When you complete your graduation, you’ll be in mayhem to pick our career path.
Numerous individuals are not comfortable with the professional growth prospects that are accessible in the software testing field. A few myths in the industry identified with picking Software Testing as a career are,
They are ridiculous as they sound,
Development is superior to testing career. As anybody can test.
Just the people who can’t code pick software testing as their career path.
Pay rates will be less in software testing in contrast to software development.
There won’t be any future growth in the software testing profession.
But all this isn’t a reality at all!
Somebody who is working in a different industry and needs to switchthe profession in software testing field or students who are about to complete their studies are always eager to know about various roles and level of positions available in software testing before making a decision.
So, today we’ll understand how you can start and grow in the software testing field.
Initial Stage as An Intern
For a few, the initial step on their software testing profession path will be as a software testing intern or trainee. As a novice, they may take the courses offered by the procuring organization and do some practical jobs on the given project.
In another situation, they could begin to work in the company as a Junior QA or Software Testing Specialist and do test case executions, bug check and reporting, and other essential errands under the close direction of the experienced authority.
Sooner or later, when both the team and trainee understand that the close direction is no more required, now you will going to be a step ahead in your software testing career path. It typically implies the intern has turned into a middle software tester authority.
QA Analyst
On executing tests for some time, one accumulates much practice and knowledge of various testing tools and tests. One starts to observe where applications ordinarily fail, recognizing increasingly more about how the product is developed. One likewise grows better communication abilities.
Starting here, one can move to the following stage, which is to be a “mid-level” tester or QA Analyst. Mid-level testers, as a rule, have 2-4 years of expertise in the testing field. The obligations they may have include:
Plan entire test cases
Execute tests
Report bugs
Be increasingly associated with other quality assurance operations
Managerial Path
The managerial path is amongst the most prominent career path you must look forward to.
When you reach this level of software testing career, you may have titles as Test Manager, Test Leader, Project Manager, QA Manager, QC manager, and so forth. It implies that you are presently a boss relying upon the titles. You currently have the authorization and can create an impact on the result of your project.
The managerial position is appropriate for individuals who are exceptionally great at communication and project management. On reaching this level, you would consider things as a huge picture instead of stressing that you have not discovered any bugs from many days.
Senior Software Tester
This position may likewise be called as Senior QA Engineer in a few companies. Each organization has unique criteria with regards to delineating a designation. Most senior positions are chosenlooking over your years of experience. A senior software tester is a job that demands the involvement of around 4 – 5 years.
The Senior Tester is required to be great at one test automation tool for reaching to this level. After a couple of years of knowledge, the senior software tester is assumed to take part in the test planning meeting and participate in the same.
In the test planning meeting high-level test scenarios, risks, challenges, resources and much more are talked about,and the Senior Tester can give his/her sources of info.
Likewise, the Senior Tester can without much difficulty measure how much time a specific errand may take, thinking about every important factor.Furthermore, as a senior tester, you are assumed to get a solution to the problems or loopholes you are witnessing in current methods.
Other Roles in a Software Testing Career Path
Freelance Tester
In case that a 9-5 job routine does not intrigue you and you are searching for freedom, being a freelance tester is definitely not an awful choice by any means. As a freelance software tester, you can test whenever and anytime you prefer. You can basically be your own boss.
But one of the issues on working as a freelance software tester is that revenue may not as steady as a regular job.
Then and again you have the projects for testing; on the other hand, sometimes you don’t. So, you can choose this path as a part-time jobwhen you’re new in the software testing field.
It will assist you in making great credibility and connection which will help a lot in getting a full-time and reliable job.
And if your projects are steady, you may then consider going on this path as full-time work.
Test Automator or Technical Tester
As you truly make your mark in the testing world, you will begin to look past test case execution and also, to a degree, ahead of the testing strategy. You’ll begin to consider the organization, your team, and productivity.
You have to figure out how might we test that more rapidly and in a savvy way? When you enter the test automation position, you must know the tools that enhance test suite management and devices which automate the execution of tests.
There are a lot of systems and methodologies, some of which require the more programming aptitudes like Java and Selenium, while others can be utilized even by non-programmers, for example, Cucumber.
Automation testing is a case of a technical job by and large, and this professional path can be a decent option for those not attracted to the management roles.
