QUALITY ASSURANCE : Career in Software Testing
Kalyana Rao Konda, vice-president, AppLabs on software testing as a quality control measure
Software testing has been recognised as an important phase in software development life cycle and customers realise that quality cannot be compromised. This realisation has led to a lot of focus on quality assurance space and testing. A decade ago testing was meant to catch defects but today testing has matured to prevent defects. There has been a lot of innovation in this space and several tools, methodologies and processes have evolved and developers have started relying on testing for the overall quality of the product. Market demands and technology advancements (mobile/PDA/ipad) have also created an increased need for testing since the end user community is getting broadened and diversified. We also see a healthy growth in e-commerce transactions. This trend creates a need for security and privacy checks with compliance to protecting customer data. As technology advancements continue in testing industry, organisations have realised that testing has to be separated from development and one vendor should not perform both the functions.
INDUSTRY STATUS
This field is growing at a very fast pace creating a lot of job opportunities. According to a recent Nasscom report, over the last five-six years, India has grown to become the largest destination for outsourcing of software testing services, accounting for 32% of the total global outsourcing share. Export revenues and the number of employees have doubled over the last four years. In 2011, the Indian independent software testing market is expected to grow 23.5% over 2010. The domestic software testing market has the potential to cross $1.5 billion by 2020.
GROWTH AREAS
Today, there is no shortage of talent wanting to enter this field, including experienced professionals who consider it as a lucrative option with rapid career progression. Apart from testers, there is an increased focus on recruiting domain experts as well.
INDUSTRY STATUS
This field is growing at a very fast pace creating a lot of job opportunities. According to a recent Nasscom report, over the last five-six years, India has grown to become the largest destination for outsourcing of software testing services, accounting for 32% of the total global outsourcing share. Export revenues and the number of employees have doubled over the last four years. In 2011, the Indian independent software testing market is expected to grow 23.5% over 2010. The domestic software testing market has the potential to cross $1.5 billion by 2020.
GROWTH AREAS
Today, there is no shortage of talent wanting to enter this field, including experienced professionals who consider it as a lucrative option with rapid career progression. Apart from testers, there is an increased focus on recruiting domain experts as well.
Ten years ago there were hardly any pure testing companies. Now independent testing is an accepted niche IT service. Another growth area is in the filed of outsourcing is testing. Outsource testing ensures improved software.
SKILL-SETS REQUIRED
Students who have a degree along with some training from a finishing school in software testing have a good way to begin. Anyone who is interested in making a career in testing should be able to see and evaluate the robustness of software and should also be able to have a constructive approach to faultfinding. Being perseverant and identifying problems in software are prized qualities. One should also have an analytical thinking, if one wants to succeed in this field.
REMUNERATION
A trainee can rapidly progress through the levels of test engineer, senior test engineer, team lead, test manager and then into other management roles within the organisation depending on his/her capability. A fresher can get anywhere between Rs 10,000-12,000 in the beginning.
Sunil Sharma
Moderator:
A career in software testing is clearly not for everyone, but for the right people it offers tremendous opportunity.STC Technologies
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