Do you have the required skills to become a software tester? Did you know that software testers play a vital role in application development? They are the quality assurance experts that run through all the stages of the software life cycle to test a software’s stress, performance, scalability, functionality, and user-friendliness.
Software testers are responsible for helping the team discover bugs and other issues before giving it out to customers. They also detect any problem that can affect the software’s performance. These people perform software quality testing procedures.
Along with a high level of software development knowledge or experience, software testers use software quality testing tools and techniques. This way, they can ensure that the software can perform as expected, both functionally and non-functionally.
In this article, you will know the required technical skills to optimize your software testing. Plus, you will also stumble upon some techniques in mastering the processes to ensure the quality of any software.
What Are the Essential Educational Background and Experience for Software Testers?
Most employers prefer a software tester candidate with a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or Mathematics. If you do not have any of these but have a lot of relevant experience and stable work history, it is still possible to land a software tester job.
An intermediate-level position in software testing usually requires three to six years of experience as a software tester or a good record of educational background and work history.
Here are some of the qualifications for software testers:
- Understands the process of various development methodologies, including Scrum, Agile, and other software testing platforms.
- Fluent in Linux, Windows, Unix, as well as command-line tools and scripting.
- Knows common programming language such as PHP, Java, SQL, JavaScript, C#, C++, and Python.
What Are the Required Skills to Become a Software Tester?
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Non-Technical Skills
- Analytical skills
To become a competitive software tester, you must have sharp analytical skills. It will help you break up the complex software system into small ones. This way, you can have a better understanding of its process and create test cases. If you want to enhance your analytical skills, you can try solving puzzles and questions available online.
- Communication skills
A software tester must have excellent verbal and written communication skills. This skill can help you create understandable test artifacts such as test cases, test strategies, and bug reports. Everything you say and write must be easy to read or comprehend, especially when you are communicating with clients. Working with developers requires diplomacy and discreetness in bugs issues.
- Time management and organization skills
When you know how to manage your time and workload, have high productivity, and excellent organizational skills, you will know how to handle the software developer job position well.
- Passion
Your passion can help you excel in any profession you like. A software developer must have a strong passion for his job before entering the field. But, how can you determine whether you have a passion for software testing without trying it? Simply try it out every day, and if it does not excite you, then software testing is not the one for you. You can switch to something else that is related to your interests and dreams.
- Great attitude
To be successful in software testing, you must be willing to learn, accept your mistakes, and suggest software improvements. When you are in the software industry, you must know how to adapt to new technological upgrades. Plus, you must also have a certain degree of independence. It means that you must know how to execute tasks correctly, even without any supervision.
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Technical skills
- Basic knowledge of SQL/Database
Databases allow any software system to store a massive amount of data in the background. You have different options when it comes to databases, including MySQL and Oracle. These platforms work in the backend of your system. There will be situations where databases need modifications and validations. Therefore, make sure you also know about it. You can use SQL queries to ensure that your data is correctly inserted into your database.
- Basic knowledge of Linux commands
Nowadays, there are still some software applications like Application Servers, Databases, and Web-Services that are deployed on Linux machines. Therefore, broadening your knowledge about Linux commands is a massive plus in software testing.
- Knowledge and experience of a Test Management Tool
Software developers use test management tools to store information, plan testing activities, and report the status of your quality assurance activities. This tool can help you maintain and plan your manual testing or gather execution data from automated tests. When you do not the proper test management techniques, you will more likely fail your software testing.
You can use a tool like Testlink to tract your test cases. However, there are still other tools available online. Therefore, it is important to explore them all since companies use different tools in software testing.
- Knowledge and experience of a Defect Tracking Tool
Software development teams around the world use defect tracking tools to discover any error in a project’s code. If you want to meet your client’s expectations, you must have the time to run a defect tracking tool and fix all errors before handling the final product to him. It is necessary to repair your system since it can lead to incorrect work. This tool is essential for managers, developers, and testers. Some of the popular defect tracking tools are Jira, Bugzilla, and QC.
- Knowledge and experience of an Automation Tool
Software testers use automation tools to execute their test case suite. This software can enter the test data into the System Under Test. This way, software testers can easily compare expected and actual results based on detailed test reports. However, Test Automation tools demand considerable investments of resources, especially money.
When a software developer knows how to use an automation tool, he can provide more comprehensive test coverage of application features. Plus, it is also 70% faster than manual testing. According to some experts, an automation tool also achieves more cycles of execution.
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Remuneration
According to PayScale, software testers have an average salary of $45,993 – $74,935 per year. However, it can climb much higher depending on your expertise, company, and city.
The average salary range of a software tester in India ranges from Rs 247,315 – Rs 449,111.
To land in a good software testing job, you must spend some time on job boards such as Dice, LinkedIn, Monster, and Indeed. Consider posting the link of your projects and your resume on each site to stay notified with new software testing jobs around your area.
When you posted your resume online, more recruiters can see your skills, and you will have more chances of receiving opportunities.
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Apply for freelancing jobs
When you are a beginner in software testing, you can start by applying for a freelancing job. This way, you can quickly gain practical knowledge and experience. It will fortify the testing concepts that you are familiar with. Another great benefit of applying for a freelance job position is flexible working hours. Remotely working can allow you to enhance your skills, and at the same time, enjoy the comfort of your home.
As a freelancer, you can easily control your workload. You get to say when enough work is enough. If you have too many clients, you can decline the others. This option is better for your health, especially when you are a beginner. Another exciting part of applying in a freelancing job is that you can get as many breaks as you want when you are exhausted in testing software.
