If you are considering a career in QA, you may have wondered, "How hard is QA testing?". There are many stereotypes about the profession, including the belief that only someone deeply knowledgeable in programming can become a software tester. Another popular myth is that only those with a bachelor's degree in computer science or information technology can work in QA. In reality, thanks to the availability of quality online courses, almost anyone can become a QA specialist. However, you need to be persistent, flexible, and ready to learn a lot.
Is it hard to be a QA tester largely depends on your soft skills and your willingness to develop them. If you can work in a team, have project management experience, create technical tasks well, and can clearly communicate your ideas and create reports, it will be much easier for you to enter the QA field. Technical skills can be developed while performing initial tasks.
Among the typical responsibilities of a specialist, we can highlight the following:
- Developing test plans
- Finding software bugs and glitches
- Documenting test progress and results
- Setting quality standards
- Developing procedures for product testing
- Performing manual testing
- Analyzing product features
- Reviewing user interfaces and feedback
- Writing code for automated tests
An experienced QA tester should be knowledgeable in all types of testing, including usability, performance, compatibility, security testing, load testing, etc. Automation testing is not always part of a tester's tasks, as many specialists, especially beginners, work manually. QA-automation is hard compared to evaluating product quality manually, but it has a number of advantages.
Why is Automation Experience Important for QA Testers?
In the USA and many other countries, it is quite difficult to get a high-paying job in QA without automation experience. The fact is that speed and accuracy of work have become increasingly important for employers. Thanks to automated testing, it is much easier to analyze repetitive cases. This significantly saves time and allows for the timely release of software and other products.
It should be noted that for some modern programs, manual testing is not suitable at all due to the complexity of the systems that need to be checked. Automation allows bugs to be detected at early stages of development and gives companies a competitive advantage in a high-competition market. Therefore, one of the challenges for a QA tester starting their career is the need to gradually learn the specifics of tools such as Selenium WebDriver, TestNG, JUnit, etc., and become familiar with programming languages like Python, Java, etc. Familiarity with Agile is also essential. Professionals with automation skills are often more in demand.
How hard is it to be a software QA depends on the industry you choose and how you learn. It may take a year or more to learn automation testing. You can become an automation tester faster by taking specialized online courses, where you can ask mentors questions and perform practical tasks.
What is the Most Difficult Part of QA Game Testing?
Game testing has its own specifics. It involves analyzing the gameplay from different perspectives. A specialist needs to play the game, check all system errors and potential crashes, and determine performance and speed. Playing at different levels and on different devices, as well as testing different versions with different settings, is also part of a quality analyst's tasks. Whether being a QA analyst is hard depends on your understanding of the gaming industry and your passion for it. A significant challenge is the lack of resources specifically dedicated to game testing. Metrics and technologies used in this field are also not well-aligned.
Games are very complex systems, and players can do things that developers did not anticipate. Probably the most difficult challenge for QA in game testing is the need to foresee such situations and propose scenarios in advance to avoid crashes and flaws.
Key Challenges Faced by Quality Testers
Let's consider the main QА-challenges faced by specialists regardless of the specific industry.
- Insufficient alignment of the quality control and testing department with the development department and other teams, and a lack of understanding from colleagues about the importance of thorough testing.
- The absence of official QA courses in colleges, hence the need to self-study the basics, methodologies, approaches, types, tools, etc.
- Another challenge of QА is the need for increased concentration during long manual testing, especially when the product is almost ready.
- Sometimes it is difficult to formulate why a bug needs to be fixed. This requires prioritizing, considering both the client experience, the throughput of functions, support costs, etc.
With the development of artificial intelligence and the emergence of new software features, new challenges in QА testing.
Conclusions
For a tester, continuous self-education and the ability to work with automation tools are essential. The challenges faced by QА testers depend on the industry. For example, in the field of game testing, you may encounter the need to analyze all possible development scenarios and find the smallest nuances that might not appeal to players.
The most difficult and common QА tester challenges is the need to effectively communicate simultaneously with developers and managers, as well as adequately assess user requirements. The specialist must also understand security requirements and have a good understanding of every product they test.Is being a QA tester stressful?
Stress resistance is one of the soft skills needed for a quality tester. However, with proper time management and the ability to work in a team, this profession is not entirely stressful and involves many interesting tasks, career growth, and high pay.
Is QA hard to get in?
To enter the QA field, you need to learn the types of testing, master one or more coding languages, and become proficient with the main tools used by testers today. For this, it is advisable to obtain a bachelor's degree in information technology or complete online testing courses.
Does QA testing require math?
A software tester does not need to be an expert in mathematics. The main requirement is understanding the product and the ability to use various types of testing. Knowledge of coding languages and proficiency in English are advantageous.
