Looking to start a career as a Software Quality Tester but have no idea how to? Don’t worry, we’ve got your back!
With the right knowledge and skills sets, excel your career in this field is n longer out of reach. In this article, let’s dig into the software testing’s world and discover what it takes to succeed in the software quality tester field.
Software Quality Tester Skills Essentials
As a critical aspect of software development, software testing plays the major role in determining the quality of software, to cross-check, double check that the final software product meets its required standards and identify any potential defects prior to the release, or even after that with updates, upgrades and so on. A software quality tester’s meticulous testing ultimately guarantees that the released software is error-free.
According to GMI’s reports, the software testing market is predicted to exceed 40 billion USD by 2027, with a growth rate of over 7%. This indicates a significant increasing demand for testers and, subsequently, more job opportunities. Therefore, it is the “perfect” time for you to get involved, put your first blueprints in this field by constantly learning, developing and improving your software testing skills and knowledge base to be better prepared for future employment.
A typical Software Quality Tester’s technical skills
Having the right technical skills for a soon-to-be software quality tester is like a soldier having the great sword prior to his battle. Then what are the key technical skills that are considered absolutely essentials?
Automation
Understand and know how to run software testing automation tools! It seems silly but it’s true. Just like to turn on the given machine, you have to find the On/Off switch. It might be right in front of you, but without knowing how it actually works, you may never know how to get it to function the desired way.
As a software quality tester, your responsibilities extend beyond just dealing with the user interface. It’s crucial to know how to access the software, get connected to the database, in order to validate or prepare test data. This allows you to take advantage of these automation tools to their fullest potential and excel your way during the software quality tester career.
Test Case Design
A test case design is a document created by quality analysts to outline the scope and strategy of testing, including details such as test steps, prerequisites, expected results, and post-conditions. By comparing actual and expected results using various variables, the team can determine whether the product satisfies the requirements. The ultimate goal is to achieve maximum testing coverage to detect potential bugs and defects in the software that need to be addressed.
Test Management
Test management is the process of overseeing and controlling testing activities to ensure the delivery of high-quality software applications. It involves organizing, controlling, and ensuring visibility and traceability of the testing process. Its main aim is to ensure that the testing procedure is carried out effectively and efficiently.
The Underrated Soft Skills of a Software Quality Tester
Apart from the technical knowledge and skills, soft skills play such a fundamental part in helping software quality testers to perform their tasks effectively, however often being neglected and by-pass.
Communication
A software quality tester must be well-put in his/ her communication skills. Communicate correctly regarding the technical issues to relevant stakeholders in a clear and concise manner to avoid unnecessary downturn, misunderstanding as well as time-consuming occurrences. The writing skill is just as dominant, especially in writing clear and comprehensive bug reports. It allows software quality testers to easily share projects’ insights, experiences and suggestions with the team as well as the customer.
Teamwork
This is the deal-breaker for many software quality testers. As the workload is often overloaded, software quality testing is usually done by a team or group of individual software quality testers. Without teamwork spirit, deadlines merely cannot be met and consequently resulting in each tester playing the blame game over and over again. Nobody wants to go through that, ever!
Problem-solving
Plenty of conflicts, problems and issues arise during the product development phases where software quality testers would be involved very early on to prevent malfunctions, defects and bugs getting out of control. Testers have to know their priorities to resolve which issues before the others and get the product development process going without sacrificing further expenses and time.
Conclusion
Do you currently have both the technical skills and soft skills of a software quality tester? If you do, you’re halfway there to become a successful software quality tester in 2023. The other fifty percent is your passion regarding this particular career. The jobs can be tiresome and unbearable with tight deadlines and project schedule, however it’s worth it if your heart’s in it. Therefore, if you are determined, go for it! You’re already halfway there.