Testers: Who They Are and How to Achieve Success in the Profession

Arslan Dolgaev, city — Elista, Software Tester at Investbanq

About Me

I have been working as a tester at Investbanq for about a year and a half. I do manual testing, write automated tests, and also work with load testing.

About the Profession of a Tester

Testers are those who ensure that the product works as intended, without bugs. Our task is to find errors before the user notices them. We think about where things might go wrong and fix them in advance. If the product is released without bugs, it means we did our job well.

For starters, it is important to be attentive and able to work with documentation. A basic understanding of how applications work, some logic, and a desire to understand technical matters are also helpful. Additionally, you need to be able to clearly articulate your thoughts to accurately describe the bugs you find.

For beginners, there are several paths: courses, projects, or self-study. All of them are effective; the main thing is not to be afraid to start. Courses help you quickly grasp the basics, but afterward, you will need to learn on your own. Projects provide an opportunity to immediately apply knowledge in practice. Self-study is also an option, but it is important to be able to structure the process. I would recommend combining approaches: take courses to master the basics and simultaneously try things out in practice.

You need to grow in several directions at once. Keep learning constantly: new tools, testing approaches, programming languages. If you only do manual testing, try automation. If you are already in automation, get into load testing. And do not forget about soft skills: the ability to work in a team and communicate effectively is also important.

The Future of the Profession

Automation helps to check standard things faster. However, manual testing is still necessary because there are things that are best seen by a human. For example, user experience. So, automation rather complements our work than replaces it.

In five years, the following skills will be in demand in testing:

1. Knowledge of programming languages and the ability to work with automation will be even more important.

2. Testers need to understand data analytics and even machine learning, because products are becoming more complex. Also, skills in security: data protection will only become more important.

3. Attention to detail, flexible thinking, and the ability to adapt to changes will still be needed.