QA Analyst Jobs

Yes! While these positions aren’t exactly glamorous, quality assurance jobs are vital when it comes to a company’s ability to release error-free software (or any software, for that matter). Because the quality control process is mandatory in this manner, those who choose QA as a technological specialty can generally expect to have a less challenging time finding work than many other tech roles. Provided a compatible overall work environment, software QA jobs are challenging, compelling, and comfortably compensated.

Quality control jobs build up the core skill sets that will lead you to incredible achievements during the course of your career. As an entry level quality control analyst, you may not get much of a say in what you do at first, but as you grow in experience, you’ll be able to specialize and work towards different roles in the QA process. Some of the typical roles you’ll discover in this space include:

• Automation Tester: Sometimes it’s necessary to conduct large amounts of automated tests to aggregate key application data. To achieve this, companies turn to automation testers, who write scripts and use special software to ensure that each test is set up, run, and documented correctly.
• Manual Tester: These professionals, by contrast, hardly ever automate the tests they conduct. Doing things the ‘old fashioned way’ lets them ensure that a given application truly does what it says it’s going to.
• Quality Assurance Engineer: Collaborating with automation and manual testers both, these experts are tasked with keeping an application within designated quality standards. While intense at times, this role can also be very strategic and creative when designing testing procedures.

Every day, software testers run, interpret, and optimize quality assurance tests for all kinds of different applications within many industries. We’re lucky they do it, because if not, no apps could exist! Since the software products they help to finalize are so varied in scope, it’s likely that no two software QA jobs will look exactly the same on a day-to-day basis, but if you’re thinking about a career in QA, you can generally expect to be assigned some or all of the following responsibilities:

• Devise and document software testing procedures.
• Write scripts that facilitate automated testing at scale.
• Report pressing issues and urgent risks to the development team.
• Document and analyze discrepancies in test results.

The goal of a software test engineer is always the same — using automated testing suites to conduct quality control testing that is complete and accurate to reality. If this is successfully carried out, in theory the software or application produced should be flawless. To ensure you’re ready for the challenges of manual test jobs, take some time to review the below list of basic qualifications for manual and automation testing engineers:

• A bachelor’s or master’s degree, usually in a STEM discipline
• Programming ability, generally in Python or Java
• Strong understanding of hardware, operating systems, and network administration
• Work experience in manual or automated testing
• Understanding of QA methodology and best practices

The quality control phase is a non-negotiable step in the software development life cycle, and so if an industry develops software or applications in any capacity, that industry will have a need for QA testers. Most modern companies nowadays therefore account for at least a handful of software testing positions when planning projects and budgets. Here are a few of the best industries to review when searching for software testing jobs:

• Communications
• Retail and eCommerce
• Banking and Finance
• Technology and IT
• Aviation