Category: Software Testing Help

How to Identify a Good Mobile Game Tester

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Game testing is a lucrative career for those who have a passion for playing games and finding bugs. The rise of mobile phones has increased game development and game testing services exponentially.
But if you are a game developer, how do you identify a good mobile game tester? An eye for detail, computer literacy, exceptional memory, good writing skills etc. are well appreciated qualities in a mobile game tester.

Long work hours and recurring overtime can make work exhausting for people working in the game testing services industry. If you really don’t have a love for games, the whole routine could become tiring eventually.

Read Also:  The What, Why and How of Mobile Game Testing

Game Testing- Qualifications required
Since there are no university degree that specializes in game testing at least in most of the countries, candidates appearing for jobs in game testing services are usually tested for suitable skills that will prove beneficial to the job requirements of a game tester.

Some testing jobs, especially senior ones will require experience. With experience, a tester gets a better idea of the game development cycle, its various tools, and can recognize discrepancies and errors easier. Sometimes employers may recruit inexperienced candidates simply because there are lots of inexperienced candidates available for their specific job requirement. Then in order to aid the screening process they will opt for more experienced candidates.
Let’s discuss some of the desired qualities of a game tester. These qualities should be either present in a game tester or are to be developed with experience.
Vital Skills for a Mobile Game Tester
Keen observation: For being a successful game tester, you need to have exceptional talent in finding the oddities. You’d have to keep your eyes wide open and find all those camouflaged and unwanted bits that can decrement your game’s aesthetic appeal.

Problem solving ability: When you see a particular defect in your game’s performance, you should be able to figure out what is the real cause behind such a hurdle.
Love for gaming: Game testing jobs actually requires you to sit and interact with a video game all day long. Passion for gaming is an additional boon to your profession as a game tester. Without any interest towards gaming, it will be difficult for someone to continue on this job for long.
Good writing skills: This is something that is often neglected but yet one of the most important skill that a game tester should possess. A game tester should be able to communicate and record the findings in good and standard language without leaving any scope for ambiguity.
Patience and tolerance to monotonous tasks: Even for interested game players, similar games can cause aversion. So, one should give it a second thought before taking a career path in game testing.

Role specific skills: You must hold skills specific to the area of your work. For example, if you are a professional localization tester, you should have expertise in the language of game content construction. Testing security needs awareness about various security protocols and security threats. Compliance testers should have good knowledge on various IT standards and certification processes.
You May also Like: Is Testing Important for the Mobile Gaming Industry?
Teamwork: This is a general skill that is required in any software based industry. Having the right technical skills alone is not enough to work in an industry. A tester should be a good team player too. When you have to work with a team, you should know how to work cooperatively. Ego can hinder your work. Mutual respect and trust is necessary for team performance.
Meeting deadlines and working under pressure: Overtime and working weekends can become unavoidable when deadlines are to be met. Employees should be willing to accept this and should have strong willpower and motivation towards delivering performance when working under pressure.

How to Master the Art of Cloud Testing

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Talks about the use of cloud infrastructure for software testing have been in the limelight for some time now. It is particularly useful in high-stake situations where a company is bound by time and cost constraints.  Along with the advantage of unlimited storage space, its quick availability and flexibility has fueled global acceptance.

app testing

The software industry has changed forever with the introduction of virtualization, which paved way for cloud computing. Hence it is necessary for one to follow the below mentioned steps to ensure effective progress in cloud testing.

  • Understand Cloud Technology: As it is with any business venture, one must first make sense of what is necessary to improve his/her outcomes. Cloud testing can be a completely alien environment even for experienced testers. Thus find time to understand how and where cloud testing can help you in the long run. Understand the benefits of moving a particular testing project into cloud. Remember, cloud testing isn’t the final word when it comes to finding a solution for your testing problems. It is important to conduct unit, functional and integration testing throughout the development cycle.
  • Have Your Own Testing Strategy: Having a well-defined strategy can be the difference between the success and downfall of your testing methods. Have a clear idea about what type of tests should be performed in cloud. You must also be aware about the risks associated with cloud testing.

Weigh the pros and cons of moving to a cloud-based testing.

  • Have a Planned Infrastructure: Moving to cloud testing environment will need careful planning to choose the right kind of testing tools, applications, hardware, software and even bandwidth. Planning should also be done on how long these tools will be in use. That can help with cost reduction and control.
  • Choose the Right Service Provider: Security, quality and reliability should be the most important qualities associated with your service provider. They must be able to provide a quick set-up or tear–down of test environment along with other services like physical infrastructure, testing tools and licenses through provisioning.

Recommended Read:5.41% CAGR for Software Testing Services by 2019

  • Executing the Test: Here the application is tested according to a pre-defined test strategy. You should plan and look for optimal utilization of the test infrastructure in order to realize cost benefits.
  • Monitor and analyze test results: It is necessary to monitor test results in real-time to understand and solve issues concerning capacity or performance. You must even analyze cloud usage against chargeback costs to understand the financial performance of your cloud services.

