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What is QA Testing? A Comprehensive Guide to Learn QA

Introduction

Wondering what is QA testing? Or what is QA testing in software? How to start a QA testing career? Is QA testing a good career? What is the growth scope? 

If you are thinking about pursuing a QA testing career- this complete guide on software QA testing will help you know the basics of QA testing, the prerequisites to begin your career in the domain, the best online QA software testing certification course, and much more.

Whenever we use any Software Application, we always lookout for a better interface, functionality, user experience, and other aspects. But, did you ever think that who ensures that quality for you? Yes, these are Software QA Testers who exist behind the frame. Software QA Tester ensures that the end product meets all the specific requirements and ensures the application is free from bugs or issues before its release.

While some may consider QA simply as a gatekeeper for testing software for its functionality & determining whether or not the software is ready for release, there’s a lot more to it. Its QAs, enable brands to deliver high-quality experiences, that their customers are seeking and make them win credibility & loyalty for long-term growth.

 This guide will take you through the ins and outs of software testing including-

  • What is QA testing?
  • The importance of software testing
  • The types of software testing
  • How does the software testing process work?
  • How can you decide which types of software tests to use?
  • What are the top trends in software QA testing?
  • How to start QA Career & Software testing training?
  • Training for QA Tester - course detail

If you want to make a career in software testing, this is a MUST READ!

Before moving forward what is software quality assurance testing? Let’s explore the market demand for software QA testers.

What About Market Demand For Software QA Testers?

Let’s start with how demanding a QA testing career is. Research by Global Market Insights says that the software testing market has exceeded $40 billion in 2020 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 8% from 2021 to 2027.

Software QA Testers

Probably your next question would be,  Is QA testing a good career? Well answer to this question, the QA testing career is one of the happiest & most demanding fields to work in, with great growth opportunities. And why not, in this evolving digitization era software QA testing is controlling everything that is digitalized. This is why more people are opting for QA Certification Courses to be certified professionals and be on the top list of the recruiter.

Let’s get started with understanding what is software quality assurance testing. And what is QA in testing?

What is QA Testing?

What is QA in testing? In the term QA, “Q” stands for quality, which is all about meeting the needs and expectations of customers concerning the functionality, design, reliability, durability, & price of the product. “A” stands for assurance, it gives a positive declaration on a product or service, which gives confidence. When they blend, focus on delivering tested & tried high-quality end products.

What is QA testing? Definition

Quality assurance testing is the process of evaluating and verifying that a software product or application does what it is supposed to do. QA aims to identify bugs in software/Applications and deliver consistent results that hit specific quality benchmarks.

In brief, you might say QA includes all activities centered around implementing standards and procedures ensuring the software meets all the project requirements, reduce development costs and improve performance to achieve the desired results before it’s released to the public. 

The importance of Software QA Testing

Software quality assurance is critical for any project's success & brand reputation. As quality assurance is an essential part of the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC), it aims to deliver high-quality well implemented, well-performing software free from bugs, glitches, or other issues while meeting the defined project requirements. A small malfunction in software can lead to degrading interconnected systems or cause serious malfunctions, losses, and  major consequences for your company’s reputation and its ability to retain users.

Let’s take a look at some points and see how QA software testing ensures a high-quality end product.

  • Enhance Product Quality- ensure smooth functioning
  • Reduce Cost-Effective QA testing removes as many bugs as possible in the early stages of development, thus reducing long-run debugging costs.
  • Bring profit- Software testing heightens the Return on Investment by ensuring good quality. 
  • Build brand reputation- High-quality and efficient bug & defects-free software, resulting in great user experience, client satisfaction, and good word-of-mouth.

Hope this section helps you gain visibility in terms of software quality assurance testing and why it is critical for business growth. Learn various fundamental testing concepts at JanBask Training by registering yourself TODAY!

Software QA testing Methodology & Types Of Testing

Quality assurance (QA) testing methodology should ideally combine both automated testing and manual testing. The key is to determine which type of testing method is most relevant for each aspect and stage of the product.

In manual testing (as the name suggests), test cases are executed manually by a human,  without any support from tools or scripts. But Automated testing is done through an automation tool, test cases are executed with the assistance of tools, scripts, and software. Automation testing is much more robust and reliable than manual tests, as it reduces the chances of manual errors.

