“You just check if stuff are working right?” Technically yes, but there’s a lot more to it. Quality assurance engineering probably seems easy to an outsider who isn’t familiar with the bulk of it. The term itself isn’t new to the majority, but the job scope is without a doubt, hazy to most.
What does quality assurance entail in software engineering? We talked to our QA team about what they do.
Q: How would you describe your job to someone who doesn’t know what a QA software engineer is?
We “break” things. In other words, we test our products or systems to their limit to ensure that they’re good enough to deliver. Another way QA engineers can describe themselves: “bug catchers” who test systems and find bugs. We are responsible for identifying bugs and ensuring that developers have successfully fixed them. — Haikal
QA in software engineering is the process of finding defects or bugs in software applications. We test systems by providing input, verifying the output, and comparing actual results. — Alif
I would describe it as reflecting a good system or application by ensuring it works as planned, without hassle or blockers. Being a QA engineer is to be meticulous and focus on breaking the system (though it can be tedious at times). We keep watch between developers and stakeholders, ensuring the delivery of quality and meeting expectations. — Adib
A QA engineer ensures user satisfaction and encourages repeat usage of a system or app. In other words, a QA team is responsible for whether a product retains or lacks quality. Every developed system has its flaws. It is our job to identify them and bring them up to the team so they can proceed with making improvements. — Azuren
Q: What do you find enjoyable about quality assurance?
That my contribution to the successful release of a product can make a user happy when they use it. — Alif
I enjoy finding bugs or defects to ensure a system works perfectly. Unfortunately, not many know the importance of quality assurance in terms of software. Once a house is constructed, it must be thoroughly inspected and quality assured before passing the house key to the client. The same goes with software. — Adib
A QA software engineer does a lot more than just test software. One of the things I love most about it is that we talk and talk with developers, designers, project managers, and even clients a lot. As a QA engineer, you’ll be one of the first people to try out the coolest apps before anyone else. The technology itself is still the most important thing. How cool would it be to work on cool apps and technologies you’ve never seen before and be a part of the team that makes them? — Haikal
On my first day, the team placed me in the QA department even though I had applied for the Software Engineer role. Shortly after, I grew to feel like it is the job for me. I enjoy making sure we deliver top quality products to our clients, rather than developing the products themselves. To be able to catch bugs before our customers find them is an exciting challenge. — Azuren
Q: What are the key skills a QA team must have?
A QA engineer needs to be able to see through a system like a “hawk,” but they also need to be able to work well with designers, system analysts, developers, and programmers. You can’t work by yourself. To finish the job, you’ll need the help of the whole team. For QA teams to work well together and communicate well, they need to be able to document in a structured and organised way. With big systems or systems that have been around for a long time, there can be a lot of documentation, which is why it’s important to have a good documentation strategy in place. — Adib
Communication skills help a lot when working with developers and other team members. We don’t just say, “Hey, it’s a bug, and I can make it happen many times,” to the developers. Before we can move on, we also have to explain why we think the problem is a bug and why it needs to be fixed. QA works closely with everyone on the team because we’re involved in every step of the process, from getting requirements to delivering the product. — Azuren
Problem solving skills. They enable you to find solutions when you struggle with standard requirements. When faced with a complex problem, one can rely on the combination of creativity, logic, and critical thinking to come to the rescue. — Alif
We must have good communication skills if we want to let the right teams know about bugs we find while testing. This makes it possible to find solutions and put them into place before the app is released to end users. It’s also important to know how to use bug tracking tools like Jira and fast-growing tech fields like API testing, end-to-end testing, and automation testing. — Haikal
Q: What’s a day in the life like as a QA engineer?
Uplifting the quality of a product, exploring all scenarios where the product should work as expected, and making sure it doesn’t fall short of end-users’ expectations. — Alif
Test system > find bugs > file/report bugs > developer fixes bugs > QA team verifies if the bug has been fixed. If you didn’t “catch a single bug” throughout the day, you might feel bad about yourself. — Haikal
Reading and understanding requirement specifications given by clients for all of our designers’ mockup screen designs, performing smoke testing and regression testing based on Test Plans created to ensure systems don’t easily break, issuing bug tickets on Jira and keeping the development team updated, and finally producing Test Reports to analyze patterns in quality. — Adib
I start by making sure the current requirements are up to date, before proceeding to verify all bug tickets from the last day they were fixed. Test cases should be ready before we execute testing. Testing the latest builds takes the most time compared to other tasks because we need to ensure that we cover different platforms and environments. My favourite part though, is reproducing bugs when developers tell me “It works on my device”. (I’m kidding, love you guys!) — Azuren
Q: What’s it like to be a QA engineer at Snappymob?
Our team ensures the systems delivered are tested and verified through a thorough testing process. — Adib
We ensure that delivered projects are exceptional from start to finish: design, backend and frontend. — Azuren
The whole team works together to make quality possible. We all support one another and exchange creative feedback to turn ideas into reality. — Alif
If you’re a person who likes to learn, Snappymob is the place for you. — Haikal
Experience Quality with Snappymob
If you’re picky with quality, you’ll get along with us.
Snappymob is a team of experienced individuals in web and app development. Check out our work or drop us a message on your next big idea!