This time we decided to reflect a bit more upon the qualities that characterize a good QA Oficer, the skills necessary to work in this position, and why this particular set of talents makes QA so unique. Let’s take a closer look.

The first question we should ask ourselves is: who in fact are QAs? How would you describe them? This is the list of characteristics we thought of:  

They Are Explorers:

‍QAs aren’t afraid to venture into unknown situations and love figuring  out the reasons behind the defects in the software. Any obstacles that may appear on their way don’t demotivate them. On the contrary – they only make them more curious to find the root of the problem and then – the solution!

They Are Troubleshooters:

‍Think of QA as a modern-day, IT-focused Sherlock Holmes with a soft spot for puzzles and riddles. They are good at investigating problems and figuring out why something doesn’t work.

They Are Relentless:

‍ It’s hard to stop them. It lies deeply in the nature of QA to just keep trying. If they see a bug that quickly vanishes or is difficult to re-create, they’ll try every way possible to find it again and solve, rather than dismiss it. You can tell they are quite stubborn! ‍

They Are Creative:

‍ Testing the obvious isn’t sufficient for QAs. Their job is to think out of the box to find and solve as many errors as possible. When the traditional way of testing is not enough, a creative QA will find a way to pursue, investigate and recreate even the most tricky bugs, and then get them all solved.

They Are Perfectionists:

While QA always tries  to get better,  they are also realists and they can let go if the ultimate goal  becomes unattainable. They’re OK with getting just as close to the solution as they can.  

They Tend To Have Good Judgement:

‍QAs need to make important decisions all the time: what they’ll test, how long will it take, and if the problem they’re looking at is really a bug.

They Are Tactful And Diplomatic:

‍Unfortunately, most of the time QA are the bearers of bad news. Whenever something is not working right, it’s the QA’s job to go and tell the programmers that there’s something wrong with their code. Good testers know how to do so tactfully and professionally while not causing any conflicts or misunderstandings.

They Are Persuasive:

‍ Bugs that QAs find won’t always be viewed as critical enough to be fixed. Therefore QA need to be good at making their points clear enough to demonstrate that the bug, in fact, does exist, what type of bug we are dealing with, and what needs to be done to get it fixed.

They Are Assertive:

As we already mentioned in the previous paragraph, the relationship between  the developer and QA is a tricky one. QAs need to be tactful to aim toward the problem solution rather than get into personal conflicts, however, they also have to be assertive and firm enough not to get dismissed by the developers too quickly.  

These nine qualities, in our opinion, make a good QA Engineer. Do you think we’ve missed any?  

In case you want to learn more about QA or you have some questions regarding it,  don’t hesitate to contact us! Just click the link below, we’ll be happy to address your doubts!

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