Types Of Software QA Testing

While exploring what is software quality assurance testing, you must know even a simple application can be subject to a large number and variety of tests to assure its quality. A test management plan helps you prioritize which types of testing provide the most value – with available time and resources. QA software testing effectiveness is optimized by running the fewest number of tests to find the largest number of defects to come up with a bug-free end product.

Let’s explore a few other different types of software testing, each with a specific purpose and strategies

  • Acceptance testing: Verifying whether the whole system and its functions work as intended.
  • Integration testing: Ensuring that all software components or functions operate together fluently.
  • Unit testing: Validating that each software unit(a smallest testable component of an application) performs as expected to perform. 
  • Functional testing: Validate whether each application feature works as per the software requirements. 
  • Performance testing: It test how the software performs under different workloads. Load testing, for example, is used to evaluate software performance under real-life heavy load conditions.
  • Regression testing: It checks whether any new features break or degrade functionality. Sanity testing can be used to verify menus, functions, and commands at the surface level when there is no time for a full regression test.
  • Stress testing: Testing how much strain the system can take before it fails. Considered to be a type of non-functional testing.
  • Usability testing: Validating how efficiently a customer can use a system or web application to complete a task.
  • Smoke testing: Smoke tests are basic tests that check basic functionality of the application is working as expected. 
  • An individual can execute all the tests mentioned above, more depends on the project requirement.

If you wish to grow a career in software QA testing, looking to explore what is quality assurance testing in software, then you must explore a little bit about how the software testing process works. Or else register yourself at JanBask Training for Software Testing Tutorial.

How Does The Software Testing Process Work?

Here is the experienced practical approach to the software testing process to approach a solution to test assignments.

These are explained as follows.

Step-1: Assess Development Plan 

During this step, testers challenge the validation of the event plan. Based on the verification of the Project Plan testers can estimate the number of resources they’re going to use to test implemented software solution.

Step-2: Develop the Test Plan 

Forming the Test Plan refers to a detailed document that catalogs the test strategy, objectives, schedule, estimations, deadlines, and the available resources required for completing that particular project within the given timeline

Step-3: Test Software Requirements 

An incomplete, inaccurate, or inconsistent requirements could be a great cause most software failures & increase cost of implementation significantly. At this stage, testers through verification determine that requirements are accurate and complete, and they do not conflict with one another.

Step-4: Test Software Design 

This step tests both external and internal design for ensuring that the test plan will achieve the objectives of wants & make sure the design is effective and efficient on designated hardware through verification techniques.

Step-5: Build Phase Testing 

This phase is used to determine the type and extensiveness of testers needed. However, if the software is made using the waterfall model, it’s subject to error and will be verified. To get in depth knowledge about the Software testing process don’t forget to go through QA Testing Tutorial Video on YouTube!

Step-6: Execute and Record the Result 

This stage involves testing of code during the dynamic state to validate that executable code actually meets stated software requirements, and is in line with the structural specifications of the design.

Step-7: Acceptance Test 

Acceptance testing enables users to gauge the applicability and usefulness of software s against what documented requirements state software should perform.

Step-8: Report Test Results 

Test reporting is a continuous process throughout the software QA testing. It may be both oral and written. Defects and concerns must be reported to the appropriate parties at earlier stages so that corrections can be made sooner at the lowest possible cost.

Step-9: The Software Installation 

Once the test team has confirmed that the software is ready to release for production use, the power to execute that software during the production environment should be tested with operating software, related software, and operating procedures.

Step-10: Software Maintenance 

In this stage, the context is to perform maintenance after the software is implemented. Whenever there is a change in requirements, the test plan must change, and the impact of that change on software systems must be tested and evaluated as per project needs.

Step-11: Evaluate Test Effectiveness 

Testing improvement can best be achieved by evaluating the effectiveness of software test assignments & their performance. While this assessment is primarily performed by testers, it should involve developers, quality assurance professionals, and software end-users.

This is the standard way the whole software testing process works, the rest depends on the organization and project requirements. Moreover, to know the level of your preparations you can now play QA Software Testing Quiz and get a reality check!

