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Step-by-step guide on how to become quality assurance engineer

how to become quality assurance engineer

Introduction

If you’re wondering how to become a Quality Assurance Engineer, you’re in the right place. Quality assurance is one of the essential phases of the software industry. The idea behind adopting this process is the requirement of flawlessly tested software or the application by clients, worldwide. All the organizations want to develop well tested and a good quality software product before being deployed to the customers. Thus, it is the primary concern for the developers to carry out all the tests and assurance checks by eliminating all the errors and defects of the product, before offering it to the customer. As quality assurance is the crucial step in software development, the organizations are always looking for the Quality Assurance Engineer, Analyst, Tester and thus there are plenty of job opportunities for the candidates who are looking for a career in this field.

If you live for details, enjoy working methodically to solve problems, and have a knack for understanding software user behaviours, a job as a (QA) Quality Assurance Engineer may be just the tech career path for you to explore. Now, if you are thinking of a career as a QA engineer, that simple answer is probably not enough to satisfy your detail-oriented mind. So, here is a more detailed explanation that this article will provide and help you gain the insights related to the profile. If you’re still wondering how to become a Quality Assurance Engineer, keep reading.

What is Quality Assurance in Software Development?

Quality Assurance in Software Testing is defined as a procedure to ensure the quality of software products or services provided to the customers by an organization. Quality assurance focuses on improving the software development process and making it efficient and effective as per the quality standards defined for software products. Quality Assurance is popularly known as QA Testing.

The Quality Assurance process can involve –

The Difference Between Quality Assurance and Testing

Briefly, Software Testing helps find and fix already existing mistakes and Quality Assurance helps avoid them. Both of these processes are important and if you want to meet the best quality criteria, you cannot have one without the other. But a separate QA department in IT is quite rare, that’s why sometimes it’s better to outsource one than build an in-house team.

QA is about making sure that the design meets stakeholders’ expectations, while testing is mainly detecting the bugs or bigger failures Testing focuses on system control and error detection, with product orientation and corrective actions. Testing is about checking the behavior of the application, while quality assurance is about making the overall quality level of the project better each day.

Some may worry about the risks involved in extending the team: every additional tester added in a product development team makes the development cycle more expensive and less competitive than other products that offer the same function.  On the other hand, it is impossible to find a person who would be familiar with all stages of product development at such a high stage that they will be able to competently assess its effectiveness from the start. However, if we look at the product development cycle, it’s obvious that the team with testers that are starting working on a project from the beginning is gaining crucial expertise over time. Therefore, in most cases, Testers can perform Quality Assurance duties, because they are familiar with every aspect of the product and specific conditions such as business logic behind it. This situation is also fairly reasonable because being aware of the problems that emerge in the product development process, it is also easier for team members to pinpoint their main roots in the process of their manufacture.

After analyzing these two concepts, we can compare them according to their purpose, subject matter, definitions, type of action, and orientation. QA controls the testing process and verifies that the software is capable of working under certain conditions. Testing focuses on case studies, implementation, and evaluation. QA means quality assurance and it is common knowledge that quality cannot be “tested” in a product. Therefore, quality assurance is mainly about optimizing the process in such a way that quality is achieved. To track the success of such quality measures, manual tests are often used and their respective reports.

Quality Assurance is the overall management approach to ensuring the successful implementation of a company’s quality objectives. It covers all processes, policies, standards, tools, training, etc. that are necessary to support the successful achievement of quality objectives. Testing is a very small part of a well-integrated quality assurance strategy. A good quality assurance strategy should be both proactive and reactive.

QA and Testing are not the same concepts – QA is the strategy that encompasses Testing but much more and involves a much wider set of stakeholders. While Testing is focused on code quality within a technical arena.

However, they do have the same goal; to ensure development and delivery of a high-quality product to the customer. Yet, when understood and implemented correctly, they focus on different things and use different methods and techniques to reach that goal.

Being aware and observant of these differences enables businesses to create a better understanding of ‘quality’ across a development team and while improving productivity from a wider set of different skills.

Various Quality Characteristics Of the Quality Assurance Process

Concentrate on the User Experience

Testing at all stages of the venture is critical. However, the most dominant point is the user experience. In case that the UX is terrible, it unavoidably implies the quality isn’t of standard. Despite the fact that this will presumably result in variations in the earlier stage of software development, the user experience should dependably be at the leading place.

Automation and Continuous Integration

Automation is essential since it offers quick review, empowering continuous integration – an important part of the agile approach. Automation is additionally a solution to lessening costs and improving the productivity of your QA staff; that is one of the principle reasons why QA engineers must teach themselves and be apt to execute automation processes.

Test and Code Coverage

Numerous QA managers ramble about “test coverage,” that gives a decent broad image of the quality of the product. But to accomplish genuine quality, test cases and code coverage examination both ought to be held. For instance, regardless of the fact that 100% test coverage is performed by you, you have to, in any case, go for a minimum 90% function code coverage to guarantee the best outcomes.

The Shift-Left Approach

Software testing begins commonly once the coding stage is finished. In any case, for ideal quality in an agile strategy, you have to drive the concentration and start checking as well as testing directly from the origin of the venture. It guarantees bugs are identified sooner, that saves both money and time. Additionally, it ensures a positive association with developers in the group, quickens the delivery of the application, and takes into consideration more noteworthy test coverage.

Smart Testing

Full and thorough testing can now and again lead to a challenge since numerous personnel might not have resources or time to experience each reasonable combination of cases. But you ought to be smart in how and what to test. It implies speaking with the engineer to discover little experiments that will identify the best number of bugs.