Business Analyst
A noteworthy perk software tester has over software developers is that they have comprehensive business knowledge. So, an apparent profession growth for QAs is to end up as a Business Analyst.
As a Business Analyst, you will be in charge of analyzing and inspecting your organization’s plan of action and workflows which you will integrate with technology.
DevOps Job
QAs have an all-encompassing perspective of the software development procedure and delivery that guarantees that code gets to users more frequently, quicker, and at a higher quality.
It can make them great product stability managers, release engineers or managers, or automation engineers in organizations that seek after a DevOps strategy to deal with development.
So as QA leads upstream, they can partake more effectively in the DevOps journey and practice, and inevitably, it is truly sensible to, state, they take control over the DevOps job.
QA Consultant
Individuals with experience in the software testing field can also go into specific services. It is the place consultants become possibly the most important factor, which fundamentally adds value with their insight and experience by distinguishing issues and proposing upgrades to team members, instructing them about the tools to utilize and how to adapt to procedures and techniques.
What Skills Do You Require for a Successful Software Tester Career Path?
Academic Background
Academic background of a software tester must be in Computer Science. A B.E./BTech, BCA, MCA, BSc- Computers, will get you a job as a software tester.
Domain-specific Familiarity
Domain-specific familiarity increases the value of your testing career. There are independent certification courses for every domain to give significant verification and boost to your career ahead.
Stay Updated
As per professionals, skill-based learning is getting the force in the testing business. You simply need to keep yourself updated according to current tech advancements and trends.
Hands-on Experience in Various Tools
Defect Tracking is a primary aspect of software testing so learn tools like QC, Bugzilla, Jira, etc. Also, if you want to be an Automation Tester, then you should know automated tools. Further, knowledge of any scripting language like JavaScript, VBScript, C# is also helpful.
Final words….
Each profession path is interesting; we can’t deny it. The road to the software testing career has experienced enormous changes.
As the demand for software on the planet is stunning, thus, Software Testing profession has turned into a masterpiece for numerous product executions.
The market has understood the significance of planned testing of products before the launch.
Testing has made many types, levels, and specialization in the software development field which has expanded the inherent value of a career in software testing. From being a tedious test case executor, a few vocation alternatives have developed for the testing community.
Great learning in the relevant sector of the industry such as Telecom, Healthcare, Manufacturing, etc. improves the testing professionals’ career path.As you go with your software testing career, you’ll start to see what domains you do and do not prefer and will get a solid impression for the opportunities which are available for you.
GUI Testing is a type of testing in which an applications’ Graphical User Interface (GUI) is tested to make sure it is in line with the expectations. GUI testing involves checking the objects on the UI (User Interface), which are the objects that we can see on the screen.
Anything the user sees in the system or application is a GUI. Let us consider that if you visit a website, then the homepage is the GUI (graphical user interface) of the site.
The source code will not be visible as the user can see only the UI interface. Mainly the focus of GUI testing is on the design pattern, images, alignment, spellings and the overall look and feel of the UI
What is the need for GUI Testing?
Now as you’ve understoodthe basic concept of GUI testing so the next question that you’ll have in your mind will be
Why do we need GUI testing?
How to create test cases for GUI testing?
How to do GUI testing?
To get the answer, you need to think as a user, not as a tester. It is the User Interface of theSoftware/Application that is a deciding factor to know whether a user is going to use the Application further or not.
The looks and designs of the Application/Software are what atypical user will first look at.
Secondly, he checks how easy it will be for him to understand and navigate through the UI. If the Software/Application is more complex and not appealing or if the user is not comfortable with the Interface design, then he is not going to use that Application again.
That’s the reason, GUI testing is a matter for concern and should be taken very seriously. Also, proper testing should be carried out in order to make sure that GUI is free from any issues.
Examples of UI Test Cases
UI Testing mostly involves the checking the various elements on the screen for their look and feel, the test cases should be written in such a way that they validate the following points for each of the UI objects.
Size, position, width, and height of the objects with reference to other objects on the screen
Error messages displayed on the screen, the color and font of the error message. Errors are normally in Red color.
Readable and inconsistent across the application unless specified by the client.
Checking the same screen in different resolution with the help of zooming in and zooming out like 640 x 480, 600×800, etc. Also if there is a requirement you may want to check it in a mobile browser as well.
Font colors, hyperlink colors, error/warning message colors, etc.
