The future of testing

“Testers will be inundated with tons of software created with vibe coding in the next few years - quality puzzling!” - Richard Seidl

In the quiet hours of the morning, when the first lines of code of the day are written, a fundamental truth of our industry is revealed: software is not made for machines - it is made for people. And yet we all too often forget this when we talk about the future of testing.

The tester as bridge builder

I believe that the real focus in testing in the future will not be on the next AI-supported test automation or the latest framework - we will be using those anyway. It lies much more in the realization that testers are the interpreters between the worlds.

A tester is more than just a quality guardian. He is a stakeholder manager, a networker who translates the loud, quiet and silent expectations of all those involved.

The illusion of complete automation

AI and automation promise us a world of error-free software. But this promise carries the seeds of a misunderstanding. Tools can recognize patterns, detect regressions, measure performance - but can they understand what it means when a user sits frustrated in front of a loading screen while their daughter waits impatiently for them to play together?

The future does not belong to automation instead of humans, but to automation for humans. AI tools will become sparring partners for testers, allowing them to see deeper, hear further, learn more and get better information.

The wave is coming

We can already see that AI brings an incredible amount to software development in particular. From code reviews and refactoring to code generation and vibe coding. However, the increased productivity of developers also means that testers have a lot to deal with.

In addition to automation, prioritization, coordination and risk-oriented testing will become even more important - and this requires a lot of soft skills: resilience, conflict management, communication and a meta view. And these skills don’t just fall from the sky, they have to be developed.

A call to humanity

The future of testing lies not in the perfection of our tools, but in the depth of our humanity. Let’s use tools for what they are: Amplifiers of our skills, not substitutes for them. Let’s also pair testing with AI.

The next time we sit in front of a test plan, we should ask ourselves: Am I testing for the machine or for the person behind it? Because at the end of the day, when all the tests are green and the deployment pipeline has been run, there is only one question left: have we made people’s work and lives a little bit better today?