Modern software development is not simple. Today it has evolved into a much more complex scenario. As development challenges evolve, the need for complex software also increases. 

To deliver good software, top software development companies focus on testing it thoroughly before delivery. Without prior testing, you cannot ship a good software product. 

Moreover, software testing is a particular phase of the software development life cycle, and without completion of this, software delivery is almost impossible. 

Software testing is performed by skilled individuals who are known as software testers. These people know how to test and find flaws in software and report them to the developers.

In the USA, software testers earn around $69,000 yearly. 

Ten Things Every Tester Should Learn and Know

Automation

As software development challenges get more significant, the need to test them also increases, and it becomes complex as new features are added to it. 

Hence manual testing becomes next to impossible. Being a good software tester, you should know how to automate software testing. Because when the software size increases, you cannot test each component on your own. 

Moreover, manual testing is time-consuming and prone to human errors. Hence, if you can automate testing, you can save a lot of time and effort spent on testing simple things. 

Learning automation is easier for a software tester if you understand the manual testing procedures. 

Programming

This is an essential thing every software tester should know. Being a tester, you’ll have to work your way around the software’s codebase to find vulnerable bugs. 

To find bugs easily, you need to be familiar with programming languages. Moreover, it is a plus point if you know the programming language whose software you are testing. 

Moreover, there might arise times when your project deadline is very close. The company cannot dedicate a developer to fix the bugs; in such cases, you can help deliver better software by fixing the bugs on your own with your programming skills. 

Software Development Life Cycle

Another thing you should not miss to learn and know is the software development life cycle the project uses. 

There are various SDLCs like the waterfall model, agile, spiral model, and others. So knowing about the SDLC can help you position and plan your testing activities in a better way. 

Moreover, being a tester, you’ll be working closely with managers and other development team members to ensure better communication and stay on track with them; you should have excellent knowledge of SDLC. 

If you are new to a project, first investigate its SDLC model and try to learn the plan for every activity.

Also, understand the phases involved in the SDLC if you haven’t worked with that lifecycle before. These are preliminaries to ensure a good delivery of products and testing services.

Project Structure

To deliberately test a software product, you should know the project structure of your software project. Being a tester, you need to take knowledge transfer sessions under the development team before you begin testing. 

After knowing the project structure and its expected output, you can create testing scenarios and test cases. Test cases formed in such a way are practical and test the application thoroughly. 

Reporting

One important thing that every software tester should know is reporting. Without reporting skills, software testing is of no use.

Even if you test the application thoroughly in-depth, the bugs cannot be fixed if you cannot report them to the development team appropriately. 

There are predefined templates for software test reporting, so you can follow them for more precise reporting if you are a new tester. 

While reporting, you should try to keep it simple. But you should provide an extensive description of the bug or problem that needs to be addressed.

Include the following things in your testing report for clarity. 

• Steps to recreate the bug or problem that needs to be addressed
• Screenshot of the bug screen 
• Error logs, if any, are available 
• Test case specifications

Once you include these things, your reports will be beneficial for development teams to fix the bugs. 

Software Testing Tools And Techniques

Being a software tester, you cannot work without knowing testing tools and techniques. So to begin your testing journey, you should know testing tools. 

Also, there are different types of testing techniques like acceptance testing, capacity testing, performance testing, and security testing.

You should know all the latest testing techniques, and you should be able to implement them as a software tester. 

Moreover, it would help if you had a clear understanding of different testing tools. You should know which tool is used for which type of software testing. Also, you should be able to implement them as per business requirements. 

Time Management

If you are a part of a project that follows a conventional SDLC like the waterfall model, you should know time management perfectly because testing is the last phase of any waterfall software project.

After that, only the project is delivered to the client. 

Hence, to enable quick delivery of software products, you need to know time management. Otherwise, the project can be delayed because of your inefficiency. 

Even though you work in an iterative SDLC, you should know time management because it is valuable.

You can have tons of technical skills, but you cannot succeed if you cannot effectively manage and deliver on time. 

Attention To Details Is Better

A software tester’s primary work is about validating and finding flaws from other people’s code. So to do this, you need to put emphasis on details. 

In first trials, some things may work perfectly fine, but you should do iterative testing on each component to validate them. 

While testing, you may find more minor deviations in the components, so most people tend to overlook them.

But you should not overlook them and report them because being attentive to minor details is good, and it enhances your testing skills in the long run. 

Soft Skills Are Also Important

Being a software tester is challenging, and it becomes even more challenging when you don’t have a good grip over soft skills. 

As a software tester, you’ll have to collaborate with many teams and members to proceed with your testing.

So to get information and communicate with other people, you need to have good communication skills, both written and verbal. 

You’ll have to create reports and even explain them in meetings to developers and project managers, so you should also focus on your soft skills. 

You can be a top-class software tester who can find problems in a snap, but your technical skills aren’t beneficial if you never spend time improving your soft skills. 

Hence, while it is essential to level up your technical skills to have the edge over other testers, you can gain a giant leap by boosting your soft skills. 

You Are Accountable

Software testers are highly accountable for the development and delivery of any software project.

Many people think that testing is easy and anyone can do it, but testing software and spotting its flaws requires deliberate practice and experience. 

As a software tester, you should always know that you are accountable for delivering an error-free software application.

Even if there are minor deviations, you should not overlook them because some smaller-looking problems can break an entire project. 

If you don’t test a product extensively and ship it with bugs, your company and you can suffer a significant loss individually.

In all cases, you are the sole person accountable if any bug goes unreported and makes its way to the production releases. 

Hence, you should double-check and verify every bug and problem to ensure the version you are passing is ready to enter the market.

Because if anything goes unchecked into the production, you are the one who is responsible for it. 

Summing Up

If you know these ten things, you can excel at software testing. Moreover, knowing this at the beginning of your career will set you up for explosive growth.

There are enough things you’ll learn during your testing career, but if you have these ten things with you before starting, it will be helpful.