Quality of the images on the screen, if applicable.
Spellings, grammar, and punctuations.
Scrollbars according to the size of the page if any.
Checking disabled fields if any.
Checking the size of the images.
The overall idea is to make the screens appealing to the user and having a good alignment and font. Many a times you may need to think out of box and stray away from the test cases and do exploratory testing with respect to the UI
GUI Testing Approaches:
1. Manual Based Testing:
This is the most widely used method for GUI testing. In this method the tester, checks the application manually by looking at the screen, navigating through the application and by using his own judgement as well.
While checking the application he will not only validated the test cases but also make suggestions to improve the UI to make it better.
This can be quite a time consuming and the quality of the testing done would depend on the knowledge and capabilities of the tester.
2. Automation Based Testing:
Though for the most part, the GUI testing needs to be done manually, there are some portions which can be automated as well.
The test cases which involve navigations, data entry or any other manual action apart from just seeing can be automated. There are a number of tools like TestComplete, Squish, AutoIT, Silk Test etc.
which can be used for this purpose. These tools are used to replicate the user actions by recording it and then playing it back each time the testing is needed. These tools involve some amount of technical scripting knowledge as well.
Challenges in GUI Testing
As simple as it may sound, there are some challenges also:
The list of GUI test cases can be very exhaustive and time-consuming
It requires a lot of manual effort and the quality of the testing would depend on the skills of the tester.
Number of automation tools available is very limited
GUI is usually unstable during the initial development phases, so GUI testing is postponed to the end of the testing cycle, which sometimes creates a time crunch
GUI issues are given less priority when compared to functional issues
Conclusion:
The success of a software product hugely depends on how easy the GUI is to use and how it interacts with the end user. That’s basically is the reason why GUI testing is very important and should be carried out in a proper way. It is also very important that while testing the GUI we should always think from the perspective of the user.
QA interview questions! In order to triumph your oral interview and skill test, you might be asked many QA-related interview questions and that’s the reason why we have compiled the most probable Quality Assurance interview question and answers just for you.
How can I prepare to rightly answer QA interview questions
Make sure that you are well aware of the project you have been a part of. Not just the quality aspect of it. From design to release you need to have a clear idea about what went on with the project. To make things easier, pen down the project details that contain all the details in bullet points regarding the project and company you were a part of.
The project sheet must have, Name of the company, project details such as the name of the software, database, client base, time period, your role, team information, SDLC, tools used, and task performed
A personal retrospective about the project, tasks performed, your professional and personal gain, hurdles that came up, and how you tacked it
Perform mock interview by referring to most probable Q and A
Be confident about what you know and be upfront about what you don’t
Ensure interaction by asking your doubts
Do not imitate anyone. Be yourself!
Top 75 QA Interview Questions and Answers
1. What is the difference between QA and software testing?
Quality Assurance refers to the activity of monitoring the process of developing software in order to assure customers that the requirements for quality will be met. Through QA, we can identify the inconsistencies and flaws present in the development process.
2. What does Quality mean?
The quality of a product or service is determined by how well they meet the expectations and the requirements set by the customers. A good quality product must be error-free, does not have any lacking areas or any present inconsistencies. Therefore, there are some quality standards that need to be met for a product to be considered to have good quality.
3. Why is checking for quality so important in business?
The following factors are the reasons why quality is very important in business:
Dependency- The success of every business depends on the quality of its products and services.
Business Reputation- If a business provides quality services to its clients and customers, only then will it gain a good reputation in the market.
More Transactions- If customers are satisfied with the quality of services and products that the business provides them, they will keep making transactions with them in the future.
Automatic Advertisement- When the business guarantees and provides quality, the customers remain satisfied, which translates into them referring your business to other people as well
QA is the process of creating, documentation, and agreeing on the guidelines that assure quality. This means that at the end of QA, we get the quality standards for the software that need to be met.
QC on the other hand is a process that focuses on identifying defects in the quality of the developed product. This means that the software is tested at various stages of its development cycle against the various requirements set by the customer.
5. What is the meaning of Testware?
Testware entails all the artifacts or materials that are used while performing tests. This includes test cases, test plans, test scripts, etc.
6. What is the difference between release and build?
The build is the software developed for the customers which is handed over to the testing team by the development team.
