TOP 10 Tips that will help you progress and excel in the field of Software Testing are included in this article.
These tips are explained with simple and easy examples for your clear understanding. They will not only help you to survive but also guide you to advance in your software testing career.
Make sure that you follow them to enjoy success.
Let us read through each TIP one by one.
Top TIPS to Survive in Software Testing
Tip #1) Written Communication – I repeatedly say this on many occasions to keep all things in written communication. No verbal communication, please. This is applicable to all instructions or tasks that are given to you by your superior.
No matter how friendly your lead or manager is but keep things in emails or documents. Keeping things in written makes all the tasks recorded and it becomes easy to keep track of the things.
For example, if you find a bug during testing, it is always better to report an issue in the test management tool rather than communicating the bug verbally to the developer. Because later on the developer might forget about fixing the bug you mentioned and the rest of the team will also be unaware of it.
However, if a bug is reported on the system, everyone will be on the same page regarding the bug status.
In the further reading section, I have embedded a few links to the articles that will help you to brush up your communication skills.
Tip #2) Try to Automate Daily Routine Tasks – Save time and energy by automating daily routine tasks, no matter how small those tasks are.
Example 1: If you deploy the daily project builds manually, then write a batch script to perform the task in one click.
Example 2: You need to open the issue management application many times a day to check for bugs and their status. Generally, you do all such tasks manually. What I suggest is that you may go a little more innovative and write a script that can automatically run on a periodic basis and fetch you the current status of issues/bugs.
Tip #3) 360-degree Testing approach – You need to think from all perspectives to hunt down software defects. Apart from your SRS documents, find all possible information related to the application under test. Use this information to understand the project completely and apply this knowledge while testing.
For example, if you are testing a partner website integration with your application, then make sure you fully understand the partner business before starting to test.
Think from the viewpoint of all stakeholders while doing the testing. For example, the look and feel of an application might be just fine for you as a tester but a business user might not find it appealing. So, you need to think and behave like an end-user while doing user acceptance testing.
Tip #4) Continuous Learning – Never stop learning.
Explore better ways to test the application. Learn new Automation tools like Selenium, QTP or any Performance testing tool.
As per the current software testing market, some of the key areas you can focus on to learn are open source testing tools, Agile & DevOps, Performance Engineering, Big data testing, mobile testing automation and merging development & testing together – SDET (Software Developer in Test).
We have embedded some article links in the further reading section regarding agile testing & automation testing tools. You can explore more at STH!
Tip #5) Admit mistakes but be Confident about whatever tasks you did – Take a lesson from each mistake you make during the work and avoid doing the same mistake again. This is the best method to learn and adapt to new things.
Tip #6) Get involved from the beginning – Ask your lead or manager to get you (QAs) involved in design discussions/meetings from the beginning. This is more applicable for small teams without QA leads or managers. You will be able to do better testing if you know in and out of the application.
Tip #7) Keep notes on everything – Keep notes of daily new things learned on the project so that you don’t need to ask the same thing again and again to the fellow testers or developers.
This could be either just simple commands to be executed for certain tasks to complete or complex testing steps.
Tip #8) Improve your Communication and Interpersonal Skill – This is very important for periodic career growth at all stages. As you count the number of years of software testing experience, you should parallelly grow as a professional.
Tip #9) Make sure you get noticed at work – Sometimes your lead may not present the true picture of you to your manager or company management. In such cases, you should continuously watch the moments where you can show your performance to the Top management.
Warning: Don’t play politics at work if you think your lead or manager is kind enough to communicate your skill/progress to your manager or top management. In that case, there’s no need to follow this tip.
Tip #10) Software testing is fun, enjoy it – Stay calm, be focused, follow all processes and enjoy testing. See how interesting software testing is. I must say it’s addictive for some people.
Few Additional Tips
Tip #11) Stay tuned with the latest Software Testing trends – It is very important that you are aware of what is going on in the software testing market.
You can refer here to read the latest software testing news.
A few days back, I just read that according to a forecast, the global software testing integration market will grow at a rate of 14.6% by 2020. The reason behind this is the quick adoption of agile methodology across organizations worldwide.
So, if you are looking for a great future in software testing, then you must now start learning agile methodology & integration testing tools.
Another hot trend is mobile app automation testing and this will even grow big in the future. So, it will be really helpful for you if you have knowledge of any automation testing tool for mobile apps.
Tip #12) Connect to other people who are into the same profession – Building a strong network helps you to stay updated and learn new things. You can also find good career opportunities through referrals.
Bonus tip
Last but not the least – “Read, read and read” – Keep on reading books, white papers, blogs, magazines and case studies related to software testing and quality assurance. Always stay on top of software testing news and QA industry. Or keep reading this blog to keep yourself updated :)
Further Reading
- How to Become an Excellent Communicator as a Tester – A 4-Step Process
- How Important is it for a Tester or Developer to Communicate with Each Other?
