Acquire Fundamental Skills
Before starting with the actual implementation of software testing, it is important to gain the fundamental skills and knowledge of software development that will act as a strong fundamental in your new career. This field is evolving at a very rapid pace and new tools and technologies are emerging almost every year testers have to adopt these not just for their survival but for the betterment of the software application, and if your fundamentals are strong enough then understanding these new technologies would be a piece of cake for you. So, let’s see some of the basic yet important fundamentals skills that you must know
1. Learn the Basics of Software Development
Whether you don’t want to become a proficient programmer, having a basic understanding of coding concepts and development methodologies will always help you in this domain. Because the software development process touches every sphere, be it software testing, product development or UI/UX design, and understanding the basics software development process is a fundamental part of software testing.
- Programming Language– Understanding programming language will help you in collaboration with the developers team, so try to learn the basics of languages like Python, C++ or Java.
- Software Development Lifecycle– If you want to learn about where and how testing fits into the software development process then try to learn about different SDLC models like Agile, Waterfall and DevOps.
- Version Control System– To manage and get an understanding of the codebase, you should know the version control system like Git.
- Databases– It is a very fundamental concept of computer science that revolves around data. So to manage and create data, try to learn SQL.
2. Basics of Testing Concepts
To learn about software testing you should understand very clearly all the basic concepts related to the testing. So below are some testing concepts that you should learn in detail, before actually diving into the core, it will give you a brief intro to this domain
- Types of testing– Yes, testing itself is of different types and serves a different purpose in checking the quality of software, so try to learn about various types of testing including functional testing, regression testing, and performance testing.
- Test Case Design– Different factors should be considered while designing a test case like boundary condition and its coverage, so you should study the process of designing test cases.
- Testing tools– Various testing tools are highly used in the industry like selenium, JUnit, or TestNG, try to get familiarised with those tools.
- Defect Reporting– It is also one of the important skills to understand how to document and report any defect, using tools like a bug tracking system and communicate it with development teams.
3. Foundation of Testing Methodologies
Performing quality check of any software also include different types of methodologies and it is very important for checking different types of software. Let’s discuss some of them
- Manual Testing– This is usually the starting point for many software testers, so try to learn the basics of manual testing like test planning, test case execution, and defect reporting.
- Automation Testing– This will include the use of scripts and testing tools to optimise the repetitive tasks. SO learn frameworks like selenium which will help you in automation testing.
- Performance Testing – In this type of testing, you should understand, how to access software performance using various tools to ensure that the software performs smoothly.
How to Switch From Non IT to Software Testing
Software testing is one of the fastest growing fields in the software industry, as people are moving towards the digital world, the demand for software applications has increased a lot, and to make them bug-free and give their customers a smooth experience there is a need of software testers in the organizations which make it a perfect opportunity for those looking to enter the IT industry. But to enter the field requires specific skills that we have discussed in this article.
Whether you’re a beginner in testing with little to no IT experience or a professional looking for a new path, if you follow the below-discussed path then definitely you will get clarity about this software testing career and where to start learning it.