Is Testing a good career option ?
Software Industry is panned across different verticals of which there is one such vertical, which is underrated, which people always question before entering into, which is always looked upto as a backup if something else is not clicked into software, and it is known as Software Testing.
Once Audrey Hepburn rightly said — “Nothing is impossible, the word itself says ‘I’m possible’!” and same applies to testing. But this I am possible only works if you believe in it. In my words, “Being a Tester should be a choice and not an option”. So what makes a good tester and what future career options testing opens up for an individual, Quizzed ?. Let me help you solve that for you.
What makes a Good tester ?
Good tester should always have the following skillset. It’s not only about scoring good in exams, it’s also about knowing how and why you scored well. So Let’s look at some of these options.
- Always Question!
Questioning is a way of getting clarification. Be it a Requirement, be it a Design, be it a Process or be it an issue resolution, question each and every aspect of it for the correctness. If you are not sure why it is like that, you should go and get an answer for it. Because if you miss a step, this is gonna cost you huge. The cost of fixing a bug or defect is lower if you catch it early, but higher in later phases of the software development life cycle.
2. Be Inquisitive!
Once you know all the answers, it’s time to examine and investigate it and make sure things are in place. “Try try till you succeed” is something that works well in testing. The more you test, softwares become more prone to report defects. So use this curiosity within to tap into areas which a developer has never thought of while coding, which an architect has never explored while designing and which the product team has never imagined while gathering requirements.
3. Time and Quality
Testing is not only about shipping software products. Its about delivering something with great quality within an acceptable time. If you lack any of these, you gonna end up having an unhappy customer. So focus on quality rather than quantity and ensure that Verification and Validation (Testing Concept) of your product is completed before timely delivery.
4. Know the Domain
Knowledge is everything, no matter where you go and what you do. Similarly in testing, knowing the domain you are working on is something A Must. Before testing if you are not aware of what and how the software is meant to do business, you will fail to find defects in it which can impact the outcome. Hence its always important for a tester to know the entire end-to-end function of a software rather than a single module.
5. Don’t leave the Techie behind
Testing has many versions and it cant be classified into one single process. Functional and Non Functional are the major classifications of it. It’s not always about verifying the function and finding the defects, you will also need to focus on the non functional aspects of the software being built like Performance, Stress, Load, Security etc. So never shy to explore these areas which can impact the stability of the software even though the function is working fine.
6. Regress and Automate
Last but not the least. The world is going towards automation and executing things at a faster pace. Testing is no exception to it. Once you figure out what to be done correctly for a proper delivery cycle of a software product, it’s better to automate it to ensure continuous delivery of new features into it and perform proper regression. However, automation in itself is huge area to be tapped into and we can talk about it more. For now, refer this.
What after becoming a Good tester ?
Testing opens up many areas for an individual, but I will be talking about the three important ones which are of more interest for any software individual who is thinking on taking that giant leap into testing. The role of tester is expected to have proper knowledge about the business function, control the testing environments and automate steps which are repetitive. Hence after doing these activities rigorously and being an expert into it, one can always choose a specific function and excel in it. These functions are:
1. Business Analyst
Testers are required to have end to end knowledge of the business to properly test the software being built. They also have very close interactions with product people during requirement gatherings to ensure early validation of it. Hence every tester has a confident knowledge about how the business functions and what can be improved in it, which is a quality of a product person.
2. SDET -> Developer
Testers who have a thing for technology always focus on automating things to ensure regression of test-cases for continuous delivery. This helps them to spend more and more time on the technical side thereby further debugging into the code of the software product being built. In-turn, it opens up many gates for testers to get into development cycle and code a piece on their own for new developments. A Good Developer who is an expert Tester will be the need of the future.
3. Dev-ops
Maintaining test environments is one of the important function of testing teams. Doing deployments, applying patches and ensuring stability of the test environments is something they always have to ensure to keep the testing cycles running. These skills are something that are always looked into someone who is taking an initial step in becoming a Dev-ops person. Thus being into testing lays a good foundation for testers to explore and grow more into developer operations side.
So you see, testing in itself is so vast and versatile. Next time if you yourself or someone questions about why get into testing, think of these basics and you will do wonders. It’s not that everyone cant do testing, but one can do good testing only if they are willing to give their best into it.
Happy Testing !!!
