Key Skills For Software Testers

Introduction

In this article, I would like to share some key skills required for becoming a successful software tester. This will be more helpful for those who wish to start their career as a tester. The following is the flow of the article.
  • Background
  • Software Testing
  • Base Testing
  • Types of Software Testing
  • Who is Software Tester
  • Skills required for Software Tester
  • Conclusion
Background

When I joined as a trainee in my first firm, the first task/job assigned to me was to test an application. I gained more knowledge and observed that testing is very important for a software application. To solidify that, I have come up with this article.

SoftwareTesting

Software testing is a process of executing an application with the intention of finding bugs. Testing is also done for making sure whether the application is developed as per the customer requirement or not. Checking satisfies customer requirement in all situations.

Base Testing

There are two types of base testing:
  • Black Box Testing
  • White Box Testing
Black Box Testing

This testing examines the functionality of an application without knowing the internal working; i.e, Black Box testing does not require the working knowledge or technical knowledge of the application.

White Box Testing

This testing examines the functionality of an application with knowing the internal working; i.e., White Box testing requires the working knowledge or technical knowledge of the application.

Types of Software Testing

There are many types of testing, as follows -
  • Unit Testing
  • Beta Testing
  • Integration Testing
  • Functional Testing
  • System Testing
  • Performance Testing
  • Usability Testing
  • Acceptance Testing
  • Regression Testing
  • Stress Testing
Software Tester

A software tester is a person who tests application for bugs, errors, defects or any problem which affects the performance of an application.

Software testers are part of a software development team.They perform functional and non-functional testing. Manual and Automated are the software testing methods used by the testers to test the applications. The software tester ensures that the software performs as expected, both - functionally and non-functionally.

Skills for Software Tester

The following are the major skills required for a software tester.
  • Unit testing
  • System testing
  • Black box testing
  • Load testing
  • User acceptance testing (UAT)
  • Scalability testing
  • Proven working experience in Manual/Automation Testing.
  • Experience in Selenium, QTP or other testing tools
  • Strong understanding of the QA process and should have a testing mindset
  • Must be able to produce Testing artifacts such as Test Plan, Test cases, test data, test execution reports etc.
  • Experience in planning/executing test activities, lead test resources.
  • Hands on knowledge of automated testing of Windows/Web/Linux applications
  • Hands on knowledge of BDD will be an advantage.
  • Should be willing involve in the actual test automation development if the situation demands.
  • Should have experience in developing test automation frameworks/guidelines/standards to use as a platform for other test automation developers
Conclusion

In this article, I have mentioned some skills required for a software tester. Hope this was very useful. Please share your feedback and comments in the Comments section.


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