When you start an IT career, the first question that comes to your mind is how to get a Software Testing job. Only hard work and passion for this profession will help you reach the zenith of success. If you know what exactly software testing is, that is the first step to enter the Software Testing field. Then you can look at some training courses that will introduce you to the basics of software testing and your first steps in this field.
Software testing is becoming more and more popular these days. More and more companies are hiring Software Testers because there is so much work on their shoulders. They are responsible for checking whether the software they are testing is working correctly or not. Thousands of people around the world are looking for a job in testing. This is because testing in the software industry is a very fast-growing industry where every company needs to deliver the product on time.
In this article, you will learn how to get a job immediately at Software Testing. The article is very useful for career starters who want to pursue their career in Software Testing or for working professionals who want to change their careers. If you are reading the post to gather information on how to get a job in software testing, then we must tell you that if you are a fresher. Being a fresher can be a bit burdensome since they are supposed to give in some extra effort. Freshers will have a hard time getting a job if they do not have a good education and certification experience.
We all know that there is a huge shortage of Software Testers. Many companies need good testers all the time. It is hard to find such a challenging and technical job like Software Testing for newbies. We want to tell you that if you are not an expert, it will be very difficult to get a software tester job quickly.
What is Software Testing?
Software testing is a computer program verification process to determine if they meet certain requirements and outcomes. This identifies errors in the product/project software. To get a quality product without any bugs or problems, software testing is essential.
Software testing verifies whether the actual product is up to the expected requirements and also ensures that the product is bug-free. This involves using manual or automated tools to evaluate one or more of your features by putting software and system components through their paces.
Compared to actual requirements, the goal of software testing is to find bugs, shortcomings, or missing requirements. You need to know that bugs can occur at any stage of the lifecycle as a software development project continues.
Importance of software testing
It is very important to test the software. Here are some reasons why:
- Security
It is considered the most sensitive and vulnerable part. There are several situations where user information and details are stolen and used to their advantage. This is the reason why people look for well-tested and reliable products.
The user can ensure that they are getting a reliable product if a particular product has been tested. The user’s personal information can be safe. With the help of software testing, users can get products that are free from vulnerabilities.
- Improvement of the development process
A variety of scenarios and errors to reproduce the bug can be found with the system Quality Assurance. It is very simple and developers need to fix it quickly. Moreover, software experts should work in parallel with the development team to speed up the development process.
- Identifying the software performance
If you find software with degraded performance, your reputation in the market will go down. Users will no longer be able to trust you. Most likely, your company’s reputation will suffer.
According to the experts, this is not that important. However, if you launch software without software testing.
Then the performance of the software does not meet the needs or expectations of the customers, it will be difficult to convince people. Software testing is therefore considered an easy option as it helps in determining the performance of the software.
- Easy to add new features
The older and the more interconnected the code is, the harder it is to change it. Tests counteract this trend of calcification by allowing developers to confidently add new features. As a new developer, it can be scary to change older parts of your code, but with tests, at least you know if something important has broken. This will help you keep your software on the market and stand up to the competition.
- Customer satisfaction
The main goal of the product owner is to provide the best possible customer satisfaction. The fact that it provides the prerequisite and the perfect user experience is the reason why software testing is necessary. If you go for the best in the saturated project, you will gain a reputation of trustworthy customers.
So, if you opt for software testing, you will benefit in the long run. Earning the trust of the customer is certainly not an easy task, especially when the product keeps working and crashing.
You may have used many products and surely you have had some bad experiences because your application may have been deleted. In today’s world, the market is saturated. The first impression is very important and if you do not provide the same, users will find another product that meets all the conditions.
- Helps save money
Software testing has quite a few benefits. One of the main reasons why companies use software testing services is the cost-effectiveness of the project. Software testing involves several projects. When a bug is found in the early stages, it costs less money to fix it. Therefore, it is a requirement that testing is done in the shortest possible time. Hiring quality analysts or testers with sufficient experience and technical training for the projects are investments that will benefit the project.
Required skills to become a software tester
We will talk about the technical and non-technical aspects required to test software.
Non-technical skills
To become a good software tester, the following skills are essential. Compare your expertise with the following checklist to determine if software testing is for you.
- Time Management: Testing can be a demanding task at times, especially in the wake of code releases. A software tester must be able to effectively manage their workload, have high productivity and exhibit optimal time management and organizational skills.
- Analytical skills: Good analytical skills should be pronounced in a good software tester. Analytical skills help in breaking down a complex software system into smaller units for better understanding and creating test cases.
