This is a guest post by STC team member Aparajita Jain. Check author details at the bottom the article.
If you are planning a career in software testing then it is important to understand where this industry is moving and what is Future In Software Testing? When I started my career as software tester 8 years ago, testing was not given so much important than what it is given now. Every software firm which has developers to develop the application also has a quality assurance team to test the application.
In this article, we are going to see how we can prepare for a bright future in software testing and the important points to keep in mind while applying for it.
Automation:
In today’s world where we all want to save money and efforts by using as much technology as possible, software testing field is not spared. Manual can never be 100% replaced but having scripting knowledge can take you to the other level of testing. Automating repeatable tasks like regression test can save a lot of time, money and resources. Invest some time in learning new tools and scripting languages and you will never have a lack of job market for yourself. Automation is the future of software testing and today there are lots of testing framework such as cucumber, Selenium, etc. and tools are available. It is a kind of must-have a skill or the expectation from the tester that he should know to code the automation scripts on different programming languages such as Python, Perl, Java, etc. The skill level to work on the testing tool and framework is as much competition as a junior developer possess.
Communication:
Software tester expects to have excellent verbal and written communication skills. Usage of proper words not only mitigate misunderstandings but also, helps in avoiding conflicts among the teams. For example, say you found a crucial bug in the software and you wanted to communicate it to the developer. If you convey this bug in a way that developer feels that you are blaming him for it then there are chances that your manager will get involved to resolve the gaps but if you make him feel like a part of the same team which is working towards the same goal of delivering the quality software to the client then there are no chances of misunderstandings. In other words, the communication should be like you are getting the work done as a team without unnecessary escalations and meetings.
Team Player:
As a tester, you will have to interact with different teams such as development team, end users, business analysts and other testers for integration testing. It is important to be a team player in order to get all the work done on time and making sure that all the teams are on the same page and there are no communication gaps. In a team, the tester should understand his responsibilities like publishing defects report, obey the defect life cycle, etc. in order to keep pace with other team members in the project. He should be capable enough to keep a positive work environment within the team and around.
Be In Touch With The Community:
Taking advantage of social media for professional growth is one of the awesome things to do in your spare time. There are so many testing groups available on LinkedIn, Facebook, and test forums etc. where they discuss testing issues, technologies, and tools. Just being a member of such groups, you get to know so many things and learn so much just by reading or chatting with the people who belong to the same industry as yours. Believe me, if you are stuck on a particular process or technical glitch during automation then consider googling your problem on the internet, it is definite that most of the time you may get either the complete solution or at least a hint to proceed towards the problem resolution.
Read Job Description Properly:
While applying for testing jobs, read all the job requirements carefully. In most of the cases, they need someone who has a good knowledge of the testing processes, documents and knows automation. But automation is a vast area, there are so many tools and technologies. For example, web automation, window automation, and performance testing tools etc. Applying for the suitable job is as important as to get one. You don’t want to end up taking a job, you know nothing about and then feel pressured to perform your best.
Handling office politics:
Sometimes you get stuck with such people who try to hide your work from management, it is called office politics in simpler words. Don’t be afraid and keep working hard that make sure you have all the records of work with you. For example, you found 5 bugs out of which 2 are high importance and you want to log them in but your lead doesn’t want to give you the credit for them, simply send an email to the developer and copy your manager after you log the defect. I am not saying every organization has such people but it is always better to have everything recorded. There could be a scenario that you may discuss the defect with your peer and the next moment you will find that defect is already logged by the peer on his name. Therefore, learn to take the credit for the work which you have accomplished.
Software testing is still blooming and there is a long way to go. The key here is to learn as much as we can and be aware of all the latest technologies related to the software testing field. When you have the knowledge, no one can stop you from excelling in your career no matter how many hurdles you are going to face to get into this job field. At last, I will say learning and hard work is the keys to success.
About Authors:
Aparajita Jain is a Senior Quality Analyst and a technical writer with more than 8 years of experience. She has expertise in test automation in various platforms Java, Ruby, and Python. She loves teaching and sharing knowledge through technical writing. Currently working full time as Lead automation engineer in one of the leading banks in Canada.
