In this episode, your host, Joe Colantonio, speaks with Robin Gupta to explore the crucial balance between automation and quality in test practices. Join us as we discuss the importance of meaningful conversations and detailed assessments before deciding on automation tools like Selenium, Playwright, or Cypress. We'll also delve into the basics of Selenium, the challenges for beginners, and the benefits of open-source versus vendor solutions. Robin also shares his knowledge of advanced techniques, including shadow DOM and the nuanced debate over page objects. We'll explore why essential open-source solutions can save you from reinventing the wheel and how to scale and distribute tests effectively. You'll also hear about Robin's new book on Selenium WebDriver for test automation, designed to be an approachable guide for beginners.   Don't miss out on key tips such as the "crawl, walk, run, fly" approach and continuous improvement strategies.