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In software development quality assurance or QA is one of the most
important factors that define the success of a product. In the world of
Agile, the role of QA has become even more critical. The QA engineer
defines and tests the acceptance criteria of user stories, tests
end-to-end functionality of the developed feature after each sprint, and
ensures that there are no regressions in the completed functionalities,
and much more. Thus, the involvement of a QA engineer is important from
the very first day of software development. In this article, we will
outline the roles and responsibilities of a QA team and tips for hiring
remote QA engineers for your enterprise.
“Quality is never an accident; it is always the result of intelligent
effort.” – John Ruskin.
QA Beyond Traditional Testing – Roles And Responsibilities
When it comes to QA there are three major roles – QA Engineers, QA
Analysts, and QA Testers – each with specific responsibilities. QA
Analyst is required in the initial phases of the development and focuses
on analyzing business needs, high-level planning of development,
building use cases, etc. The QA Testers are the ones who are responsible
for the execution of the tests at every stage of development. QA
Engineer is more of an end-to-end role that takes care of the overall
Quality Assurance deliverables of the entire project. A QA Engineer is
the ‘jack of all trades’ of software development. A good QA Engineer
will not only have strong coding abilities, knowledge of various
frameworks and automation tools, but will be adept in project
management, collaboration, too. In today’s world where Agile
methodologies are taking over the traditional software development
processes like Waterfall, the role of a QA Engineer has also evolved.
Here’s how:
-
Beyond writing test cases a QA Engineer has to collaborate with the
product teams and keep a tab on the feature development from an end
user’s perspective. -
QA Tester works as a quasi-product-owner and ensures deliverables are
rolled out without any issues. -
QA Tester is involved in estimating User Stories for each sprint,
defining acceptance criteria, and also refine them when needed. -
Be a pro in process automation – converting user stories into
automation test scripts helps in speeding up the testing phase. Hence
ensures on-time delivery of the project. QA Testers should know
automation tools like the back of their hands.
Now that we have a fair view of the roles and responsibilities of a QA
Tester, let’s talk about some key tips on how to hire the best QA
Engineers.
Hiring Remote QA Engineers – Key Tips For Building A ‘Quality’ QA
Team
Three types of QA engineers are required in a software development team –
Software QA Engineer, QA Automation Engineer, and QA Manager or Lead.
Therefore, let’s take a look at what are the specific roles of each and tips
for hiring remote QA Engineers for each of these roles.
1. Hiring a Software QA Engineer
Software QA Engineers are generalists. They monitor every phase of the
development process. Therefore, their role is critical for deploying the
entire QA process for the project and help them focus on the most critical
aspects, maintain quality standards, track user stories, and more. This role
is comprehensive and is spread across the planning, development, and testing
stage. Thus, here are the key responsibilities associated with this role:
| Planning | Development | QA Testing |
| Critical role in planning the development process. | Reviewing codes and writing, when needed. | Deploying the QA process. |
| Planning, prioritizing, and coordinating QA activities. |
Coordination with the development teams and monitoring phase-wise development. |
Ensuring compliance with QA guidelines. |
| Developing, tracking, and improving the metrics for QA. | Ensuring on-time completion and deployment of projects. | Monitoring all QA outcomes. |
| Overseeing the software integrations. |
Key Skills to Look for while Hiring a Software QA Engineer
Experience range of a Software Engineer – 7+ years The salary for a QA
Engineer can range from 6-8 LPA.
-
Technical Skills – Knowledge of Coding, Development Frameworks, and
Automation Tools. - Understanding of Agile Methodologies.
-
Know-how of Creating, Defining, and refining user stories and creation
of feature acceptance criteria, QA Guidelines. -
Non-Technical Skills – Excellent Planning and Coordination Skills,
Ability to Multitask, and Project Management Skills.
2. Hiring a QA Automation Engineer
QA Automation Engineers are responsible for the deployment of the entire
Automation Testing process. They are responsible for writing and designing
automation testing with predefined actions. They also run tests and ensure
all quality standards are maintained. However, one of the critical
responsibilities is to identify where the manual testing roles can be
automated and thus, optimizing resource and time allocation of the
project.
Here are the Key Responsibilities Associated with QA Automation
Engineer Role:
- Design and Deployment of Automated Testing Solutions.
- Determining the Stability of Automation by Conducting Scenario Tests.
