An SDET is a person with coding and developer skills who uses them to focus on creating automation artefacts, such as tests, frameworks, mocks, stubs, and, more recently, CI/CD pipelines. They combine testing knowledge with developer skills to support the creation of automation. Coming to prominence in the late 1990s and early 2000s at companies such as Microsoft, the role was created to allow someone to focus on the key advances in automation happening at the time.
The emergence of Agile, then DevOps and even CI/CD pipelines made this bridging role between testers and developers more widespread. While there are still plenty of SDET roles being advertised, these days, many organisations expect testers to have some automation skills, and developers will have some testing knowledge. Indeed, some job descriptions include required skills for four or more 'traditional' roles. In Quality Engineering environments, developers may write the automation, but are supported by those with much deeper testing knowledge to work together in creating valuable automation that supports faster feedback cycles.
The emergence of Agile, then DevOps and even CI/CD pipelines made this bridging role between testers and developers more widespread. While there are still plenty of SDET roles being advertised, these days, many organisations expect testers to have some automation skills, and developers will have some testing knowledge. Indeed, some job descriptions include required skills for four or more 'traditional' roles. In Quality Engineering environments, developers may write the automation, but are supported by those with much deeper testing knowledge to work together in creating valuable automation that supports faster feedback cycles.
