ALT-4 How to become a Software Qa Expert
In our organization, the software QA experts earned their reputation not as "Quality Assurance", but as "Quirky A*".
Both designations were equally appropriate as these experts often prevented the implementation of faulty code through being exactly thorough in their software testing procedures.
If you want to make an application developer suffer, then the right place for you is in QA.
Though many people believe that a QA expert needs to have a college degree, or possess a high level of technical skill, neither is actually a requirement in most IT groups. What is important, is that you have a keen attention to detail, and the ability to create a test plan based upon a provided business specification, then painstakingly complete that test plan line by line.
The normal requirements of a person performing Software Quality Assurance is to evaluate the business specifications of a development project, and compare them with the technical specifications document. In doing so, the QA person will also be able to work out a specific plan for testing.
For example, if the Business document states, "Form should have a Listbox from which to pick a US State." The Technical document could then state, "Created Listbox Text field utilizing 2-letter state codes and DC."
The QA tester would then put in their test plan, "Valid listbox to ensure that 51 names do appear," and, "Ensure textbox value is stored in appropriate field upon submit."
The QA tester does an extreme amount of seemingly repetitive and boring work, however, as the last line of defense before a new application becomes a live application, the QA expert plays a critical role in protecting our production environments.
