Testing: the ultimate test….
Software testing offers a lucrative career option for both fresher and experienced professionals though most companies would want to induct test engineers with a few years of development experience. A career in testing can follow both a highly technical career path (e.g. developing expertise in the use of specialist tools) or a strongly business focused route which could lead to a prominent role within the business. A trainee can rapidly progress through the levels of test engineer, senior test engineer, team lead, test manager and then into other management roles within the organization. Most software testers aim for the top position of quality head, but before that they need to have expertise on all the quality processes in the organization.
Long-term career path
Given the right career path, experienced people are more than willing to jump in and make a difference, be it in the domain or in the technology front. The number of people coming in with the domain experience is more than the ones coming in with technical skills, People with work experience in financial institutions and banks are mainly recruited as business analysts. They bring in their domain knowledge which is needed for quick understanding of the applications that are tested and also to act as an interface between
“…the number of people coming in with the domain experience is more than the ones coming in with technical skills…the client business managers and the testing team".
New avenues, changing perceptions
Faster career growth and attractive remuneration is enticing even experienced IT professionals to switch over to software testing.
Faster career growth and attractive remuneration is enticing even experienced IT professionals to switch over to software testing.Software testing is a field that has always been regarded as a ‘non-happening’ option by IT professionals. The increasing significance of software testing and the demand-supply gap for professionals has changed this perception lately. From employing a handful of people for testing work, organizations today are opening separate divisions for the same. A once side-lined career stream, today there is no shortage of talent wanting to enter the field, including experienced professionals who consider it as a lucrative option with rapid career progression.
In the off-shoring space, testing is today one of the fastest growing services and has a bright future for Indian knowledge workers. The interest level in testing as a career is growing as it is a rapidly developing area. The supply of testers is less than developers hence career progression is much more rapid. Persuading software professionals to move to testing is no longer needed; many developers are, in fact, asking to be a part of the test team at IT companies.
Testing Professional – Demand V/s Supply condition
The size of the Indian testing market is growing at a faster rate than the global average. The software testing arena in India is estimated to require more than 16,000-18,000 professionals within the next one year. It is not easy to find qualified and experienced professionals in software testing as it has not been a popular field so far. On the advanced tracks of business analysis and project management, however, there is a demand/supply gap of ‘quantity that can deliver optimum quality’.
The demand is for professionals who can work on automated tools. Manual testing is getting saturated whereas the demand for testers using automated testing tools is growing by leaps and bounds. Testing/quality assurance is now a separate department in every organization and in the organizations where it is not yet, it will soon be.
Domain expertise
In the US and western countries, a tester has minimum three to five years of software development experience before he/she starts managing the quality aspects. Good understanding of software quality metrics is essential to becoming a tester and a quality manager. Moreover, they should have good understanding of the technology and orientation towards the quality aspects of that technology.
“The have’s” for software testers
- An aptitude for diagnosis and analysis.
See the things, which are not easily visible
A good eye for detail
The ability to learn quickly and an urge to learn the latest in tools and technology
Skills to meet the project timelines.
Good communication skills
Skill to manage people at various levels and roles.
Hence professionals with domain expertise are sought after. Professionals with development experience and specialization in network/ wireless and other high technology domains are moving into testing. In-house training and certifications offered by testing companies and private institutions is making their entry easier. The challenges in the industry are numerous and remuneration is enticing. Hence more developers and experienced professionals are ready for the shift to testing. The domains are Gaming Testing, mobile/wireless testing, network/data communication testing, CTI/VoIP testing and enterprise application testing. These verticals demand domain knowledge on the products and protocols used for development.
Independent Testing services: Helping in changing perception.
Complex business needs, multiple delivery and computing platforms, time to market compulsions and increasing user sophistication have lead to exponential increase in software complexity and size. This trend has created avenues to examine paradigms that emphasize on software development and testing as dedicated streams in software engineering.
Why use independent software testing services? The answer is "Because they provide lots of substantial benefits". Here are some of them:
Better testing quality and objectivity: Not only an unbiased and fresh view, which reveals the defects that can't be detected otherwise, but it can be crucial for the market success of the software product. Apart from this, it ensures strict adherence to customer's (not development vendor's) business goals and objectives. It also ensures that the testing is done independent of a development team so that they are unable to influence testing results.
Cost and organizational benefits: No need to hire, train and fire additional employees in the peaks of testing activities and hence there are no expenses associated with the testing processes building and managing. In this model you even get economy of capital investment: saving on test environment / tools purchasing and maintenance. Saving of office space and difference in personnel wages and infrastructure costs in different countries can be another area which is not your concern in this engagement model.
Other benefits of independent Software testing are:
· Impartial quality assessment of your outsourcing software development vendors' work
· Access to best-of-breed capabilities and best QA/QC practices
· More business flexibility and efficiency
· Time-to-market improvement
· Improved in-house personnel focus on the core activity i.e. Software Development
Testing and QA - The Indian advantage
- India has several advantages in its favor for being a preferred outsourced software testing destination:
Availability of professionals with specialized education, skills and certifications to carry out software testing
Specialized training institutions catering to education of software testers
Significant time difference between the US and India, which enables 24x7 work progress. A development team sitting in the US synchronizes well with the testing team working from India. Clients (in the US) get test results just next morning as tests are run in India during their day time (night in the US).All in all, this mix, and market dynamics together offer a bright future for testing engineers in the country.
Software testing has evolved from a mundane click-click-bug activity into a scientific process of uncovering non-conformances and this has necessitated the requirement for resources skilled to perform domain specific testing; knowledge of various testing tools like Quick Test Pro (QTP), Silk Test, IBM - Rational Robot, Load Runner, Win Runner etc as well as Open STA, Selenium, WATIR (open source); and the ability to adhere to the processes and methodologies like Agile Testing, SOA (Service Oriented Architecture). These are some of the skills a fresh engineer straight out of college does not have. People with some experience, either in testing or in software development, tend to have a better understanding of these issues and hence deliver better and faster on such project requirements.
India boasts of having the largest number of certified professionals in software testing and quality (like CSTE, CSQA, ISTQB/ISEB etc). Many Indian organizations are allocating significant amounts towards skill enhancement of their staff to achieve competitive advantage in this field. Organizations take pride in the fact that Indian software testing professionals are now in demand in the international market not because of cost difference, but because of their subject-matter expertise.
Anjani Kumar Shukla
Head of Sales
