Testing – a full-fledged IT job with relatively low initial requirements, compared to requirements for novice developers. That’s why testing is so appealing to people who don’t work in IT.
This article is for beginners who are just looking at the industry. We talk about what testers do, how much they earn, and what you need to know to get your first job.
To explain what testers do, I’ll give you an example of a job for a junior. Most often, Junior is asked to test household programs, for example, a calculator. Sometimes – find bugs in the service where they are located.
If this is an application, the applicant is asked to find ten bugs in it. These are fairly trivial examples, but you can tell what employers are looking for.
How much is needed and how much a tester earn
Errors can be in any program. Therefore, testers are hired by all major software companies. And some companies provide testing services for small development companies without their QA department.
You can estimate the demand for the profession by the number of QA/testing vacancies in India. So, on advemix.in monthly appears more than two hundred vacancies for testers and QA engineers. Employees are also sought in WhatsApp groups and groups on Facebook, and the social network LinkedIn.
The salaries of testers are lower than those of developers but higher than the national average. Income depends on the QA’s experience: Junior receives about 1 to 4 lakh rupees per year, and Senior can claim an average of 7 lakh rupees.
What a beginner should be able to do to get a job
The required skills of the applicant depend on the job. As a rule, employers immediately write in the description what is expected of the employee. To get a job, at least, you need to be able to:
- To find and correct a defect – to determine which section of the program is associated with the error, and in which version of the operating system or browser is played.
- Deal with the bug tracking systems Jira, Redmine, and Bugzilla. As a rule, several different specialists work to eliminate the error. Bug tracking systems are needed to control the repair process and coordinate work.
- Conduct client testing of web and mobile applications.
- Have basic testing skills. For example, test analysis – determine what exactly will be tested, and shape the test conditions.
- Understand knowledge management systems (Wiki and Confluence) and test case repositories (TestRail or Zephyr).
Career prospects of the tester: were to develop after a junior position
A variety of career paths are available for beginners. You can develop horizontally – choose a specialization, for example, the banking sector or insurance companies, and improve in testing narrow-profile programs.
In parallel, beginners gain experience and develop their careers vertically. Every two to three years, the former junior gets new levels of skills:
- Middle QA Engineer/Tester. Writes test scripts, prepares technical documentation, fixes bugs, and tests new features.
- Senior QA Engineer/Tester. Plans processes and develops testing standards and works with software validation cycle. It evaluates junior professionals.
- Lead QA Engineer/Tester. Takes decisions on the internal device and external software interfaces according to their requirements and resource availability. Performs complex testing tasks.
- QA Team Lead/Manager. Coordinates the testing strategy in a small team, supervises the testers, and plans and monitors their work. Evaluates the scope, timing, and budget of the project.
Professional development takes place at different rates, the specified time is approximate. Some testers do not become managers – Lead and Team Lead – and prefer to continue to perform technical tasks even after 10-15 years of work.
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