Modern testing for modern stacks

I liked the phrase 'exploitation/exploration' trade-off. It captures what we are trying to do at Qxf2. I'd like all engineers to have varied interests and a high level of exposure to different topics. I think we end up producing more creative work that way. I also do not want to get stuck with a specific tool belt or specific job profile just because it makes us money. I like R&D and want some portion of Qxf2 to work on exploring new options. I think that will end up making all our jobs more fun. I found the study fascinating but I am not smart enough to know if this applies only to relatively simple/short tasks or if the results could be extended to long-term tasks too.

I feel everyone does some sort of exploitation when doing exploration. We have to do things differently, which gives you visibility. I feel when we need to stand out like having a different resume helps. But again it is easy to be in comfort zone which prevents us from exploiting. In Qxf2, we do testing differently, do not follow generally how everyone talks about testing which helps us to stand out in the crowd.

A well-written article, I like it. I can relate it to my career decisions in my life. I have always been in the exploit/explore mode. I wanted to take up company A but chose B because of location and job description it offered which was new. Joining Qxf2 was me exploring too, though I did not know automation/coding, I wanted to try it out. Learning from your actions is important.

It is a good write-up. I agree with the writer about striking a balance between the two. But largely 'exploring' gives you a greater exposure, makes you more creative and broadens your horizon. I relate this aspect to me joining Qxf2. In a short span, I feel that I have been exploring different realms of technical learning that I had never dealt with before.

This article explains how exploring/exploiting is a tradeoff you make. You could always try to work with what you already know(exploit) or explore more that would help you later, also exploring does not have to be confined to a particular field, exploring new things doesn not always have to be related to a problem, it does not always have to take you to the solution of the problem. It could be useful sometime in the future when you come up against a different problem. It could also help you get most out of something you read, like a retired Bell Labs scientist Richard Hamming pointed out in his seminar titled- You and Your Research different people get different things out of an article. The diverse your knowledge is or the more you know about a topic the more you take away reading an article about it.

This article is very interesting and I agree with the author that balancing between Exploitation and Exploration is always a challenge. Exploitation is an activity which increases the existing knowledge and Exploration, on the other hand, is the invention of new resources, search and development of new skill to improve the companies long term performance. Actually, I feel that exploration evolves into exploitation over a period of time. The first time a company experiments with a new technology, it starts with exploration, but as the company repeats these experiments they become more familiar with that knowledge and they start implementing the newly acquired knowledge and it develops into exploitative. Consequently, exploration gradually develops into exploitation. But there is always a confusion and balancing between these two activities(R&D activities and at the same time working on client requirements and meeting customer needs) is a challenge. If you look at company point of view, generally limited resource availability and with limited funding in the small companies they may not be able to afford to exploit and explore simultaneously. Also compared to returns from exploitation, returns from exploration are less certain. But if you look at the individual point of view, I feel that rather than getting stuck with a specific technology, at times being part of some R&D activities and exploring is a great fun and learning curve. In Qxf2, I see that we are equally good at both.

The blog, Written by Author Tom is a very good article. This article just tells us that there are no good or bad choices when it comes to doing any actions and there is only a choice for either to EXPLOIT or EXPLORE. I always found myself in this dilemma, and always opted for to EXPLORE. I feel like our life, from the birth to the last day of the college -- we are rewarded and required for EXPLORE. Whereas, from the first day of professional life, we are bend to EXPLOIT. (Definitely -- Not Qxf2, instead it rewards EXPLORING ). I really agree that it is a tradeoff between EXPLOITATION and EXPLORING from the author. When I look back into my life as EXPLOITER, most of my friends who were good in maths used to get top -- are often EXPLOITERS. As I was an explorer I was always scared of maths...yup. Exploring is my habit and I always prefer to learn now and enjoy later.

It was a good short article by Tom Stafford. I really agree with what he says that we are in a dilemma whenever we try to learn about the world by trying things out and the dilemma is choosing between exploitation - something which we know about and exploration - something we are not sure about but want to learn. In life sometimes you get situations wherein you need to loose something or avoid the actions which will be most rewarding inorder to gain something that will benefit for the long term. Author has given a good example of the task they used to see how people explore possible movements and which particular movement they rely on to generate possible outcomes. I can relate it to the computer games which I used to play, if performing some particular action in the game would score me good points then I used to exploit/repeat it for a number of times.But at times exploiting/repeating same work makes a person bore because the person knows the possible outcome from it so he deviates to exploring new things. So according to me choosing between exploitation or exploration depends on the nature of the task and various factors associated with it.

The author mentioned a dilemma is between choosing what you know and getting something close to what you expect (exploitation) and choosing something you are not sure about and possibly learning more (exploration). I can relate this to somewhat staying in our comfort zone (exploitation) and stepping out of our comfort zone (exploration). Exploitation deals with doing the same things, and reaping value from what is already known. Exploration deals with searching for new options, experimenting, and thinking of new ways to solve a problem. There is nothing wrong with being in your comfort zone unless you get too comfortable and start holding yourself back instead of challenging yourself to learn, grow and try new things. I used to be very shy and I had a fear of public speaking during my college days, and I started realizing that it is limiting my potential greatly, I started with small things like making more friends and having conversations with them, meeting new people, started speaking wherever I got the opportunity. I am much more outgoing now than ever before. I can contribute to more conversations than before. During the process, we may feel anxious and uncomfortable, but when completed, they give us a huge feeling of accomplishment and increase our base levels of confidence. We can achieve more and learn more by getting into the EXPLORE mode.

This is a very nice article. I liked the way author has explained the exploration and exploitation terms. Doing the things which we know and doing things which we do not know have their own pros and cons. Knowing the things and getting output would be rewarded able and by this, the things will not take much time but this will end up with the same thing as we did before also. We cannot get any new product and the new things to learn. I feel exploration learning is somewhat risky but beneficial as well. Here we are doing the things based on trial and basis, we cannot predict the output. This will lead to learning the new things though we pass or fail in that. It improves thinking process also. Exploration shows various paths and we have to choose one of it. By this either we will get success or we will get a lesson.