daily-email: add 2023-08-16

Writing tests in your own time

src/content/daily-email/2023-08-16.md

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+---
+title: >
+  Writing tests in your own time
+pubDate: 2023-08-16
+permalink: >
+  archive/2023/08/16/writing-tests-in-your-own-time
+tags:
+  - automated-testing
+  - test-driven-development
+---
+
+This is how I first started writing automated tests.
+
+I was working at a well-known digital agency, so I didn't want it to affect my output and cause me to deliver work late.
+
+I wanted to give myself a less pressured opportunity to learn and experiment with different options and approaches.
+
+So, when creating custom modules, I wrote the implementation code during billable work hours and the tests during the evening on my own time.
+
+I was investing time in learning a new skill and one that I knew would pay dividends.
+
+## How did it go?
+
+As I'd already written the implementation code, I wasn't doing test-driven development, so most of the tests were confirming what I'd written was correct with a passing test and being able to make it fail in expected ways.
+
+One time, though, I found a bug I'd written that day. I think it was an incorrect permission name I'd typed.
+
+I was able to fix it before it was submitted for quality assurance checks and client testing.
+
+This saved the time and effort of creating another issue and branch, fixing it, going through the development cycle again and having it re-tested.
+
+After that, for me, there was no going back.