-
Identifying the Performance Issues in the Automation Process that can
deter the progress of the project. -
Planning and Prioritizing Automation Testing basis the Project
Deliverables. - Identifying bugs and finding solutions to resolve them.
-
Ensuring that necessary databases are installed with all security
measures and backup. -
Collaborating with the development or DevOps team to ensure on-time
delivery. - Ensuring compliance with QA Guidelines.
- Monitoring QA outcomes.
- Developing, Tracking, and improving QA Metrics.
Key Skills to Look for while Hiring Remote QA Automation
Engineers:
Experience range of a Software Engineer – 5-7+ years The salary for a QA
Engineer can range from 6-9 LPA.
-
A strong background in common coding and knowledge of the programming
language (at least the languages used in the project you are hiring
for). -
Manual Testing – proper experience in manual testing is
important. The test cases that are created by manual QA specialists
become the basis for the scripts written by automation engineers, hence
experience in manual testing is important. -
Knowledge and proper experience in software development frameworks and
automation testing tools. - Working knowledge of SDLC methodologies.
-
A strong ability to differentiate between TDD i.e.,
Test-Driven Development, and BDD i.e., Behavior-Driven
Development is an added advantage to have.
3. Hiring Remote QA Engineers
The QA Manager or Lead is more of a supervisor role and leads a team of QA
Engineers – QA Software Engineers, QA Automation and Manual Engineers, and
QA Testers.
Here are the Key Responsibilities Associated with QA Engineer:
- Building and Leading the QA team.
- Resource Planning and Deployment.
- Designing an optimal QA environment for every software build.
- Finding out improvement areas and enhancing the QA process.
- Managing and tracking of project deployment.
- Ensuring on-time completion of the QA process.
- Ensuring pre-deployment readiness of the software.
- Monitoring and ensuring the quality of QA outcomes.
- Monitoring the QA metrics and refining them from time to time.
Key skills to look for while Hiring Remote QA Engineers:
Experience range of a Software Engineer – 10+ years The salary for a QA
Engineer can range from 12+ LPA
- Extensive experience in developing and managing QA teams.
- Experience in deploying QA projects for large and small-scale projects.
- Extensive knowledge of testing approaches.
- In-depth understanding of the QA methods and tools.
- Knowledge of latest development and QA trends.
- Excellent communication and client management skills.
- Project planning skills.
- Leadership and team-building and mentoring skills.
Building a QA team – Where to start for?
team has to keep up with these evolving trends and project needs. However,
Outsourcing a QA Engineering team
can be a great way for hiring remote QA engineers who are always ready. To
do this, you can either hire outsourced engineers or an agency that can
take up the QA work. Supersourcing can help you hire the best-in-class QA
engineers without any operational challenges. So where do you start from
when hiring an external QA team:
1. Look for Reviews
At Supersourcing after you post your project requirements an agency or
contractor is recommended basis the project needs, with details like
reviews, score, budget, etc.
2. Go through their Portfolios
Once you shortlist the partners see their portfolio, client
testimonials, previous work, etc. on their website and corporate
presentations. While hiring developers remotely these are the specific
things you can look for:
4. The Expertise and Experience
Check for the experience and expertise level of the team members including
QA engineers, Automation engineers, leads, and more.
4. Certifications of the Team
Certifications like ISTQB (International Software Testing Qualification
Вoard), it is a great way to assess the maturity and experience of the QA
team. Ask what kind of QA certifications the team holds.
5. Check the Testing Standards
Check what are the testing standards followed by the team. Some most
popular standards are ISO and IEEE.
6. Expertise in Working on the Domain of your Enterprise
While the practices of QA used are standardized it will be critical to
evaluate the team basis the expertise they have in the domain of your
industry.
7. Testing Methodologies- Toolkits used within the Team
While hiring QA engineers it is important to ensure that they have
worked on or know how to work on the software development methodology
followed in your enterprise. This will be an important factor that will
ensure the successful collaboration with the QA engineering team hired.
Wrapping Up
QA is an inevitable and critical part of software development.
Especially in the Agile world where QA has to be taken into account
right from the commencement of the project. Hiring the right QA
Engineering Team can be pivotal to the success of your project. At
Supersourcing, we help you in finding and hiring remote Engineers and
other experts with skill sets, faster and without any operational
challenges. Now, start hiring remote QA engineers for your enterprise.
Sign up and tell us your project requirements.
