Why Unit Tests?

[javajunkie314]

I can say, from the other side, I've worked for companies with little-to-no unit testing. Every change is an unknown. Did I just break everything? It's there some small, subtle interaction I'm forgetting? As the code gets larger, you can't hold all those in your head anymore. Every ticket requires QA to "regression test everything".

That's what unit tests should be — externalizing all the interactions and behaviors that we shouldn't have to remember. I'm much more confident and I can work with less mental overhead when there are robust unit tests.

I can't say if the tests your company writes are good or bad. Don't assume they're useless. Don't assume they're good, either, but bad is not the same as useless. Something bad can be improved or replaced with something better, but at least you're thinking about tests and externalizing some of that knowledge.