Those who say software testing as a career is inferior to software development need to get a sanity check done. Software testing is as important as software development activity. Do you know how much a simple software mistake can cost you? Rs 1 lakh, 2 lakhs, 3 lakhs...?? No clues?
$125 mn!!. Yes, in the year 1999 when NASA lost the $125 million Mars orbiter, a spacecraft that was meant to be launched in space to study Martian climate, weather, CO2, etc. This happened due to a flaw in its software.
Actually, there were two different teams involved in the mission-Lockheed Martin Engineering which built and developed Mars Orbiter for NASA and the other was the NASA flight team-both of which used their own units of measurement during the operation. Lockheed Martin engineering team used English units of measurement while NASA's team used the conventional metric system for a key spacecraft operation, which caused the navigation information to go haywire and the spacecraft crashed. Had proper procedures for the navigational software been followed, this irregularity might have been detected and the loss could have been averted. This is a classic example that shows the importance of having good software testing practices at place and the consequences one might have to face for not following them.
A Testing professional needs to understand the technicalities of databases, languages, GUI frameworks and OSes. He also needs to have analytical sense of mind and the ability to break open applications that seem to be perfect, and that how he can find loopholes in the applications. Today, organizations don't just want testers to have knowledge of testing but also require to have business domain knowledge, as well. |
The demand for niche skills like SOA testers are on the rise. Also, there are lot of avenues in test automation areas - scripting skills in the tools languages like VB, Java and other scripting languages like Perl, Shell, Python etc. Technical resources with capabilities to evaluate automation tools, create automation framework and reusable components are on demand. There is always a demand for good performance testers who can analyze performance test results, identify the bottlenecks and recommend tuning techniques. |
Today organizations have realized the importance of software testing and they do not want to face the embarrassment of their product or solution failing just because of a small mistake that gets overlooked.
Software defects are so prevalent and detrimental that they cost the U.S. economy an estimated $59.5 billion annually -about 0.6% of the GDP, according to a study commissioned by the Department of Commerce's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in 2002. So Quality assurance is a very decisive stage as testers should guarantee that all functional needs are met even when there's higher load. |
Specializations like security testing, SWOT testing, performance testing are the ones one can pursue in addition to create a lane for himself in the industry. There is a lot of need for testers to have industry domain specialization. For example, if you have been testing in the insurance world, you will be valued very high. Specializations with respect to type of testing or specialization with respect of the industry domain can be a good thing to pursue. Unlike developers, testers are expected to know everything about the product and application. Therefore, testers can even become a domain specialist, or a business analyst or even a product manager. |
Nowadays companies work at avoiding such defects from the start, so it is not just about detection of defects anymore. That's why they adopt standards like CMM, ISO, Six Sigma etc and taking all these developments as a cue, some IT companies have begin to leverage the power of good quality assurance practices, which has opened several new avenues in the field of software testing. Some companies have started positioning themselves as Independent Software Testing (IST) service providers who provide specialized software testing services to other organizations, to test their products or to device software testing practices for their processes.
Today clients are very cognizant of the cost implications of poorly tested products or solutions and strive to avoid this situation under all circumstances, since these directly result into financial as well as opportunity loss. Comprehensive and effective testing is the only �knight in shining armor� that could help businesses to plug these holes successfully. The only challenge is the current gap between demand-supply of Professional Testers which is widening across all geographies. |
In software testing area any knowledge which is gained as part of courses can just act as a starting point; however the major evolution happens on the job. Testing pros should look for opportunities to get hands-on experience which will help them sharpen their software testing skills. Software testing is more about being applied and pragmatic rather than just following academic experience. My organization while assuming that pros have a good academic back ground looks for a good attitude & ability to work in fast-paced environment. |
Looking at the pace of the recent developments happening in this field, there is no denying the fact that software testing is fast emerging as a lucrative career option; it enables rapid career growth, and has substantially moved away from the myth that if somebody can't make a career in development, then only does he settle down into testing.
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