What software do you need to be familar with as a QA tester?
by Chris
I have 2 years experience as a PC tech, and an AS degree in Computer Engineering Tech. I am working on my bachelors, and I was interested in being a QA tester. What should I learn, what software do I need to be familiar with, or what certifications would be helpful? Every year there are new tools, updates to existing ones, and shifts in popularity. Learn how the tools work and methods for most effectively applying them – that’s what you will need to know. Learn to adapt – the software will and so must you. You must learn how to be effective as a tester in today’s software industry. This involves much more than testing. The testing is, of course, irreplaceable…but knowing what to do with the results of your testing is how you will distinguish yourself and get ahead. You should learn to excel at communication, bug writing, and reporting. Learn to use any bug database, how to manage expectations, and always be proactive. If you can do that, you will carve out a nice place for yourself as a software tester. The type of software that you should become familiar with really depends on the type of products you will be testing. If you want to work with web based applications, I recommend getting to know Selenium. It’s free and over the past couple of years has really been gaining a lot of popularity. To be most adaptable, you should gain a clear understanding of how scripting works. Being able to operate in Unix/Linux environments is a definite plus. Begin learning how to script in Perl and/or Python – this is also very helpful in many positions. Being able to create SQL queries is a very useful (and in-demand) skill as well. What you should research is what software fluency is being required by the jobs that sound interesting to you. Go to CareerBuilder.com, Monster.com, Dice.com, etc. and look up quality assurance jobs. Look at what software they want you to know for the types of jobs that you find appealing. There are so many; JBoss, JUnit, Silk, WinRunner, LoadRunner, SQL,etc. Look at positions that you think you would want to have and see what skills they are asking for. This way you can work in a direction that will be more rewarding for you. I wish I could tell you which certifications would serve you best, but I honestly cannot. I have never known a QA tester who had a certificate that was worth the paper it was printed on. Usually those people didn’t really understand QA unfortunately. Learn to be proactive and adaptable. Remember that quality assurance testing is as much an art as it is science. Always work to develop you craft by adding new skills and refining old ones. Learn to communicate, write effectively, and manage expectations and you will have a long career in the world of quality assurance.
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