Bug Prevention

QA managers are prepared to detect bugs, but an ingenious QA specialist will likewise consider how to avoid them in any case.

Conventional QA begins testing at the UI level, yet an agile process begins with the functional and unit testing and after that moves to the UI phase. This methodology keeps bugs from entering the top level of development which can later on lead to more severe issues and likely postpone the delivery.
Furthermore, concentrate on major crucial bugs and errors at first as opposed to many small errors.

Portability

It is critical for software to adjust to various environments. For example, a framework should operate just as efficiently on a web platform as it works on mobile.
The versatility, installability, replaceability, and conformance of the product should be recorded respectively.

Reliability

A system crash is not a unique situation. However, in quality testing, you require to check the system’s capacity to resist component breakdown. The system ought to be ready to get back into complete control even after a possible malfunction in the product.

Documentation

This process manages the administration and archiving of documents. Any variation in a record is done by using the appropriate change control method. Approval of all kinds of documents is also done in this process. With that said, let’s find out why quality assurance in the process of software development is essential.

Why is Quality Assurance Vital in the Software Development Process?

Saves Time and Money

The advantage of having systems and processes in place during development is that they anticipate and prevent most bugs and flaws from developing in the first place. As a result, the errors that do surface are relatively minor, and can be fixed easily. On the other hand, without QA, most bugs would potentially be bigger and may only be caught in the testing phase, or after the program was released. Fixing these bugs after the fact would require more time, which in turn could cost more.

Maintains Product Quality

QA processes are designed to ensure that the software product works reliably and is stable. In addition, there are Quality Control (QC) tests designed to test the functionality, performance, security, usability, and more. Furthermore, these tests also consider the fact that the user might not use the program as it was intended. Part of this testing is to ‘idiot-proof’ the product so that improper use does cause failure. As a result, the final product has minimal defects and is guaranteed to work as intended.

Ensures Security

Whilst a software program might perform all functions as intended, it may not necessarily be completely secure. If there are any weaknesses in its defences, the product and users’ data could be compromised. One of the reasons QA is so important in software development is to ensure that your product is built with security in mind, and has been tested properly to ensure that the safeguards in place work.

Protects Your Reputation

The quality of your software can reflect on your company and brand. By releasing a high-quality product that offers excellent features with comprehensive security, you can build a positive reputation for your business. This is where the importance of QA in software development is most evident. It ensures that your product serves as a fitting brand ambassador for your business.

Customer Satisfaction

In order to ensure satisfied customers, your product needs to fulfil their needs. It should have all the features required and work properly. The role of QA is exactly that – to make sure that the software gives your customers exactly what they expect. The QA team would define the features of the deliverables and then work through each step of the development process to ensure that they are being delivered. They then check to see if the software works smoothly and without any problems. As a result, customers get a quality product that they are happy to use.

How can you become a QA Engineer?

To land a QA Engineer Job in a top organization successfully you’ll need to master the role, key duties, responsibilities, skills, and certifications that are required by a security analyst job description.

QA Engineer Job Description

To land a QA Engineer Job in a top organization successfully you’ll need to master the role, key duties, responsibilities, skills, and certifications that are required by a security analyst job description.

Quality Assurance Engineer Responsibilities And Duties

QA Engineer Qualities

Depending on our research, we determined the subsequent core skills one should own to acquire a job Role Of Quality Assurance Engineer. These include:

Required Education Qualification, Training and Work Experience

In order to acquire the QA Engineer Job, one should first earn:

As for the required training, a candidate should complete Certification in TQM, ISO etc. quality process, software testing techniques such as CMMI, SDLC, Six Sigma, TQM, test writing plans Whereas, the job experience to apply for the position mandates a candidate to have 0-2 years of work experience/internship in Software Development/Deployment.

10 Best Online Courses & Certifications For QA Engineers In 2021

Looking to start a career as a QA Engineer? One of these online quality assurance courses and certifications will work best to put you on the right track to acquiring the Role Of Quality Assurance Engineer.

QA Engineer Salary (Expected Earnings)

Higher earnings are possible, however, salaries vary significantly – based on the industry, size of the business, and depending on the different skills you possess, it can affect your salary.

[Income figures are intended as a guide only.]

Conclusion

The demand for Quality assurance Engineers (QA) has increased with the continued requirement for software to be multi-functional and to function correctly in the field. The market demand for Quality assurance Engineers (QA) has also increased due to the changing world of technology and its effect on the business, as new technologies become available for every type of industry. The need for QA engineers has never been greater as companies strive to stay competitive in the highly competitive software development industry by developing cutting-edge products. Are you planning to apply for the QA Role In Software Development? Well, do you still have doubts regarding the best way to become a qa engineer, start with a FREE ONLINE CAREER COUNSELLING The team of Counsellors and Mentors at MyCareerGurukul can help you choose a career path by building a proper career action plan that’s well suited for you to reach your goals. We hope this piece has helped you gain the insights of the way a engineer should work. Good Luck on your efforts in landing the Job!

FAQs

Q1: What is quality assurance in software development?

A1: It’s a process to ensure the software meets the required quality standards.

Q2: What’s the difference between quality assurance and testing?

A2: Quality assurance is a proactive process to prevent defects, while testing is a reactive process to find and fix defects.

Q3: What are the various quality characteristics of the quality assurance process?

A3: They include reliability, efficiency, security, maintainability, and usability.

Q4: Why is quality assurance vital in the software development process?

A4: It ensures the software is error-free and meets the user’s requirements.

Q5: How can you become a QA engineer?

A5: By gaining relevant education, acquiring necessary skills, and gaining experience in software testing and quality assurance.

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