Hot Trends Shaping The Future Of Software QA Testing: What is QA Testing Guide

In this ever-evolving digital era, there is a strong need to adapt the latest testing trends essential to adapt to the requirements of the modern world. Watch out for these Top Software Testing Trends that one should anticipate for long-lasting business growth.

Artificial Intelligence

In an attempt to make the applications foolproof, the world is turning toward Artificial Intelligence (AI) based testing. AI-based testing is a software testing technique in which AI and Machine Learning (ML) algorithms are used to effectively test a software product to ensure maximum precision and accuracy. The objective of AI-based testing is to make the testing process smarter, highly efficient, and effective.

 Agile and DevOps

Organizations have embraced Agile methodology as a response to rapidly changing requirements and DevOps as a response to the demand for speed. DevOps involves practices, rules, processes, and tools that help to integrate development and operation activities to shorten the software lifecycles from development to delivery and operation. DevOps & Agile has become a widely accepted approach that helps teams to develop and deliver quality software faster.

Test Automation

To implement DevOps practices effectively, software teams cannot ignore test automation as it is considered to be an important bottleneck of DevOps. Given the popularity of DevOps and the fact that test automation is underutilized, only less than 20% of testing is automated, so there is a lot of room to increase the adoption of test automation in organizations. For adapting test automation one can leverage popular automation tools such as Selenium, Katalon, and TestComplete with advanced features that make automation much easier and more effective too.

Robotic Process Automation (RPA)

Advanced and emerging technologies, such as Artificial intelligence (AI), Machine learning, cognitive computing, and the Internet of Things (IoT), are revolutionizing all industries. Evolving software development and the AI world have paved the way for Robotic Process Automation (RPA). RPA is the most recent technology which can reinvent the entire business process management landscape. Though RPA is not very specific to development, testing or QA, it is relevant to the essential departments.

Infrastructure as Code (IaC)

Infrastructure as Code (IaC) is the next-generation infrastructure management technology that describes the specification of required infrastructure (VMs, storage, networking) and transforms the way we manage IT infrastructure. IaC relies on modern cloud technologies and enables a high degree of automation,  which can be easily adapted, implemented, duplicated, deleted, and versioned.

Pen-Testing-as-a-Service (PTaaS)

Pen Testing as a Service (PTaaS) is a cloud service that provides information technology (IT) professionals with the resources they need to conduct and act upon point-in-time and continuous penetration tests. The PTaaS methodology involves a continuous cycle of tests, that remediate, and validates the entire platform stack. 

Along with these advanced trends, there are testing techniques like Selenium, Katalon, TestComplete, and Kobiton which possess the potential to address the challenges in software testing. Keeping up with these trends would allow QA testing professionals, organizations, and teams to stay ahead of the curve.

How to Start QA Testing Career? Prerequisites/Skills/ Certifications/Salary/ Training

Following certain prerequisites, you can start with learning basic principles of software testing and join accredited training by joining a professional QA training course. Once you are done with that you apply for internships or freelance jobs. This will help you gain practical knowledge and real-time experience that will fortify the testing concepts you have learned.

Have a quick look at what is QA testing prerequisites, before starting a QA testing career.

QA Software Testing Training

  • No cost for a Demo Class
  • Industry Expert as your Trainer
  • Available as per your schedule
  • Customer Support Available

Prerequisite for QA Testing Career

  • A bachelor's degree in BTech/ B.E., MCA, BCA (Bachelor of Computer Applications), BSc- Computer science, engineering, or related field.
  • Working knowledge of test management software, programming languages, and QA methodologies.
  • 2 years' work experience in QA testing.
  • Good team working and critical thinking ability.

Since you are on the way to exploring what QA software testing is, it's good for you to have a look at what quality assurance testing certifications to grow with. Or Join our Software QA testing Community and enhance your knowledge by getting every answer to your queries.

Top Quality Assurance Certifications

Attaining certification in QA software testing is imperative not only for personal knowledge & career boost but also for maintaining consistent quality in the industry. Here are the 5 top Quality Assurance certifications you can go for a successful QA career. 