- 9 Ways to Quickly Improve Your Writing Skills as a Software Tester
- Top 20 Best Automation Testing Tools: The Most Comprehensive List
- 7 Tips to be More Innovative in the Age of Agile Testing to Survive an Economic Crisis
Have fun testing! Explore our other interesting posts on Software Testing tips and tricks. If you like these tips, kindly take a moment to share it with your friends. Also, don’t forget to join the conversation below to share your best testing tips!
classic tips vijay. seems very practical and up to date. I too agree with you on learning new skills to keep oneself updated in this rapidly changing industry.
keep posting. have a great time
HI
Great tips, Thank You.
And about tip #10) when you said “I must say it’s addictive for some people. ” . This sentence reminded me of myself I’m really addicted to software testing.
I really love how it make me think. I always say that it’s the best thing I can do and what I love the most about software testing is “BREAKING THE UNBREAKABLE”. !
Really great thanks for this topic. :)
Thanx
Vijay all are good and relevant point but i liked your bonus tip because no body is perfect only by learning we can always move towards the perfectness.
Thanks & Regards
Rakesh Nijhawan
good and usefull.
Its very good article to learn about software testing industry, especially for the beginner. As per your 4th tip, can u please suggest any performance testing tool. Which was widely used in testing domain. Myself i tried to learn Apache-Jmeter, whether is it good one.
Nice article Vijay. Wishes..!!
Hi,
Very good article, and about the last tip # 10, this is really most exicitng thing about the software testing field!!!
Have a great day!!
Rahul
Thank you so much, great article and usefull.
Keep posting.
Regards,
Lana.
Thanks . good article
Hi very nice article, and good tips… keep posting…:):)
Thnx a lot dear,
Really it great article for a S/W testing Eng.
a request for ….
can u send me a good resume format on Manual Testing, Exp 2-3yrs
It has been pleasure to read the posting of “Tips to Survive and Progress in the Field of Software Testing”. But now a days “Softwaretestinghelp” site not updating regularly. Pl keep posting many useful things like this article.
I am proud to be a Test Engineer & Subscriber to Softwaretestinghelp website.
Once Again Thanks a Lot……….
please explain me about defect tracking tool bugzilla how it can be used in an organisation, i know how to use the tool but no idea weather this tool used by only tester or developers and BA’s to send the report and all, Please explain me how the tool can be implemented in an organisation.
Thanks for your tips…!
very nice and useful tips…. Thanks… :)
Hi,
Bonus tip is the most important of tips coz no matter how experience u r u still need to keep reading white papers abt this ever evolving field…
well and good
Wow Mind blowing…….. Not only in software industry it will apply in all areas…………. Thank you……..
Hey Karthik, Ayaa, Rakesh, Karuvarasan, Mayasen, Rahul, Svetlana and Siva thanks for your kind words and encouragement.
@Mohan – yes, Jmeter is a good open source tool.
Apart from that there are some good open source and commercial options like – NeoLoad, LoadRunner, loadUI, WebLOAD, WAPT, LoadImpact, Rational Performance Tester, Testing Anywhere
@ Sama – You can search for hundreds of good resumes according to selected criteria on below page:
http://freesearch.naukri.com/?othersrcp=10757&wExp=N
Just put the keyword as “Manual testing” and your years of exp.
Explore different resumes and craft a one masterpiece for you based on your real experience.
@ roopa
Bugzilla can be used in your project to track defects. It can be used on your team by all team members including testers and developers. Please ask your org sys admin to install it for you or you can get installation details from https://wiki.mozilla.org/Bugzilla:Win32Install
You just need to follow some process in order to use it effectively:
When you get new build, module or application for test just follow this process:
– Create new project or module name in Bugzilla and start logging new defects under it
Read below post on how to write a good bug report –
https://www.softwaretestinghelp.com/how-to-write-good-bug-report/
– Your manager/QA lead need to review and assign the bug to respective developer if it’s a valid bug that needs to be fixed in the same release.
– Developer will fix the bug and update the status as fixed and assign it back to manager or the tester who logged the defect.
– You will then verify that bug and update it depending on the pass/fail criteria. If it’s failed, you can reject the fix and assign it back to the developer. If it’s passed you can update it as tested and assign it to manager saying ‘verified passed’.
Note – I’ll be covering a separate post on how to implement defect tracking process in an organization.
I just wanted to thanks for the information
provided by this blog.Its really helping me
to keep my updations about my Software Testing future…
Thanks a lot..
the most thing i like that `I must say it’s addictive for some people.`
Hi, Mohan
Jmeter is good for doing performance testing you can also take help from this book software testing tools by Dr K.V.K.K Prasad.
Thanks & Regards
Rakesh Nijhawan
I lyk d d soft wire thnks very much.
nice tips…..
Nice Article Vijay,
All 10 tips are good and essential for ‘Survival’ in QA, however, just for ‘survival’ not for ‘Progress’
Only the bonus tip is a bit helpful for progress up to a little extent.
