Explore the evolving landscape of quality control roles today! Dive into the hybrid skills of modern testers, from automation proficiency, CI/CD understanding, to collaboration in Agile environments.
For years, many people in the software development world have been wondering whether QA testing is becoming obsolete. The progressive transition from manual testing to automation and growing demands for faster speeds to market could be the reason behind this popular question. In fact, there are many QA testers who feel they need to acquire new skills or they will be left out in the cold.
But things are not as terrible as these people believe. Sure, QA testing isn't what it used to be, but that doesn't mean it's obsolete or that a company can eliminate it. Truth be told, it's exactly the opposite. QA services are essential to achieve higher quality standards which, in turn, are the only ways to obtain competitive advantages and favor users.
That's why it's important to dedramatize the entire situation and take a look at what quality control functions look like today. It may not be what we're used to thinking, but that doesn't mean quality control is on its way out. So let's dive into this modern QA review, starting with a simple but crucial question.
What does a software tester need to know?
A future software tester needs to learn and master a diverse list of skills to perform their job to the best of their ability. This includes a range of technical skills (such as knowledge of programming languages) as well as a range of interpersonal skills (such as communication and creative thinking). A non-comprehensive list of things a software tester needs to know includes the following:
- Programming languages (especially Python, Java, JavaScript and C#).
- Testing tools and techniques (penetration testing, security testing, unit testing and others)
- Automation
- Test planning, documentation and reporting
- DevOps and Agile
- Logical thinking
- Communication
However, this is also not enough. All of the above can provide a solid foundation on which you can build your QA career, but you need to keep a few details in mind to work in the modern QA landscape. These specificities are related to the new way of working, current business objectives and the different trends that are transforming the area. Let's take a look at this.
Contemporary quality control functions
The emergence of automation has changed everything in the quality control landscape. Some blame it for what they see as the demise of quality control, while others are grateful for its emergence as the beneficial practice it truly can be.
Truth be told, a modern QA tester has a powerful ally in automation, as it can bring practice to early stages of the software development process, while also offering the possibility to perform tests more frequently. And not to mention the increase in testing speed when using automated tests.
This does not mean that QA automation can handle all testing tasks. Automated tests are certainly useful, but QA professionals still need to monitor them closely to avoid negative results. This means that automation is more like a QA testing assistant that still needs expert QA testers to provide satisfactory results. The future of QA will certainly bring greater automation to testing, but today, we are more at an AI-assisted stage.
The focus on automation (especially from large companies like Google, Amazon, and Facebook) has driven the emergence of the test software development engineer, a special type of developer whose primary goal is to create test automation frameworks. Thus, QA testers who are more technically inclined can reconvert into SDETs to find an essential role in the current development cycle.
If you are not very fond of technical aspects, you can specialize in a certain domain of your choice and become an exploratory tester. Whileexploratory testing is far from a new approach, companies are more likely to hire exploratory testers to access more creative forms of software development. As an exploratory tester, you will test software by gathering new knowledge and using your creativity to generate new tests to run. Finally, you will consider risks, develop new testing strategies, and put yourself in your users' shoes to create new tests.
This last thing also opens up another possibility for QA testers to become customer experience experts themselves. Because QA professionals are tasked with ensuring that the resulting software is of the highest quality possible, you can add a more human view to the QA process by taking end-user concerns into account, especially in times of rapid, development-obsessed development. by scale. .
A necessary transition
What does this evolution imply? For example, developing the ability to identify and resolve problems in production, risks in requirements or potential destabilizing factors that could bring down the entire process. The ultimate goal is to keep up with today's rapid development by providing feedback as early as possible without interfering. It's a tall order, but that's where we are now.
It is the job of QA testers to prepare for the upcoming QA scenario by developing the necessary skills but also getting the right mindset. The “you’ll never finish learning quality control” is truer today than ever.
