Job searching is probably the most stressful and overwhelming part of our careers.
There is just something about it, that gets to even the best of us. I am not going to say, this post will change that. However, there is one bit of the tiring process that we will try and simplify- and that is, “What kind of a job can you aspire for, with the skills you possess?”
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Every job post/ad/requirement comes with its own set of primary/required/mandatory skills & good-to-have and there is a gamut of these skills. While we would like to be ‘know-it-all’, we are often left confused because part of the job description fits our experience and skill level, part of it does not. We are often left wondering, “Am I a good fit for this one?” So today, we are going for a “Skill matching” of sorts.
We will try to create a list of skills and the jobs that are suitable for these skills.
On a lighter note, we issue a statutory warning: Please do not use this as your only source of reference and it always helps to remember that it is an approximation and intended for a general audience. 🙂
At STH we profess and of course practice a golden rule: “When applying for a job, it is rare that any applicant will satisfy 100% of the job requirements. Therefore, we recommend going for the job, if 75-85% of the criteria is a match with your skill set.”
And yes, if one of the points that you won’t satisfy is the years of experience, even then this rule applies. What I mean is, if you have ALM knowledge, SQL, QA concepts etc as required for the job and all that you lack is the years of experience that the job asks for – I would say, go ahead and apply for it.
The key is to focus on skills and proficiency rather than number of years. Are you wondering, “Has that ever worked?” It is a time tested theory. We encourage the same method through our STH’s QA class and a lot of our students are happily testing in their respective job. So, yes. It works.
Back to the main topic for today:
The below is a “Skills- QA position” checklist that you could use to see what the skills you have and what you want to work on to qualify for the most popular QA positions:
Note: We mentioned HP ALM (for test management), HP QTP/UFT (functional testing), SOAPUI (web service testing), HP LoadRunner (performance testing) as tools that you will need to know. But please feel free to replace any tool of the similar genre.
“Skills- QA position” checklist:
| Core skills | Additional skills | To learn and perfect | Position qualified for |
|---|---|---|---|
| QA concepts and working knowledge | Defect management tool ALM tool Agile/test management software |
SQL and UNIX | Functional Tester/Manual Tester/Software QA engineer |
| QA concepts and working knowledge(all work management tools) | Java and exposure to selenium | Selenium IDE and web driver | Automation Test Engineer using Selenium |
| QA concepts and working knowledge(all work management tools) | SQL | Database and Database Testing concepts ETL concepts |
Database or backend tester ETL test engineer |
| QA concepts and working knowledge(all work management tools) | XML, Webservices knowledge | SoapUI or other webservice testing tools | Webservice tester or SoapUI tester |
| QA concepts and working knowledge(all work management tools) | Strong domain and business knowledge | Business models and BA processes | QA and Business Analyst |
| QA concepts and working knowledge(all work management tools) | HP Quick Test Professional(HP UFT) and VBScript programming | Framework creation, ROI concepts, resuability aspects etc | Automation Test Engineer using HP QTP(UFT) |
| QA concepts and working knowledge(all work management tools) | Release management and source code management tools | Code deployment tools like Kintana and the associated processes | QA release manager |
| QA concepts and working knowledge(all work management tools) | HP ALM – Admin or any other management software administration | Admin certification(may be) | QA tool administrator |
| QA concepts and working knowledge(all work management tools) | Mainframe knowledge and exposure to QTP(UFT) | HP QTP(UFT) proficiency | Mainframe Tester using QTP(UFT) |
| QA concepts and working knowledge(all work management tools) | Mobile Testing understanding and Emulator knowledge | Different mobile OS systems knowledge | Mobile Test engineer |
| QA concepts and working knowledge(all work management tools) | Agile methodology knowledge | SCRUM and Kanban models in-depth understanding | Agile Tester or Scrum master |
| QA concepts and working knowledge(all work management tools) | Performance Testing concepts and HP Load Runner(or similar performance test tool knowledge) | Performance fine tuning, analytics and other trouble shooting expertise | Performance Test engineer |
| QA concepts and working knowledge(all work management tools) | Security testing concepts, network protocol knowledge, NMAP or similar tool experience, Metasploit/Wireshark knowledge for penetration | Ethical hacking do’s and don’ts | Security Test engineer |
| QA concepts and working knowledge(all work management tools) | Exposure to real time projects and good communication | Meeting software working knowledge, general awareness of the current trends in the field | QA facilitator 🙂 |
| QA concepts and working knowledge(all work management tools) | Metric collection Test estimation Team leading experience |
Process knowledge and certification | QA lead/QA manager |
| QA concepts and working knowledge(all work management tools) | Excellent documentation and written communication skills | Documentation creation working knowledge and general awareness of the current trends in the field | Technical writer |
| QA concepts and working knowledge(all work management tools) | Excellent eye for details and good knowledge of www standards | Data collection and interpretation skills
Heatmap based data collection tool knowledge |
Usability tester |
Conclusion:
Once again, this is just a generic list. In addition to these skills please do not forget that positive attitude, excellent communication, work ethics and general awareness of the current events in the field can be instrumental to being successful in the QA field for any of these positions.
Most of the tools we mentioned above and testing techniques mentioned, we have plenty of reading material on STH that can get you all set up and started.
Here are the links, please check them out:
- Free QA training
- QTP Tutorials
- HP ALM Tutorials
- Load Runner tutorials
- Penetration Testing Tutorials
- Usability testing
- Selenium Tutorials
- JIRA Tutorials
- Database Testing Guides
- Agile Testing guides
Not to forget, there are tons on interview questions and interview related articles as well. Be sure to check it out.
Author: This article is written by STH team member Swati Seela. She is also an instructor for our online software testing training course.
As always, we hope this article is going to be useful to you all. Please feel free to add, comment and submit your questions about any of the aspects we discussed above.
All the best!