So, In my opinion, the word ‘progress’ should be omitted from the title of this article as its content are not defending this in a justified way.
Sorry, if this critic sounds a bit harsh, but in order to progress in Software Testing
at least you should get handy in
1. at least one Load/Performance testing tool (e.g. LoadRunner, Rational Performance Tester, Selenium etc)
or Functional Automated Testing like QTP (QuickTestProfessional)
2. Certifications (like ISTQB, CSTE and/or of tools like LR/QTP etc.)
3. Memberships (of SQA related internationally renowned forums like ASQ, ISTQB, etc)
4. Exposure to white-box or at least Gray-box testing
5. Strong SQL-DB testing skill
6. To be highly competent as compared to other resources having same experience as yours
7. Versatile experience of testing tools/automation testing tools/business domains
8. At least on experience (of at least one year) of at least CMMI-Level-3 organization on your profile
and still the list does not end.
Other people may better let both of us and the Author of this article realize whether my critic is genuine or not.
Again I would say, Article is very good if we consider its content in terms of ‘surviving in software testing’ only.
Regards.
simply to say i am edicted to testing basically i am a manual tester at beginning and now i am a automation tester and this blog is very useful and interesting and helps in updating my knowledge day to day. I am very much thankful for this blog. keep going…… keep posting…..
Thanks Vijay,
it’s very nice article and helpful my career..
Hi Vijay,
Thanks for kindful reply,
At present i have working with manual tester, i am very eager to learn performance testing tools, which will may increase testing quality & help my testing carrier….I little bit heard those all tools, which you have mentioned. I got enough information from this site.
Thanks again.. :-)
Hi Rakesh,
Thanks for consider my post..
As per your suggestion will go thought Dr.K.V.K.K.Prasad’s book..
Thanks a lot.. :-)
Anybody can help me to understand GUI in the testing terms.
Hi,
this is moon I have 10months of experience in software testing, iam a btech 2011 passed out batch. I am working in kolkata and the main problem here is that there is no such good career for tester,so can you please tell me how could I update myself,and i really want to learn testing tools. but how.please help me.
hi vijay this is dev,
i reglrly reads ur articles.and each article give the guidance to me to improve my Testing skills
thanks for that..
vijay i need some suggestion from ur side,
i am a manual tester, i hav 2 year working exp in manual testing, and i want to migrate myself in automation,but i havn’t any exp in this,
please guide me how to prepare myself to do the same, and which tool is good selinium or QTP?
thanks
Dev,
good one
thanks a lot for sharing this article, its really helpful.
nice Article.
Very good site for testing professionals
Thanks for sharing this article, very useful tips..
Nice article! interesting reading. Can add more to Tip4 and Tip10… A tester should always try to break the code.. and find flaws in the system.. that should be the attitude.
hi..these r really good tips for people who want to build their career in s\w testing..i really liked the #10 tip…keep it up
Good thought from this article, it is very useful for who has to become a Software tester . keep and try to give some useful magazine.Thank You.
Thank you Mr.Vijay. I have been working as a software test engineer for past 6 months.Hope this will be useful for my career.
First time in STH..very much informative and interesting blog..keep it up guyss..
The information about testing and tips provided above are good. They seem simple and realistic to follow.
Thanks!
i have completed my BE(ECE) in 2012.i like do software testing course.is am in right path?
too gud boss!
That’s good.
Great article!
Can’t believe i actually subscribes this website, i’m one picky. Thanks for your great job!
Hey,
Nice tips , i agree on all of the above its really helpful for testers.
Very good tips for QA people. Helps a lot
Hi,
currently i am working as a tester in small company.here we are not using any testing tool. since 7 months i am working here , i want to improve my testing skills, can you please suggest any tool which gives the better future.
Very useful tips Vijay.
Keep it up.
Hi
I appreciate you for sharing wonderful tips. I am basically a manual software tester since 4.6years. I would like to have my career growth in this competency, pls do suggest me which skill set will enrich my career and also refer me some good institutes which helps me in learning those skills with real time exp. Thanks in advance.
Chandan :)
Guys pls revert me for my email id : chandan4mnc@gmail.com
HI my dear soldiers,
Thanks for the posting great article. It is very use full to QA persons in live.
Hi I want to know the recent news and updates please send me the updates I wanna do career in software testing profile
its a very good article ..
Nice article!!
i like this article ….please any latest news related to Software Testing,then inform me on my above Email id
Thank you.
Hi,
Contents give the power to QAs…….
Great !!!!!!!!!!!!!
Very impressive and thoughtful sentences…..the way to get QA standards…..
Awesome article! Thanks… :)
Great tips….it’s all about to make a professional test engineer
Hi there,
Great Tips…Thanks for the article, Please info me if you need any help regarding software testing.
Thank you
Nice article..!!!
Thank you so much…