Although it is sometimes overlooked during the software development life cycle (SDLC), quality assurance (QA) is a vital component for producing software that works well, is easy to use, and is highly regarded. But as with many technical roles, it's never a static process. Just like software development itself, quality control testing is constantly changing, so it is natural for practice to change (…)
Risk-Based Security called 2019 the “worst year on record” in terms of security breaches. These and other security issues not only impact the success of your product, they also influence the perception and reputation of your brand as a whole.
Increasingly, quality control testers will be tasked with rigorously evaluating the safety of the products they work on. Fair or not, the burden of security issues often falls on these experts. They will need to perform testing to identify vulnerabilities before the product is released.
Functions defined and redefined
Due to all the changes occurring in the world of software development and QA testing, the role of the QA team is evolving, with the gap in developer and tester responsibilities closing. Some companies are eliminating QA specialists altogether and relegating their roles to software developers.
This, however, is a risky and unwise measure. The areas of the SDLC are distinct and each requires a unique, specialized skill set. If developers are tasked with performing quality assurance, they may also place less emphasis on this process, as their priority will be building the product.
Instead, as the nature of testing changes, we will see greater specialization. QA professionals will find niches like automation, performance engineering, product engineering, security, and more.
Automated and manual tests
Increased test automation also poses a threat to the role of the QA tester. However, even if automation gains popularity and speeds up the software development process, especially as companies adopt Agile and DevOps practices, it is unlikely to eliminate the need for human testers.
Manual testing is important to evaluate the user experience, for example — something that a machine is not capable of doing. Manual exploratory testing is also required. In this type of analysis, testers “explore” the product without creating a test case script in advance.
That doesn't mean automation won't increase. Most likely yes, especially as artificial intelligence (AI) becomes more sophisticated. But even this requires human intervention. After all, someone needs to script the test cases as well as monitor the system.
This year has already been a difficult road in many ways, and software development has also faced many obstacles and changes. User experience, new methodologies, security, speed and automation are some topics we will see emphasized in QA testing in the future, but much depends on external factors.
As we move into the second half of 2020, with a global pandemic affecting every country in the world and the economy at one of its weakest points in recent history, QA testing will be affected, like every sector, in ways that we will hardly be able to Imagine.