A release is an installable application that is officially released for the customer after it is completely tested and certified by the testing team.
A build turns into a release after is removed of any prevalent bugs and errors in it.
What are QA roles and responsibilities?
7. At what point should the QA activities start?
The process of quality assurance must start as soon as the development of software starts. The sooner the QA activities start, the better. This is because QA can help avoid risks that have already been specified in the specification phase.
If QA activities are delayed, they can prove to be very costly, efforts and time-consuming.
8. What is a cause-effect graph?
A graph that represents all possible input domains and the outputs associated with them is called a cause-effect graph. This graph comes into use during the process of test case designing.
9. What is bug leakage and bug release?
When software is handed over to the team of testers knowing that a particular set of errors exist in the release, it is called a bug release. The severity and priority of these errors are known to be very low, as they can be resolved before the final release of the software.
When errors or bugs which went unnoticed by the testing team, are detected by the customers or the end-users after the software’s release, then it is known as a bug leakage.
Bug Triage is the process of prioritizing every bug on the basis of its frequency, severity, risks, etc. It helps to evaluate and then assign the solution to these bugs in a very efficient manner.
A test plan can be considered as a document that defines the objective, scope, approach, and emphasis that will go into the software testing efforts. Test plans can include the features that are to be tested, testing techniques to use, pass and fail criteria, etc.
A test strategy on the other hand can be defined as a set of guidelines that define the test designs in detail and provide instructions on how to conduct the testing process. It includes documentation formats, scope, and objectives, testing processes, test deliverables, etc.
It is a testing methodology where test scripts are created which read test data, such as input and output values, directly from data files. The data sources can be of any type such as CSV files, ODBC files, ADO files, data pools, etc.
Plan- Businesses first need to plan the processes that are related to the goals and objectives and determine what is required to be done to develop a good quality product.
Do- Here the development of the software and its testing is conducted.
Check- An important aspect of QA is to monitor the processes and methodologies that are used to check whether they meet the previously determined objectives or not.
Act- Finding out inconsistencies and flaws in the process and acting accordingly to improve them.
A test case contains conditions and specifications according to which a particular software must be tested for bugs. It includes details of the acceptable inputs, conditions for execution, procedures for testing, ideal outputs, etc.
15. What constitutes a good test case?
A test case can be considered as good if it is capable of finding defects and errors. Therefore, a test case that exhibits the following characteristics can be considered as a good one:
Accuracy- It must exact its purpose
Economic- It must not include unnecessary words or steps
Traceable- It should be traceable to the requirements
Repeatable- The test case must be usable again and again
What are High-level and Low-level test cases?
High-level: The cases which cover all the core functionalities of a product are considered high-level test cases.
Low-level: The cases which are related to the UI of the application are considered low-level test cases.
Which are the most important functions of QA?
The important functions of QA include validation, creation of improvement plans, documentation, and technology transfers.
There are many types of software testing approaches, among which the commonly used ones are:
Unit Testing
Integration Testing
Systems Testing
Functional testing
Non-Functional Testing
Black and White box testing
Regression Testing
Exploratory testing
Agile Testing
Ad-Hoc Testing
Smoke Testing
Alpha and Beta Testing
18. What are the stages in a Bug Life Cycle?
The bug life cycle includes all the stages through which a bug goes, throughout its lifetime. The different stages in a bug lifecycle ate as follows:
The bug is detected and identified, its state is ‘new’
A tester approves the bug as genuine and its state becomes ‘assigned’
It is checked whether the bug is in the scope or not. If it is not, then the bug is postponed for later
Its state becomes ‘in-progress once a tester starts working on it
When the bug is fixed, its state changes to ‘fixed’
If it passes the final testing process, the state is set as ‘closed’
22. What does Bug Control mean in product development?
It is an approach that aims at developing software products that are free from bugs and errors. In this approach, efforts are made to detect and avoid errors only in the testing phase, and not after that.
Functional tests are those which check the functional aspects of the software to validate their efficiency. Smoke testing, unit testing, integration testing, user acceptance, regression testing, etc. come under functional testing.
Non-functional tests are those which check the non-functional aspects of the software to validate its performance. Performance testing, load testing, stress testing, scalability, volume testing, etc. come under non-functional testing.
