At one time, testing was probably the most ignored career choice in the IT industry. However, with advanced project methodologies like Agile and DevOps and organizations focusing more on maintaining and improving the quality of their applications, testing has become a great career choice. For a person who is beginning his or her career in the IT industry, if they choose to go into testing, there are certain facts they should know about that will allow them to propel their career as a quality analyst. Let’s discuss them in detail.

What is Involved in Testing and How Different It is From Development

The primary thing any IT professional should know is what is involved in testing.

• Testing is verification of the product to ensure that it meets all the requirements of the customer and in a user friendly way possible.

• Investigation of the product and figure out anything this is valuable to the product owner.

• It involves communication with developers, end users as well as stakeholders to find out progress regarding product improvement.

• Testing requires a great deal of creativity and out of the box thinking. There is an infinite number of parameters to execute that can provide any output calculating the usability and quality of the product.

Testing is all about teamwork. Often developers tend to hate quality analysts because no one likes the fact that others are informing them that there is something wrong with their code. But, testers care about the code just like the developers. For delivery of a complete bug-free application, testers and developers should work together to find out and fix the bugs.

A Tester’s Position is Of Equal Importance Like a Developer

There is a common myth that a developer’s position is superior to a tester. However, this is not true.

• A developer and a tester both have the same goal, delivery of a quality product. Only their approach is different.

• Developers think about how the application can be created, while testers think about how the application can be broken.

• Since a tester must figure out all the possible scenarios that can cause breakage to an application and impact critical functionalities, they must be clear about the requirement specifications, thereby having more knowledge of the business.

Good Testers are Good Product Owners

Testers are also product owners. They know the product deeply and have a user perspective that can find user challenges before deployment.

• Testers should be completely involved in the project from the beginning. Starting with requirement analysis, they should work in collaboration with the development team to ensure bug-free delivery.

• Even if waterfall methodology is used, instead of waiting for the development phase to be completed, a tester should spend time in going through the business document and understanding the requirements.

• A tester uses the product before any user. They are the first critics on the usability and the efficiency on getting the work done. They become one with the product. That is why they are also the most valuable source to get inspiration for product features. Good product owners builders are always good testers.

Opportunity for Learning

Whether you are setting up a testing tool for security testing, or writing test cases for your automation suite, if a supportive team is with you, there are new things to learn every day. The team along with the management will ensure that as a beginner if you have to work with a new testing tool or in manual testing, resources required for gaining the knowledge regarding your work is readily available. Your work life will never get boring since with the beginning of each day new things to learn and new challenges will be brought to you.

Planning, Analytical and Communication Skills

Mere technical knowledge is not good enough for testing. Soft skills are equally important.

• You will need to plan beforehand certain strategies to follow during testing. Testing an application without having a plan in mind is similar to driving a car without any fixed destination.

• You need to communicate properly with the management as well as the development team. Often people will judge you or be angry with you when you find bugs in an application ready for deployment. You will need to make them understand why fixing the bug is important to the customer.

• A tester should also be good in bug reporting. Simply putting a statement like “button is not working” in the bug report is not enough. You will need to be precise and as detailed as possible so that the development team can easily reproduce the bug on their end.

A Perfect Domain If You Love Challenge

Do you love solving crosswords or Sudoku puzzles? Or love games that require out of the box thinking? Testing is the perfect career path for you. An application that has completed the development phase or still in development will bring new puzzles to think and new ways to figure out how you can cause breakage in the functionalities. Innovative thinking is a must-have skill for a tester.

Being a fresher in the IT industry, the above-mentioned points will guide you on what you must be capable of to begin your career as a quality analyst. If you love an innovative job and can think out of the box, testing is the perfect domain to propel your career in the IT industry.