Quality assurance within any software development project forms a foundation that enables error-free, user-friendly and compliant software. From coordinating to fix bugs that are reported, to encouraging constructive feedback when performing application improvements, the role that your QA team plays goes beyond simply running tests following development, and prior to release.
In this article, we discuss the roles and responsibilities of a QA engineer that go beyond that of their daily duties, as well as what you need to look out for prior to hiring QA engineers, as a business owner. Read on to know more!
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Testing your software following development and prior to implementation is one of the core responsibilities of a QA engineer. This includes running a variety of tests, such as unit, functional, performance and even regression tests to ensure all working parts are running as expected. Once the QA team confirms workability, their approval makes way for the next step, which is deploying the application into production for use.
QA engineers are responsible for attending to any error reports that are sent, be they by end users or other members from your software development team. This requires coordination by means of discussing possible root causes that are leading to the error, as well as deciding who to escalate the report to.
Next, testing any fixes that are built by developers to ensure the error doesn’t persist while other working parts aren’t negatively impacted delivers the go-ahead that your software development team needs to release the patch.
Test cases are crucial items of documentation that offer not just other QA specialists, but your entire software development and business teams clarity on the true purpose of a component, how it is supposed to function, as well as any prerequisites that are necessary to ensure it functions as expected.
Building test cases is something that is led by, and executed by the QA team – with updates made as needed depending on how a component evolves with time.
Many low-code software testing automation tools now deliver much needed capabilities to automate numerous common tasks that fall within the purview of your QA team. Leading software testing companies in UK and around the world have now embraced these testing automation tools, as they alleviate the need to manually conduct many tests that are often repetitive.
This is particularly the case for long-term, ongoing projects that receive a constant stream of updates; regression tests need to be performed to ensure other working parts are functioning as normal prior to release. Automating these regression tests is an ideal use case, and something that your QA team can configure by using a reliable software testing automation tool.
Leading and moderating any discussions surrounding the enhancement of your application with new and/or advanced features is something that a senior QA engineer can embark on, thanks to being at the forefront of user complaints and expectations. Of course, leading and moderating such brainstorming sessions isn’t a task that QA teams need to embrace, but their user-centric knowledge positions them to facilitate discussions that are unbiased and unfiltered, yet constructive.
In turn, this offers all members in your software development team the clarity they need to determine whether a new capability is ultimately worthwhile – and whether it can positively contribute to the expectations that users have, and the end objectives that your business needs to achieve.
Hiring QA engineers isn’t all that different from hiring developers or designers for your software development project, but there are some specificities that you need to look out for, during the screening and sourcing processes.
Here, we highlight both the common and not-so-common factors to consider when hiring QA engineers.
The right team of QA engineers is indispensable for any software project, as they determine not just overall application workability, but also whether features, components and other working parts are relevant enough for users to feel satisfied by. QA engineers can also serve as the ‘glue’ that holds productive discussions around improving application functionality, by asking questions that put a user’s needs and intentions first. In turn, this can enable other members in your software development team to align their mindsets and efforts to build products that while being a hit with end users, shall also positively contribute to your business’s bottom line.
Knowing what to look out for before hiring a QA engineer is therefore of high importance. Of course, prior experience working with software development teams in the past, as well as automating test sequences is always a plus. This is further magnified if your candidate of choice has experience in compliance regulations that your company needs to adhere to – and comprehensive training being a must, if not. However the right soft skills which always steer app testing and development towards a direction that prioritises on the user is what determines the true competency quotient of a reliable QA engineer.