- Communication skills: a good software tester must be able to communicate well both orally and in writing. The artifacts created by the software testers should be easy to read and understand. Dealing with developers requires discretion and diplomacy.
- Passion: In any profession or job, you must have an important level of passion for Excel. A software tester must be passionate about their field.
- Great and right attitude: you must have a great and right attitude to be a good software tester. An attitude towards testing, detail orientation, willingness to learn, and suggest improvements in processes. Technology is evolving at an overwhelming pace in the software industry and a good software tester should update their software technology testing skills with the technology changing skills. Your attitude must reflect a certain level of independence as you take on and complete the task assigned to you without much direct supervision.
Technical Skills
Test management expertise and hands-on experience: testing is an important aspect of software testing. Without proper test management techniques, the software testing process will fail. Test management is nothing but managing your test artifacts.
Other tools can be used for test management. Since they are used in many organizations, it is important to know and work with such tools.
- Knowledge and hands-on experience with automation tools: If you consider yourself an “automation tester”, you need to master a tool and acquire in-depth, hands-on knowledge of automation tools after several years of manual testing. Take note: Mere knowledge of an automation tool is not enough to get you through the interview. So you need to have a high level of practical experience.
- Knowledge of any bug tracking tool and hands-on experience. The most important aspects of software testing are bug tracking and bug life cycles. It is crucial to manage defects properly and track them systematically. Bug tracking is necessary because the entire team, including managers, developers, and test staff, should be aware of the bug. Many tools including QC, Bugzilla, Jira, etc. are used for bug logging.
- Basic Linux and database/SQL command knowledge: Linux machines are used with most software applications such as Web-Services, databases, and application servers. Therefore, the testers need to know the Linux commands.
The background of software systems consists of a large amount of data. This data is stored in various types of databases like Oracle, MySQL, etc. Therefore, there will be situations where this information needs to be validated. The use of simple/complex SQL queries is, therefore, possible to verify that correct data is stored in the backend.
Career Path Testing Software
In typical CMMI level, 5 enterprises your software testing career development as a software tester is similar to the following but varies from company to company.
Analyst for QA (Fresher)
Sr. QA Analyst (2 to 3 years)
Coordinator of QA Teams (5-6 years of experience)
Experience Test Manager (8-11 years)
Senior Test Manager (plus 14 years of experience)
How to get a job in testing software?
One should always know their interest before you start your career. It is not right to choose a career in software testing or anything else but to think and analyze what interests you and what does not. Now when you know your skills, abilities, and area of interest and have decided to pursue a career in software testing, here is a guide that will help you to get a good job in software testing.
You need to prepare yourself for certain software testing methods if you are new and have just graduated or will be graduating soon. You should also learn the Manual Testing Concepts. Have hands-on experience with some tools like Bugzilla, HP ALM & Jira, for automation and bug tracking as far as possible.
Any software testing institute or course that provides a good start and orientation for preparation is always a good idea. It is possible to attend 4 months Software Testing or a Software Testing Diploma, probably 6 months to 1 year.
Continue your educational preparation. This will help you interview immediately after completing your course. It is easier for you to move to Software Test if you already have experience with IT.
Show your previous IT experience when applying for software testing. If possible, prepare for a crash course to get an overview of the concept of software testing that I mentioned earlier. Be prepared to deal with some tough problems because you already have experience with IT.
For any software task, companies prefer some kind of relevant experience; if you have adequate software testing and QA experience, it is better. This may include software testing tools and testing courses at reputed institutes. Do not get any misconceptions as it may ruin your career. Work hard and make the most of your skills and do not fall for false experiences.
Last but not the least, if you think that software testing is a career that anyone can opt for, then you are completely wrong! Better erase that notion from your mind. Besides software testing requires sound SDLF knowledge, unbiased thinking, analytical skills, and certain programming skills.
Here is our recommended approach to software testing for a complete novice. You start by learning the basic principles of software testing. Once you have applied for self-employment. This helps you gain practical knowledge and strengthens your testing concepts.
Next, you will deal with the Selenium – automation tool. Then move on to the JMeter – Performance Testing tool. We recommend that you apply for freelance work throughout the time you are learning. You can consider certification once you have mastered all the tools. ISTQB is advisable. But it is optional.
CONCLUSION
I hope this article has provided you with a piece of sufficient knowledge about Software Testing. We have mentioned what Software testing is, its importance, and how to get a job quickly in software testing. You will have an idea of which area to work for to become a better software testing company.