Agile testing is a software testing approach where continuous iteration of developing and testing the software takes place throughout the SDLC. In this approach, the requirements are gradually developed during the development lifecycle by the customers and the testers. This means, in agile testing, the coding and the testing processes are conducted simultaneously.
25. When a bug is found in production, how can you make sure that the same bug doesn’t occur again?
Whenever a bug is detected in production, the best practice is to create a test case immediately for it and to include it in the regression suite. We can also create alternate or similar test cases to include them in the suite. This way, we can prevent the occurrence of that same bug again in production.
The following kind of bugs can be categorized as un-reproducible bugs:
Defects that surface due to issues of low memory.
Errors or bugs that arise due to addresses pointing to memory locations that do not exist.
Race conditions are error scenarios that occur when the time of execution of one event impacts another even executing in a sequence.
27. How can you handle unreproducible bugs?
To handle un-reproducible bugs, a tester can follow these steps:
Executing test steps that are as close to the bug description as possible.
Evaluating the environment of that test.
Examining and evaluating the results produced by the test execution.
Keeping the time and resource constraints under check
28. What is the difference between a Test Driver and Stub?
A test driver is that piece of code that calls the software component that needs to go under test. Test drivers prove to be very useful when following the bottom-up testing approach.
A test stub is a dummy piece of code or program which is integrated with an application to complete the application’s functionality. Test stubs come into use when following the top-down testing approach.
29. What is meant by Entry and Exit criteria?
Entry Criteria- The process which needs to be run when the testing begins. It includes:
Software Requirement Specification (SRS)
Functional Requirement Specification (FRS)
Test cases
Use cases
Test plans
Exit Criteria- It tells when a product is completely testing and when it should be formally released. It includes:
Metrics
Test Summary Reports
Defect Analysis Report
30. What are the roles of White and Black box testing?
The black box testing approach does not require the tester to have knowledge of the internal code and structure of the software. The tests in this approach are based on the software’s functionalities and requirements.
White box testing on the other hand requires the testers to test the internal designs, implementation, and structure of the software. Therefore, in this approach, the tests are concentrated on path coverage, statement coverage, and branch coverage.
Smoke testing is done to confirm the basic functionalities of a product. Through smoke testing, you can identify the most basic test cases to execute.
32. Why is sanity testing used?
Through sanity testing, you can ensure whether the software runs without the occurrences of any logical errors or not. It helps to avoid the wastage of cost and time involved in testing when the entire build fails.
In negative testing, the software is validated by evaluating how it behaves when invalid inputs are provided to it. Therefore, it is conducted by keeping a negative point of view to check whether the software behaves as expected when negative inputs are provided.
In positive testing, however, the software is tested by providing positive inputs to it and checking how whether the results match with the expected results or not.
Verification is the process of thoroughly evaluating the software in the development phase to check whether it meets the specified requirements or not. It is done to make sure that the software is capable of meeting the requirements. Activities like meetings, reviews, and inspections are involved in verification.
Validation is the process of thoroughly evaluating the software after it has been developed completely to make sure that it meets the customer’s requirements and expectations. Activities such as black and white box testing are involved in validation.
35. What is the cause-effect graph?
A cause-effect graph is the graphical representation of all the inputs and their respective output effects that can be used while designing test cases.
36. What is meant by Quality Audit?
It is a process where systematic examination of software is conducted by an audit team or by a quality auditor. Here, tests related to the effectiveness of procedures adopted in quality control are performed. It is done after all tasks related to the software are completed.
37. Which Two Levels commonly come under Quality Certification?
Optimization
Repeatable sequences
38. Which factors must be given higher importance in the development of a product in QA?
Testers must first concentrate on planning before starting to work on any software. Adopting and integrating the latest technologies in processes is also very important. Attention must also be focused on identifying the factors on which the software is heavily dependent.
Sometimes quality can be assured simply by paying close attention to the development process of the software. Testing also plays an important role in assuring the efficiency and quality of software.
39. Why is Quality Assurance a ‘proactive approach?
QA testing takes place during the development process and starts as soon as the software goes into development. This is why quality assurance is considered as a proactive approach.
Know More: Top 50 Selenium Interview Question that will help you land a Job
40. How is QA defined in the ISO 9000, Clause 3.2.11?
Quality assurance is defined as that aspect of quality management that deals with assuring the customers that their set requirements for the software’s quality will be fulfilled.