To master the art of cloud testing for the enhancement of software testing, the following challenges must be overcome:

  • Security: The first and foremost challenge when it comes to cloud technology is security. It must deliver ample user privacy protection and should also meet the security standards on cloud. Hence, if you are to expand software testing into the realm of cloud technology, security testing should be your primary concern.
  • Cloud Compatibility: A great concern for companies when it comes to cloud technology is the performance of their applications, especially in private cloud. Sharing across many users can lead to delays and also cases of maintenance or outage may cause insufficiency of bandwidth.
  • Unsupportive: Sometime with cloud technology, it becomes difficult to emulate the customer environment. This is caused by the unsupportive nature of cloud towards certain configurations for servers, storage or networking that is vital for testing. Therefore make sure whether your application is built to provide the required results on cloud technology.
  • Challenge in Integration Testing: Integration testing is where the tester performs tests on the network, database, servers etc. But with cloud computing, the tester has no control over the underlying environment. This becomes even more challenging when there is interaction between components, with the tester having to anticipate the occurrence of crashes, network breakdown or servers.

Do you think there is more to mastering cloud computing? If yes, please share your thoughts with us in the comment section.

Manual or Automated Testing: Which to Use?

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Every software tester must face the same dilemma when it comes to choosing the right kind of testing for their software or apps. Often the confusion is whether to choose manual or automated testing. Before moving into a deeper analysis, let me just begin by saying that both have their pros and cons.
app testing
When it comes to choices made by teams, the patterns indicate a higher percent of start-ups and SMEs using manual testing. This is because of the costs involved in conducting an automated test. It is only wise to weigh the costs and benefits of applying a certain software testing methodology before you choose it.

Read Also: 5 Types of Testing to Make Your Mobile Apps User-Friendly

Manual Testing
Lower cost and flexibility is why someone would want to go for this sort of testing. Moreover it gives you a better understanding of real user issues which manual testing can’t provide. As said before, if you’re a start up or an SME looking for a cost-efficient mode of software testing, then doing it manually is the favorable choice.
Here, testing takes place from the perspective of a regular user, comparing the test outcomes to expected outcomes. This means going in and running a set of tasks or programs to spot defects. It provides the advantage of analyzing apps from the user’s point-of-view, unlike in automated testing.
While it’s impossible to add values once automated tests have begun, manual testing is more flexible in this aspect.
Despite its advantages, bigger companies avoid the use of manual testing because of the sheer time involved. Manual testing makes sense when you have a handful of tests. But what if the number of apps is in the thousands?
Isn’t a pretty picture is it?
This is where automation testing services come in handy. It helps in situations where there are time constraints, within which the testing needs to be done.
Automated Testing
Automated testing tools use pre-defined algorithms to compare expected test outcomes to the outcomes achieved. Minimal variation between the two indicates a successful bug test. In case a variation surfaces, the test will be repeated after necessary code changes.
automation testing

Read Also: Top 5 Automation Testing Tools for Android

This is used in time bound testing environments where a software tester might have to work with a lot of apps or software. It is relatively quick and effective, compared to manual testing and hence, there is enough time to repeat tests. This is a huge advantage for companies as it helps to reduce their product delivery cycle. Manual testing requires typing the same information again and again, which can be completely avoided in automated testing.
It is thus a good practice to collect information on what is best for your business and company, before deciding on what kind of testing to implement.

Is this Justice? The Irony of Software Maintenance Costs

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Anjit was excited. He had finally convinced his father to take their family business online. There was plenty for him to do now. But first and foremost, he wanted to have solid ERP software to manage his business. So, he went through a number of service providers online.
app testing
After an extensive search, he narrowed down one web development company which offered to create a custom ERP for dirt cheap price.  He thought – “This is a great deal. They may not do maintenance for free. But how much would that cost.” He went ahead and got their service.
After a year
Anjit’s online business was picking up well. There were minor glitches with the ERP though. At times, it became impossible to modify even product details. Every time he approached the software guys to get a bug fixed, he was charged a decent amount.
He calculated the overall expense incurred to him for software maintenance. To his surprise, it amounted to around three times the software’s original cost.
Finally, it came to a point where he had to ask for an upgrade. The response he got left him even more dejected. He was told – “Sorry, Mr.Anjit. Your software architecture has its limitations. We can either provide you with minor maintenance or you will have to get a new package. Its architecture is now outdated.”
What went wrong for Anjit here?
Let’s see.
In our day to day life, we buy a lot of stuff – gadgets, stationeries, utensils, clothes, etc. In all these cases, we pay almost 70-80 percent of the total cost to buy the product. So, we tend to think that once we buy a product, the maintenance cost is going to be minimal.
It should be true in the case of software too. But, 60-70% percent of the total cost goes for maintenance.
Why?
In a bid to look for budget solutions, people like Anjit tend not to think about the quality. They do not think about long-term implications. Or, they do and ignore it because of the affordability.
The main reasons for exorbitant maintenance costs are
Poor Software Architecture
If the software you buy has a poor architecture which will not be able to support future updates and technology, high maintenance would be a given.
By nature, software is always evolving. If you use a smartphone, you know that new features are being added to the phone as well as applications by means of updates. The same applies to all types of software.  Your software should be equipped to support such features. At least till the foreseeable future.
Lack of Proper Testing
Developing is not an easy job. It requires high level of skills and concentration. Under such circumstances, software bugs and glitches are unavoidable. The only way to deal with it is proper software testing. Unfortunately, a lot of people skip on testing because they want to launch their product as soon as possible.
mobile app
With proper testing, software becomes highly polished, making it user friendly. Another benefit is minimal maintenance cost. There might be one or two rogue bugs even after thorough testing. But proper testing ensures the maintenance required for your software is far and few. This reduces the cost drastically.
So, relatively affordable software with minimal upfront cost
or
Expensive, properly tested software with good architecture and minimal maintenance – which would you choose? Let us know in the comment section.