Who is a QA Engineer: an overview of IT careers

Who is a QA engineer?

A QA engineer (translated as "quality assurance") is a specialist who tests a product. He fully checks the software and also performs checks based on automated tests. After detecting bugs, which are necessarily present at the initial stages of development, he reports them to the development team. After fixing the bugs found, the QA engineer tests the product again. The work continues until the software, application, game, website or other product is fully ready for release.

A tester is a very important and necessary profession that will be needed as long as IT exists. No serious project can do without a QA engineer. Larger companies take specialists on staff, and for smaller projects they hire freelancers. Without professional testing, no application or website will work. Immediately after launch, various bugs and errors will appear, which will scare away customers. 

The popularity of the QA engineer profession can be judged by job search sites. For example, the well-known website indeed has more than a thousand vacancies from various companies. 

What are the responsibilities of a test engineer?

To better understand the peculiarities of a tester's job, let's understand in detail what tasks he performs. The main duties assigned to this specialist are listed below:

• Collect and document information from manual and automated tests.
• Manual and automatic testing.
• Analysing test results and preparing reports on identified bugs and inaccuracies in the system operation.
• Conduct tests at all stages of the software development lifecycle, including design, development, release and maintenance processes.
• Analysing and controlling system specifications.
• Discussion with developers about technical failures and bugs found during tests.
• Performing re-inspections after code changes have been made.
• Working closely with all members of the team.
• Improving the overall quality of the software.

The role of a QA engineer is extremely important to provide quality assurance and proper application development. It is important to realise that this profession is not just about testing games or websites, but any software.

Stages of a tester's work

The entire process of a QA engineer can be broken down into a few basic steps:

• Planning. As part of this task, the specialist writes a document in which he carefully describes the functions to be tested and thinks through the range of actions required. He also distributes the work among other specialists, if someone other than him is involved in the testing, and sets specific deadlines for the tasks.
• Test scenarios. QA engineer develops a list of processes and tasks to be checked. They depend on the actions that are usually performed by the users of the product. The QA engineer must put himself in the shoes of an ordinary person and understand how people who do not know its functionality from the inside will handle the software. The methodology of conducting unscripted tests can also be used, which allows you to freely perform testing without a strict order of actions.
• Direct testing. The tests can be performed both manually and automatically. Manual tasks are performed, such as visual control of interface usability, adequate functioning of navigation, correctness of mailing after registration. The automated approach is used to test tasks that can be successfully automated.
• Summarising and creating reports. The tester finds and, if possible, visualises the detected bugs. The specialist analyses the results and creates a document detailing the detected problems and bugs. This document helps developers to fix bugs and improve the quality of the product before it goes into mass use.

How product testing is carried out on the example of an online shop

A QA engineer receives a product and its documentation. The documentation contains all the requirements that the product must fulfil in order to achieve the goals set by the developers. First, the specialist studies all the requirements and then comes up with a way to test the product for compliance with these requirements. The tester should also think of as many non-standard situations as possible and check how the system will behave in each specific case. At the end of the test, he or she should record the errors identified in the system's operation and suggest improvements.

The process itself can involve many different patterns. For example:

• The specialist logs into the online shop and goes through the standard user path. This is how it usually happens for 80% customers.
• After checking the system's performance in standard situations, the tester moves on to non-standard scenarios. For example, how the system will behave if a person has a very long name or his age consists of three digits.
• A QA-engineer may try to hack the product: enter numbers or characters instead of a name in Russian or Latin, try to add a minus one product to the cart or, on the contrary, add thousands of products to the cart, thus overloading the counter, enter a very long text in the search bar, etc.
• The tester should also check the system's behaviour if the user's computer or smartphone does not work correctly. For example, text is entered too fast, keys stick, pictures are inserted into input fields instead of letters.

It is possible to check some of the above situations in automatic mode, but often it is necessary to do manual checks. It is important not only to find all bugs in the system operation, but also to describe them correctly, so that developers could also quickly find and fix them.

What skills should a tester have?

Compared to other IT professions, being a QA engineer is not that difficult. But to excel in the niche, you definitely need to have some skills:

• Understand the basics of testing, including types and methods of testing.
• Be able to analyse databases.
• Understand the SQL query language.
• Understand defect prioritisation and be able to draft defects correctly.
• At least a superficial knowledge of programming languages is desirable.
• Have experience with version control systems such as Git and CVS.
• Knowledge of software development methodologies.
• Understand where and how to capture application performance history, including logs.
• Compose test plans, checklists and test cases.
• For mobile tests, know the basic differences between Android and iOS.

In addition to the above skills, you should learn manual and automated testing techniques such as test case development and bug finding systems, XML and text editors, test data generators, and file managers.

What qualities does a tester need to possess?

You can't just become a highly paid professional. You need a good grasp of theory, including:

• Understanding of the development stages of various software development and support.
• Knowledge of modern methods of preparing and conducting tests. Without this skill it is impossible to work at all.
• Knowledge of English is also a prerequisite for successful work. Many technical documents are presented in English, so the tester must know English at least at intermediate level.

If you want to be a QA engineer, it is important to have not only knowledge, but also certain personal qualities that will help you do your job successfully. Especially important are qualities such as:

• Perseverance. Finding errors in a programme is a complex and time-consuming process that requires a lot of patience and effort. A good specialist understands that errors in the programme are inevitable and is ready to make every effort to find them.
• Critical thinking. You need to be able to properly process the data and extract the right information from it.
• Attention. It is necessary to pay attention to all details, even the smallest and insignificant.
• Teamwork skills. Co-operation with designers, developers and other specialists is an integral part of the work.
• Striving to improve the product. A good QA engineer goes beyond just finding bugs and strives to make the company's product better. This helps improve the stability and recognisability of the product.
• The skill of writing detailed test descriptions. When a tester finds problems in a programme, he should describe them as thoroughly as possible so that developers can fix the bugs quickly and efficiently.
• Striving for self-improvement. To be successful in a niche, you need to constantly study new technologies, read technical literature and improve your skills. This is the only way to achieve success in this field.

Advantages and disadvantages of the QA-engineering profession

Career prospects and the possibility of remote work are just some of the advantages of the profession. Other pluses include the possibility of a quick start, even without higher specialised education. Over time, a tester can become a senior specialist or manager. 

Another significant advantage is the possibility of working remotely. This is why many people aspire to become testers, so that they can organise their own schedule and work from anywhere in the world.

However, the profession also has its disadvantages. Newcomers are often entrusted with only one-type tasks, which can be boring and uninteresting. Also QA-engineers are not always welcomed by developers who may consider them as annoying critics of their work. To be successful in this profession, you need to have knowledge in different areas, such as programming, application structure and design, so you have to study a lot and constantly.

For those looking to go into the IT field, a testing position would be a great start. There are no age or industry restrictions here. The main thing is to improve your skills strongly. 

When you have mastered the basics of manual testing, you can retrain as an automator and start practising programming. In the future, you can build a career based on your desires and goals. You can try to become a QA builder or a QA leader leading a team of testers. Your skills can also be useful for moving into project managers, analysts, and even senior management. They can also serve as a basis for realising your own ideas into a successful project.