41. How to know if software specifications have been met or not?
By using the traceability matrix tool, we can map requirements to test cases. When all test cases in the matrix are executed successfully, it will mean that the code meets all software specifications.
It is a document that captures all the requirements proposed by the client and the traceability.
A traceability matrix is a document that traces and maps the test cases and the user requirements.
43. Which QA practices can be considered the best?
There are many good practices for QA, among which the best are:
Thoroughly evaluating the selected release criteria
Automating testing for highly sensitive areas
Creating a testing environment that is robust
Simulating final outcomes for evaluation
44. What is Recovery Testing?
Recovery testing is conducted to recover the software from any unexpected or expected events so as to prevent loss of functionalities and data. Events can include unexpected communication loss, shortage in the disk space, etc.
It is the process of automating as many parts of the testing process as possible so as to make QA testing more accurate, efficient, and quick.QA automation can be done by using various automation tools.
Name a few QA automation tools.
Selenium- It is an open-source automation tool that is the most widely used tool for QA.
UTF (Unified Functional testing) – It is an automation tool by SmartBear Software. A few significant features of this tool include Scripted Testing, Test Visualizers, and GUI Testing.
TestingWhiz- It is a QA automation tool by Cygnet Infotech that provides code-less scripting. Some of its features include Integration with Test Management Tools, record and Playback test frameworks, and Keyword Driven Testing.
Retesting is conducted to check whether the errors have been successfully removed or not, while regression testing is conducted to check the impact that error fixes have on other software functionalities.
48. What is meant by MR?
MR or Modification Request can also be called as a Defect report. It is a document that is created to report all the errors and defects in the software and any suggestions which can be taken into account.
49. How are validation activities conducted?
Following techniques are used to conduct validation activities:
Hiring third-party independent people for validation
Assigning team members who are not involved in the verification activities
Getting the software independently evaluated
50. Which types of documents are created during software QA?
The following documents are created during the software quality assurance process:
Requirement document
Test cases and Test plans
Test Metrics
User profiles
Test log
Transaction Mix
Task distribution flow chart
Test incident report
Test summary report
51: What is BVA? Name any other testing technique.
BVA stands for Boundary Value Analysis. This technique is used for doing field-level testing for numerical fields. This test is performed by entering a number +1 and -1 from the extreme values that the input box can take. E.g., if a field can take values from 0 to 100, then by applying the BVA technique, we will try to enter the values -1, 1, 99, and 101. Of these, -1 and 101 should not be accepted by the system.
Equivalence Class, Decision Table, Error Guessing are some other software testing techniques that are used frequently.
52: What is the difference between the severity and priority of a bug?
The severity of a bug is determined by the tester, based on the expected impact of the bug on the application from the perspective of a tester. The highest severity bugs are related to a crash in the application or a functional issue with the most business-critical functionality. The least severe bugs are cosmetic bugs like alignment, spelling mistakes, or color variations.
The priority on the other hand is determined by the developers, based on when they plan to fix the reported issue. Priority 1 issues are of the highest priority and need to be fixed at the earliest. The lowest priority is generally given to cosmetic bugs or those bugs that are likely to be moved to the next iteration or project cycle.
Exploratory testing is an informal testing technique where the tester randomly navigates through the application without any defined steps followed. The testers just check for the overall look and feel smooth page transitions, and expected messages to ensure the application is not crashing at any point.
54: What is UAT? How is it different from functional testing?
UAT or User Acceptance Testing is a form of function done by a subset of the users. For eg, if the software is developed for a departmental store, the UAT should be performed by somebody from the store to see how easily they can adapt to the new software, if they can perform their daily operations, and also understand if any improvements need to be done before handing over the application to the client.
55: What are the test cases you can prepare for a login screen?
There are several test cases that we can write for a login screen, some of them are:
Correct login and password should allow the user to log in.
Incorrect credentials should block the user
For incorrect input, an appropriate error message should be displayed.
The combination of blank login and/or password needs to be checked for appropriate error messages.
For the login edit box, check the maximum character limit along with all field level validations.
For the password edit box, check the maximum character limit along with all field level validations.
Forgot password link should be available.
The register or create account button should be available as per business or requirements.
The alignment of the screen and the spellings should be checked.
The company or product logo should be available as per business or requirement.
56: What is defect density?
