Kazeem Razaq @K.Razaq / 2:00 PM EDT. March 29, 2022.
Quality assurance (QA) engineers play a critical role in ensuring a product is ready for release. They test for bugs, validate functionality, and look for any past issues that might be present in the app or website before it is officially published. QA engineers are crucial to the development process and must be aware of common mistakes they might make.
Quality assurance (QA) is the process of verifying the functionality and quality of a product throughout its lifecycle. A QA engineer is responsible for finding bugs in a software product before it is released to the public. They are also responsible for testing new products and making sure that these products work properly.
Everyone makes mistakes but what is important is how you adapt to learn from them. As a QA engineer, you will be handling different projects on a daily basis and will be exposed to one or more errors on a regular basis. While it is inevitable that you will make mistakes, it is critical for QA engineers to avoid making these 10 common mistakes that most people make.
As with any profession, there are things that you should avoid as a Quality Assurance Engineer (QA). These issues can be subtle, but they also have the potential to derail your career if you’re not careful about them. To help you avoid these mistakes and improve your career, we’ve created this list of 10 mistakes every QA engineer should avoid, and how to fix them. Let’s take a look!
As with any profession, there are things that you should avoid as a Quality Assurance Engineer (QA). These issues can be subtle, but they also have the potential to derail your career if you’re not careful about them. To help you avoid these mistakes and improve your career, we’ve created this list of 10 mistakes every QA engineer should avoid, and how to fix them. Let’s take a look!
1) Don’t rely on others to fix your mistakes
At some point, every QA engineer has made a mistake. It happens! But let’s not make it a habit of blaming other people for our own mistakes and let’s certainly not make excuses for them! Be accountable and hold yourself responsible for all of your work. Don’t give in to any pressure; if you feel like someone else is trying to intimidate you into overlooking an error or rushing a fix, stand your ground and find another way around it.
2) Don’t be afraid of criticism
Software development is a very collaborative process and QA engineers often find themselves working in teams. While collaboration is important for efficiency, it can also lead to some issues when people are not allowed to openly critique each other’s work. Being able to take criticism will help you learn how best to write quality code. Also, if you don’t like criticism, software development may not be a good career choice for you because there will always be bugs that need fixing! You can learn how to better handle feedback by reading our guide on how QA engineers deal with negative feedback.
3) Learn more about Automation tools
Each development team will have a different set of tools they prefer, but there are definitely some that every software test engineer should know. For starters, automated tests can help you pinpoint issues faster and more efficiently than manual testing alone. Companies like Ranorex and TestComplete provide some great tools for testing web applications, desktop applications and mobile apps with professional-grade tools that are affordable for businesses of all sizes. Another common tool is Selenium; which lets you test your site across multiple browsers at once. The great thing about these automated tools is that they do most of your grunt work (or click work) for you!
4) Don’t stop learning
If you’re in QA, or any job really, stop learning. There are so many ways to hone your skills and advance as a software engineer that don’t require going back to school for a whole degree program. If you learn something new at work, implement it in your home code immediately; if you learn something new on your own online or through a class, use it at work ASAP. The sooner you can get real-world experience with new technologies and ideas in your day-to-day development projects, the better off you’ll be once they finally come up again on a job interview.
5) Don’t give up if something doesn’t work the first time
While you may be excited to finally find a bug in your latest project, jumping in headfirst and throwing yourself a party is rarely a good idea. It’s important to test something several times before coming up with a possible solution. Don’t give up on something if it doesn’t work out right away; instead, try again later. You never know what will happen if you stick with it!
6) Know when something can be ignored and when it can't
If a tester encounters a problem, he should first determine whether it can be ignored. If so, they should not waste time investigating and troubleshooting that particular issue. Instead, they should move on to test other issues which are more important than that one in hand. On a contrary note, if it is decided that an issue cannot be ignored for any reason efforts should be put into finding out how big and bad is that issue?
7) Always plan out your test cases before you start testing
You don’t want to start testing only to realize halfway through that you forgot a critical aspect. It’s better to plan things out beforehand so you can make sure you are covering everything. This might feel tedious at first, but it will allow you time for other important processes such as exploring and understanding defects further. Just because something passes, doesn’t mean it’s good: Planning tests is an essential skill for a QA engineer because it makes sure your testing time is not wasted on subpar work. If your test case produces unexpected results, take some time afterwards and dig deeper into what happened so that next time you avoid making similar mistakes.
8) Follow each test case with a review
The most basic rule of software testing is that you can’t automate something that you don’t know how to execute manually. When starting out as a tester, most engineers think that their job is simply checking if the software works or not, but really it’s about finding bugs and discrepancies. If you want to become an advanced tester, however, you have to start following test cases and reviewing them after completion. Learn how each test case affects your project in order to produce better results.
9) Find time in your schedule for breaks and lunches
When you’re stuck at your desk all day, it can be hard to find time for a break and lunch. But don’t think of these breaks as a way to take a load off—these are opportunities for you to stretch your legs, check out what others are working on, chat with other employees or even call a friend who will give you an emotional boost. Most of all, take 10-20 minutes each day when nobody else is around and have that breathing moment by yourself. This can often be enough time for you to get your head back in gear and refocus on whatever project is on your plate that day.
10) Be patient with yourself as you learn how to be an effective QA engineer.
You’re now in your role as a software engineer and you're just learning about how software gets tested. Perhaps you’ve never worked in quality assurance before. You may not even be working at a place that has formal QA processes. Some companies don't have established testing procedures or frameworks in place, which can make it hard for testers on their first go-around. The key thing is not to get frustrated if you aren't immediately up-to-speed on how things work. Take it slow and easy and you'll quickly catch on!
A beginner QA tester will make a lot of mistakes in their first few months on the job. Of course, avoiding mistakes is better, but it is not necessary. If you do make a mistake, try not to be too hard on yourself and instead focus on learning from it. Make a better choice of joining the QA engineer league, click here to get started.