  • Certified Test Engineer (CSTE
  • Certified Software Quality Analyst (CSQA
  • Certified Associate in Software Testing (CAST
  • CMSQ (Certified Manager of Software Quality) 
  • ISTQB (International Software Testing Qualifications Board)

Let’s move on and explore what is software quality assurance testing skills are most needed for a successful QA testing career.

Read - Go through Top QA Interview Questions to ace your preparation for top quality assurance certifications.

Essential Skills required to become a Software Tester

Here are the skills that are essential to becoming a good & successful Software quality tester.

Non-Technical Skills

  • Sharp analytical skills
  • Good verbal and written communication skills
  • Time Management & Organization Skills
  • Willingness to learn and suggest process improvements

Technical Skills

  • Sound knowledge of Database/ SQL
  • Knowledge of STLC Phases
  • Strong grip on Linux commands
  • Proficiency and hands-on experience of a Test Management Tool- like Testlink can be used for tracking all the test cases written by your team.
  • Knowledge and hands-on experience of any Defect Tracking tool- including QC, Bugzilla, Jira, etc.
  • Knowledge and hands-on experience of Automation tools
  • Knowledge of any scripting language like VBScript, JavaScript, C#, or Ruby

There is a lot of demand for testers knowing all these skills. Rest, it will depend on the company and project requirements. For example, a Few companies also use Shell/Perl scripting so it is subjective to prospective scenarios, all you need to be passionate about is learning and breaking the code.

Next, we are going to explore, what is QA testing salaries that one can make as a QA tester.

QA Tester Salaries (As Per Top Job Portals)

There is no fixed salary number when it comes to QA software tester salaries, as QA tester’s salary varies based on many factors- experience, location, specialty, organizations, and project requirements. Still to help you get an estimate we have gathered data from a few most reliable top job portals.

Software QA Tester Salary range in the United States- is $61,668 to $81,375/ year as per (Salary.com)

An Average Quality Assurance Tester salary in texas- is $54,389/ year as per (indeed.com)

QA Tester's average salary in the USA- $78,000/ year as per (talent.com)

Hope these salaries packages help you get clear that you can start your QA career with a good salary package and with growing experience in software QA testing you can earn a more handsome salary.

Training for QA Tester At JanBask Training

QA testing training course at JanBask Training will help you to master the software testing concepts like test case development, different types of testing, software testing methodologies, test case design techniques, different levels of testing, testing environment, and testing tools, etc. You will also work on real-time projects to gain relevant skills and experience that can change your career graph.

QA Software Testing Training

  • Personalized Free Consultation
  • Access to Our Learning Management System
  • Access to Our Course Curriculum
  • Be a Part of Our Free Demo Class

We have separate courses for

  • Automation Testing
  • Manual Testing
  • Selenium Testing
  • Performance Testing

All comprise- 

  • Instructor-led Live Online Classes
  • Personalized Student Dashboard
  • Real-life Case Studies and Assignments
  • Industry Experienced Trainers

And don’t worry. It is all affordable for you!!

Are You Done With What Is QA Testing?

None of the organizations want to pass threw major consequences for your company’s reputation and its ability to retain users due to malfunctioning any software. Because software is something thing that can be corrected, and build again soon but the brand image is much above that and it depends on how efficient your company’s quality assurance process is? That’s the reason QAs is among the most demanding profile and organization are rushed to pay heavy checks if you have the right skill and mindset

QA is one of the well-paid profile with nice career opportunities, and rarely suffer from professional burnout due to the key features of their work & growing industry requirement. Moreover, the QA testing training is quite affordable and accessible at any time. A tester is a multifunctional specialist, and companies appreciate good QAs for their crucial role & responsibilities.

If you want to be the driver of digital transformation by acquiring a successful QA career path, it's high time for you. Join a professional QA training from a leading industry expert like JanBask Training, and hone the right skills and certification to stay ahead of the curve.

Are there any other interesting Software Testing Trends that you foresee in 2022? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section below!!


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    Rashi Pundeer

    Rashi is the originator and primary contributor to this blog. With fact-dragging research and a tech-savvy approach, Rashi has been helping digital learners with quality content at Janbask Training.


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