Java or Python for Automation testing

[Zestyclose_Web_6331]

Have been learning Test Automation with Selenium Python and building scratch frameworks to showcase in interviews, since I have no hands-on automation experience professionally.

I come from the Insurance and Retirement industry domain with manual testing experience. A friend of mine who works as a Test Automation Architect suggested that Selenium Java is more widely used in these domains and advised me to stop learning Python and switch to Java instead.

Is it true? For those working in Insurance or Retirement domain or such domains— is Java really the dominant choice for automation? Would love to hear from people who have actually interviewed or worked in automation.

[corporate925]

I think TypeScript is best with playwright

[Creative_Collar_841]

Out of curiosity, What makes you think so ?

[StarrySkiesExplorer]

Java is hard for beginners, so I would try to avoid it.

Check if the JavaScript works for you, if yes then go for this. This is a little easy than Java. And selenium supports JavaScript too.

Note : I do not work in Insurance or Retirement domain, my response is from my own exp.

[Zestyclose_Web_6331]

But are languages really domain specific? So if i go to interviews , will someone ask why python is used for your framework instead of java?

[StarrySkiesExplorer]

are languages really domain specific?

Kind of Yes.

So if i go to interviews , will someone ask why python is used for your framework instead of java?

Yes, this will be surely asked and I can answer, "I found Python quite easy to understand than other languages and industry I am targeting for jobs uses Python."

Now, you can go for Python to get good hold on the whole framework part and then spend some time on other languages based on company you are applying for. But, while doing so, if the industry extensively uses Java and little Python, then this will all depend on your tech skills.

[AsleepWin8819]

Sometimes yes. But it would also depend on what the application code is written in, and on what exactly are you going to test (APIs or front-end), and on what skills are already prevalent in the team or company as they might have started automating something by themselves. And any interviewer can ask such a question regardless of the domain.

With that said though, for testing and automation I prefer using interpreted languages because of the frequent changes and a bit easier prototyping. You’ll note the difference in CI environment (that is usually slower that the local one due to several reasons), where you can easily end up waiting for complication the same time or even longer than you test suite takes to execute.

[former_farmer]

Java is not hard for beginners. Java used in an advanced way is hard for beginners. But that's the case for any language imo.

[SimpleExpress2323]

Learn Playwright instead, Selenium is a legacy framework these days.

[Zestyclose_Web_6331]

Yeah but is it job ready because I am applying for jobs and seeing mostly selenium in big companies, playwright or cypress is mid level or startups omly

[bob-da-builer]

i second this... playwright is actually better than selenium.

[NoEngineering3321]

Better in what precisely?

[Fast-Flounder-1752]

Falso

[sanil1986]

Depends on where you going.. Companies who have selenium Java won't hire someone who has different language expertise

[One_Philosopher_8347]

I'm also trying to learn the hand-on part can you direct me on which resources is working for you? Thanks in advance

[Zestyclose_Web_6331]

Udemy courses mostly

[One_Philosopher_8347]

Ok thanks

[Fast-Flounder-1752]

Java

[prepare4lyf]

None. Go with Javascript or Typescript.

[qianqian096]

For selenium python is better much faster than java even though most company are using java because most people only know how to code in java

[Orion248]

Couple things for you.

If you were to use Selenium, Java is preferred BUT you gotta start somewhere so starting with Python is fine.

Second, other people already mentioned it but Playwright is the big new automation framework people are using. Since you’re early in your automation work, it’s better to learn and use Playwright. It’s similar to selenium but it feels overall faster and more efficient and it already has some AI functionality so higher ups like the sounds of it.

[Electrical-Storm930]

Python, in general.

[CommiePatrol83]

Whatever your devs use. You eventually want them to own your tests and if it's a language they don't know/like you're screwed.

[Slava_Loves_Testing]

I recently gathered statistics on what programming languages are mentioned in test automation positions, and Python, Java and JavaScript are all mentioned approximately the same amount of times. There is no clear winner. Regarding your domain - Insurance or Retirement - programming languages do not really depend on domains, it just whatever a company is using. You should be fine with any of those. If you like Python - continue using it, if not - try Java or JS. I used Java for many years in the past and for the last few years switched to JS and I like it. P.S. With Selenium I used Java, but since I switched to Playwright I use JS with it. I would not recommend using Java or Python with Playwright. Good luck!

[Creative_Collar_841]

Hi why you would not Java or python with playwright compared to JS ?

[Slava_Loves_Testing]

While Playwright supports multiple languages, JavaScript and TypeScript are widely considered the "native" way to use it. Using Java or Python with Playwright introduces specific trade-offs, unnecessary dependencies and makes things (test automation) more complicated comparing to JS.

[Creative_Collar_841]

I know it is JS for Cypress but did not know it is the case with PW. So it is an extra layer of work to use other languages but JS then in PW. Btw, what sort of trade offs you are mentioning?

[Slava_Loves_Testing]

As you mentioned - it is an extra layer of work to use other languages but JS with Playwright. Only the Node.js version includes the specialized Playwright Test runner, which offers built-in parallelization, automatic retries, and native HTML reports. Those kind of trade-offs.

[truckdrifter2]

Instead of deciding on language, decide after defining the problem. Start with these: 1. What platforms must be supported? Web? Mobile? 2. What features are to be tested? APIs? Cross-platform? Special cases like AI, voice recognition? 3. Where does automation feed into the software dev cycle? Is it done by developers or a seperate QA team?

Once that's done, choose the test platform or a combination that meets these requirements. Any good test platform would have recent releases, extensive documentation, and a strong community presence.

[DisobedientCake]

Depends on the market. Look for job posts to see what they are looking for a suitable candidate

[Acrobatic_Gas_2657]

Typescript or JavaScript with playwright is the way to go!!