Quality assurance or QA is a set of business processes that ensures software quality and reliability. It safeguards the needs of customers and improves customer satisfaction rates. QA processes help in catching issues that can cause huge financial and reputational damages. It also reduces UI/UX and redundancy issues in the analyzed system.
You can also create automated QA workflows to run repetitive use cases. This reduces manual errors and brings down costs. Furthermore, it allows you to perform more quality checks in the same amount of time.
QA is a collaborative process. Team contribution and feedback help in monitoring processes and delivering quality applications. You can use QA tools to create schedules, develop SOPs, and work on process controls. Using QA tools also reduces product redesign and recall issues.
You can use languages such as Java, Python, and C# to check code quality and testing. QA professionals use certain quality controls tools to ensure that a given test is correct or not. They can be checklists, control charts, and peer reviews. Techniques such as cost-benefit analysis, benchmarking, and quality management are used to measure the effectiveness of a QA strategy.
Frameworks are also an important part of the QA process. QA engineers frequently use frameworks to improve and optimize their testing processes. Some common testing frameworks for this purpose include Selenium, Waitr, Capybara, and Windmill.
QA in today’s market
Companies are now adopting new technologies such as AI and machine learning in their QA workflows. 80% of the surveyed companies say that AI is one of the most important parts of their testing process, while 68% say they have already adopted the necessary automation tools for their QA process.
Tech giants including Microsoft, Facebook, and Google have a well-established QA infrastructure and teams. They use product processing and monitoring to ensure utmost precision while delivering products and services used by millions of consumers.
Issues companies face while hiring a QA engineer
One of the major issues that companies face while hiring QA engineers is that sometimes even seasoned QA engineers don’t have experience with test automation tools, which are rapidly being implemented in organizations across the globe. These tools save time and can run tests without manual intervention. That time can be used to create better test cases.
QA professionals should also be able to do a risk analysis. Features like structural testing and probability should be used to recognize failures and missteps in the system. Unfortunately, many engineers can’t leverage the available information to create a mitigation plan for known risks.
How to choose the perfect QA engineer?
To select a perfect QA engineer, you should check their proficiency in QA methodologies and frameworks. They must also be efficient in programming languages such as Java, Python, and C++.
The candidate must be an expert in recognizing bugs/errors and should have a good knowledge of software testing frameworks and tools. They should also be able to perform regression testing and identify bottlenecks in the project. Furthermore, a QA engineer should also have communication, collaboration, documentation, and reporting skills.
Interview Questions
What is agile testing?
Agile testing means testing your software using agile methodology. In this approach, you don’t wait for the project’s completion to check code quality. Instead, you focus on coding and testing simultaneously.
This procedure is sometimes called test-driven development. This process saves time and improves code quality.
How do you explain black-box testing?
Black-box testing is also called specification-based testing. It refers to a testing process in which a software’s functionality is tested without examining its code or internal structure. It can have different components such as functional testing, integration testing, regression testing, and user acceptance testing.
Define incremental integration testing?
Incremental integration testing means continuously testing a project every time new functionality is added to the central library. It helps deliver better quality code by ensuring that the final product is rigorously checked every time you make a new change in the system.
In this kind of testing, engineers add modules by using stubs/drivers to identify defects. The module is then put through automated tests at regular intervals. You can use different approaches for incremental testing, such as the mixed/sandwich approach, top-down approach, and bottom-up approach.
What are DMAIC and DMADV in QA?
DMAIC is a data-driven process used to improve project quality. This process includes 5 phases- Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control. This process helps you define project requirements, measure their outputs, and improve errors. This is a part of the Six Sigma initiative.
DMADV means Define, Measure, Analyze, Design, and Verify. It refers to a data-driven quality program that assists in identifying critical characteristics of a product. You can also find out the risk associated with a project.
What do you understand about configuration management?
Configuration management is a process that regulates and reports any changes that happen in the system over time. It’s a way to manage changes that occur over time to ensure they don’t negatively affect the efficiency and performance of the system.
Job Description
We are looking for smart quality assurance engineers who can test and maintain our systems/applications. They should be able to conduct quality and reliability tests on different apps.
They should be able to oversee continuous improvement projects and monitor all stages of software development to ensure that any bugs in the software are identified and resolved. Additionally, they will be responsible for improving the development processes themselves, in order to improve the overall quality of all the products.
The selected engineer should have good communication skills along with the ability to solve complex problems.
Responsibilities
- Test software components and identify issues in code modules.
- Review project requirements and specifications to create a testing strategy and QA design.
- Perform regression testing.
- Design comprehensive and structured tests that can be automated via test automation tools.
- Identify bottlenecks issues in the development process and suggest solutions.
- Monitor test results and investigate system configuration issues.
- Provide feedback to colleagues and create documentation.
- Coordinate with different teams.
- {{Add other relevant responsibilities}}
Skills and Qualifications
- Detailed knowledge of QA. Should have prior experience with QA methodologies, tools, and frameworks.
- Experience in designing automated tests, UI testing, and integration tests.
- Proven experience with programming languages such as C++, Java, and XML.
- Understanding of SQL queries.
- Experience working in agile code sprints.
- Experience with code versioning tools (Git and Jenkins).
- Problem-solving skills and a sense of ownership for product issues.
- {{Add other frameworks or libraries related to your development stack}}
- {{List education level or certification required}}
Conclusion
QA is an important part of the product development process. Many companies are now hiring experienced QA professionals who can design systematic procedures and layouts for their QA processes. If you want to deliver quality products to your client, investing in QA services and tools is definitely the way to go.
