Quality Assurance | Software Testing
What do QAs say when being asked what they do for a living?
It’s not as simple as it might sound at first
Let’s be honest, how many people outside of the IT world understand what QA stands for? Not so many. I remember talking about the QA role with my dev friend a couple of years ago and his friend asked if QA means “Questions and Answers” 😆 Oh yes, social media have really left an imprint on all of us.
It kind of does though, we question the correctness of software and we expect answers.
The other industry I know that QA roles exist would be manufacturing, especially food production, but today let’s talk about IT specifically.
What do QAs usually answer when being asked about their profession?
I asked them on Reddit, and here are the answers:
“I test software”
This answer really simplifies it, is quality assurance just about testing?
Quality Assurance ≠ Testing
As we could read in the article written by Venugopal Botla, testing is an integral part of the entire process, however, it only focuses on the end product, while quality assurance takes a wider perspective on the entire process. In Agile methodology, testers do not just test a finished product but take part in the entire software testing lifecycle as a whole.
Looking at the chart above the obvious question is: in what other areas do QAs participate? The answer to this would be another chart:
QA could then be defined as a process that tries to address any potential bugs even before the software has been created. QA’s role, therefore, is not just limited to testing but also includes: analysing, planning, designing, and setting up the testing environment. The exception to this could definitely be the waterfall methodology.
How else can we describe our job?
“Im a programmer”
Well.. kind of. If you automate your test in code, then you are technically correct. But gives out a false expression of what do we really do and again simplifies the topic. Is there a better answer?
“I break stuff for living”
Haha, we all love saying this. Mainly because this is the moment our work becomes noticed, and we can thrive as successful software testers.
“I play games and get paid for it”
That’s so cool dude! If you work as a QA in games development of course.
I always wonder if the experience is the same, and if being a QA in games is as enjoyable as playing it casually. Probably not, but maybe one day I will find out.
And probably my favourite answer:
“I’m like a book editor, but for software”
I might start using it, I think it’s funny, and I will always be happy to explain the entire process (or link this article 😃) to the askers.
