and sends “turn on red and turn off green” like messages to the microcontroller, the microcontroller turns on/off corresponding bulbs. As for the colours: “green” means everything is good, “blue(yellow)” means we’ve got some test(s) failed and “red” means that it’s time to hurry up since something is completely broken. That’s all.