PASV - IT школа в США

Almost anyone with a phone and social media has heard of software testing. But not every enticing advertisement gives a clear picture of what a tester actually does. Before trying your hand at tech through this profession, it is worth understanding what your professional responsibilities would be. Here is what a tester's work looks like.

What a tester does

A tester checks programs, applications, websites, computer games and other digital products for defects. Their responsibilities also include checking that the finished product matches the original requirements.

The work serves these goals:

Raising the quality of the digital product.
Keeping half-finished software off the market.
Making a program, application or site more comfortable for people to use, and so helping it succeed after release.

What the work involves generally

How a tester works depends largely on the specialism they chose — manual or automated testing — and on the tasks set for them. Broadly, a QA specialist's functions come down to:

Planning and running the testing. The tester assesses the requirements for the product and builds a test plan around them, choosing the order and the type of methods.
Finding and recording defects. Every fault and bug has to be described in detail in a report that developers will then work from.
Working with defect management systems. The specialist works with developers to get the defects fixed.
Communicating with developers and the rest of the team. A tester advises on how best to fix a fault, provides information about the problem areas found, and gives quick feedback on whether the defects are gone. That keeps the team working in step on the project.

The work is demanding and interesting at once. It moves quickly and requires responsibility, the relevant knowledge and skills, and the ability to work with other members of a team.

A tester's daily work

A tester's daily and general responsibilities are fairly broad. The main ones:

Functional testing. Checking that the software's functions meet the requirements in the specification.
Load testing. Checking how the product behaves under load, that is, while being used.
Usability testing. Aimed at finding defects in the user interface and assessing how comfortable it is overall.
Security testing. Finds vulnerabilities in the software and prevents data loss and theft.
Compatibility testing. Checking that an application, program or site works correctly across devices and operating systems.

All of this requires various tools and methods, sticking to the test plan and a great deal of attention. The list of tasks changes with the type of digital product and the requirements set for it.

A tester's responsibilities

Responsibilities reflect what a tester does at a particular company or for a particular client. The knowledge and skills a QA specialist acquires while studying at PASV let them meet those responsibilities in full:

Applying different testing methodologies and approaches according to the nature of the task at hand.
Working with specialist testing tools — in particular software for automated checking, defect management and tracking progress.
Analytical work. A QA specialist analyses test results, determines the causes of defects and works out how they might be fixed.
Working as part of a team with other specialists, with managers and with the client.

We teach everything a tester needs to be able to do on our courses at PASV. Employers also have expectations of a specialist's personal qualities: reliability, communication, resilience under stress and heavy load, and the ability to plan their time.

A tester's checklist

A tester's checklist is the list of tasks a QA specialist has to carry out. It includes:

Writing and running test scenarios
Finding defects and recording them
Writing the report, or bug report
Working with developers to get the defects fixed

The checklist sets out which tasks have to be done and helps you:

structure the work so that nothing is missed;
approach testing systematically;
work more productively and to a higher standard.

What a tester needs to be able to do

The technical skills a tester needs:

A knowledge of programming and database fundamentals.
The ability to use testing tools, manual and automated.
The ability to work with different operating systems.

A tester also needs analytical skills, logical thinking and the ability to follow and take up new technology. English matters too, since it is the basis of most programming languages.

The tester's role in modern tech

A QA specialist is not merely someone who finds defects. Their role is a considerable one, because they contribute a great deal to the whole team's work:

They help improve the quality of the finished product, which comes out stable, reliable and comfortable to use.
They shorten development, since many defects are found early and are therefore simpler and quicker to fix.
They reduce what the client spends on software: with no defects at release, there is no need to spend further money fixing what users find.

A tester is a valuable member of a development team, and without one building a good digital product quickly and well is all but impossible.