Manual QA Engineer

Quality Assurance Engineer is a relatively new profession in the field, so it is not yet fully explored, there are many questions around its essence from ordinary people. We'll figure out what people who are interested should know about the specialty and how to get training to master it.  For many people outside the information technology industry, an OA engineer is someone who is busy trying different combinations of keys and functions every day, testing the system for stability. There is also a perception that the position of tester does not require a lot of technical knowledge, so it is an easy way to get a job in IT. Is this true?

What a QA engineer does

QA engineer provides quality control of software development during all phases of planning, creation, and design. The main task of a QA engineer is to optimize software development processes, preventing difficulties and errors.  The work is quite important in IT, because the final product and its quality depend on thorough testing and system analysis.  The Quality Assurance engineer monitors the technical requirements of the product. QA engineer runs tests and other approaches that help check quality (the main parameter is the ratio of reality to expectations about the product being developed). How is a list of requirements for an application or software generated? The customer interviews the end users and, using this research, describes the requirements and showing the development specialists how to create the product. The testers get a technical task to check the final result for compliance with user requests. An additional task is to analyze the expectations of the customer and the end user. Often, they are different.

Portrait of a QA engineer

The Quality Assurance engineer is in charge of quality assurance. The meaning of this work is to improve the process of software development, timely detection of defects. Studies of the labor market indicate that the portrait of the average QA engineer in Ukraine is a 26-year-old young professional. Their experience ranges from 6 months (Junior) to 5 years (Senior). Salaries average between $600 and $2,700. What does the specialist do? The main task is to monitor and ensure the quality of the final product. All the attention in the work is focused on assessing the stages of software development, its optimization, the prevention of errors and difficulties, so that they do not arise at the stage of using the product.  The following stages of quality analysis are distinguished. What a QA specialist does in the workplace:

• Checks the requirements for the product;
• Assesses risks;
• Generates ideas aimed at optimizing quality;
• Plans for testing;
• Analyzes its results.

QA also includes processes for development quality control — Quality Control. QC specialists analyze the results of testing, their task is to identify and eliminate bugs in the system.  The position of software tester is also in the QA area. The software tester checks the finished product for defects and inconsistencies with the terms of reference and a list of requirements, and then fixes them for further elimination by the developers. The testing process is an important step in quality assurance and control.

Advantages of the profession

Let's take a look at the benefits of the QA engineer's profession:

• Working as a QA engineer contributes to personal development, gives the opportunity to obtain technical and near-technical skills and knowledge. They will be useful in the workplace and in everyday life.
• QA engineer is able to analyze the development of the product from the beginning to the final result. The specialist is directly involved at all stages, controls the progress of software creation, and constantly monitors the requests of end users. We can say for sure that QA reveals a deep knowledge of what the software consists of and how to work on it.

How to pass QA engineer training

For whom QA engineer training at DevEducation courses is suitable:

• For beginners. For those who do not yet have an idea of software testing but reveals a desire to learn this field.
• For novice professionals. For those who already have some knowledge and practical skills, who have begun to enter the field but need to deepen and systematize theory and practice.
• For practitioners. For those who can already work as a tester or QA engineer but feel the need to learn new technologies, systems, participation in a community of professionals.

QA engineer training courses from DevEducation is a modern, convenient format for gaining knowledge from a popular area in IT. The program was developed by industry practitioners who have created real products and know how the IT team in companies actually functions. Teachers offer many examples from their own practice, as well as giving practical tasks for mastering the material. You can add projects completed in the course from DevEducation to your portfolio. In this way, the chances of getting a position in the profile are greatly increased. Employers appreciate training certificates; this means that the candidate is serious about their qualifications, they are interested in self-improvement and increasing the knowledge base.  Such a fast-growing field as information technology is constantly being updated. Therefore, it is extremely important to monitor the emergence of innovations, checking with professional practitioners. Developers from other areas will also benefit from delving into QA engineering, it will give a more complete picture of the work on any project, opening up more opportunities for career development.  And finally, let's talk about the professional growth of the quality assurance engineer. By improving the knowledge, it is possible easily to move up the career ladder from novice to department head. There is a hierarchy of professions: Junior QA Engineer, Middle Specialist, Senior, Team Lead of the QA Team, QA Manager, and Quality Assurance Manager. You can also move into an in-depth study of automated testing, developing further in this area. Another common option is to change qualifications to another specialty (for example, business intelligence, programming). DevEducation courses will bring this growth closer, and the gained knowledge will help you realize your potential in the world's major corporations.