Quality Assurance
Software Quality Assurance is a process where a tester works hand in hand with a software developer to determine if a software is ready to be released. A A typical QA process is based on a list of test cases. These test cases verify that functional specifications have been respected and that the software does not have major defects before its release.
Typically, good QA engineers think beyond product specifications to come up with test cases. They imagine test scenarios able to potentially break the normal behavior of the software. Sometimes, they come up with test situations that the Product Owner did not envision.
Our software projects usually include the QA testing approaches below.
Automated QA Testing
The Quality Assurance Outsourcing process may rely on an Automation QA approach to perform test cases automatically, usually using an automation Framework such as Selenium. Although automation requires a significant time and resource investment to setup and develop automated test cases, it proves itself very valuable when performing regression testing and performing the same test cases frequently. Automated testing is usually significantly faster and more reliable than manual testing, where human errors and omissions are unavoidable.
Manual QA Testing
Manual software testing involves test case documents in the test plan but also gives room for ad-hoc, undocumented test case scenarios to validate the software behavior. Usually, manual testing involves different browsers and devices. The manual testing process validates that the software operates properly under given conditions. Typically, Manual QA testing requires more time to execute but can lead to discovering defects that repetitive automation may have missed.
What makes a good QA engineer?
Software companies typically need a mix of automation or manual QA engineers to efficiently test their projects. Quality Assurance Outsourcing allows to obtain a neutral, unbiased opinion about software quality. In addition, outsourcing the QA process allows to perform the tasks outside regular business hours. In turn, this allows test results to be known early on the next business day.
A good QA engineer typically has the following skills:
- Great written and verbal skills to explain and document issues precisely
- Curious and imaginative, to come up with innovate test cases
- Detail oriented
- Good understanding of product architecture
- Ability to perform cross-browser / cross-device testing
- For automation engineers, good coding skills and knowledge or common test automation framework