Defect density is defined as the number of accepted defects per 1000 lines of code (LOC). It helps the development team to understand more problematic areas in the code and if needed do a restructuring of the code as well.
57: What is the 80-20 rule?
The 80-20 rule is also called the Pareto Principle and in software testing, it means that 80% of the defects come from 20% of the code. This principle helps us to identify the areas of the code or the functionalities that need more rigorous testing to ensure the best quality.
58: Explain the different test coverage techniques.
There are 3 main types of test coverage techniques:
Statement Coverage: here testing aims to cover every line of code. This is the most exhaustive testing and most often the testing team would not have the bandwidth for this type of coverage.
Decision Coverage: As the name suggests, in this testing each decision flow in the code is tested. In this where ever there is a decision box, each flow of the code is tested.
Path Coverage: Path coverage ensures, all the paths leading to a code or functionality are covered as part of the testing.
59: What is DRE?
DRE, Defect Removal Efficiency is a metric used to measure the effectiveness of the testing activity. It is a ratio of the number of defects found by the testing team vs the defects found in production. Higher DRE means more effective testing.
DRE = No. of defects found during testing / (No. of defects found in testing + No. of defects in Prod)
60: What is big bang testing?
After the completion of testing of individual modules, all the modules are combined or integrated and tested. This type of end-to-end testing is called the big bang testing and it is carried out towards the end of the testing life cycle.
61: What is the top-down approach?
In top-down testing, the highest-level modules are tested first. Type of testing uses stubs and drivers to simulate data if any modules are not available for testing. The testing is done downwards, after the highest-level modules, the next highest is testing till the unit level code.
62: What is the bottom-up approach?
In a bottom-up approach to testing, the lowest modules are tested first followed up by the modules above them. The sequence continues till the highest modules are integrated and tested together. The bottom-up approach is very useful in finding code-level and module-level defects at the early stage itself.
Alpha testing is similar to user acceptance testing and is done by either the developers, testers, or the clients at the tester or developer location. It is done right before shipping the product to the clients. This is done to ensure that there are no last-minute missing functionalities or defects and the client can use the product as expected.
Beta testing is carried out by the client at their location with their infrastructure before the product is deployed for wider use. The purpose of this testing is to find out issues that are related to the infrastructure and set up at the deployment location that could not be replicated during the testing phase.
65: What is user experience testing? How is it different from functional testing?
User experience (UX) testing is a form of performance testing where the performance of the UI of the application is measured. For eg the time taken for the results to be displayed, time taken for the page transitions, etc.
UX testing and functional testing are similar in the way the testing procedures and steps are defined. But they differ in the expected results. Let us take a login scenario. The user enters the login credentials and password and hits the login button. For a functional test, the expectation would be that the user is logged into the application and an appropriate application page is displayed. Whereas for a UX test, the expected result would be to achieve this login within a specific time say 5-7 seconds. If the login happens successfully after 7 seconds, it would be considered a failure for the UX test.
Localization testing, also known as location-based testing is used to test functionalities that are specific to the location where it is deployed. These tests can be related to language, location maps, mobile or internet data speed, or any other regional data. The best example for localization testing would be the search functionality in mobile phones. Whatever you search, be it hotels or petrol pumps, the expectation is to get results closest to your current location.
67: What is Soak Testing?
Soak testing is a type of performance testing where the system is subjected to a load over a long period ranging from a day to a week or more. This type of testing is very useful in finding defects and issues that occur only when the system is in use for a long period. Like issues caused by memory leaks.
68: When will use automation for your project and why?
Automation can be used in the projects to cover regression testing of stable functionalities as well as for smoke testing the build before it is accepted for further detailed testing.
The main benefit of automation testing is that it helps the testers to thoroughly test the newly implemented functionalities by letting the already stable functionalities be tested by the tool. This ensures that the new code changes have not impacted the existing functionalities. And at the same time gives more bandwidth to the testers to test new and more business-critical modules.
69: What is CI/CD and how does testing fit into the pipeline?
CI/CD refers to the continuous implementation and continuous deployment of software from code to production. As the name suggests, every time there is a new code check-in, it gets deployed to the production branch as well. All this happens automatically.
Most companies have automated batch processes that check for any code changes. Once a code change is detected, a new build is triggered. This build then triggers an automation suite. This is where the testing comes in. Based on the results of the automated test, the build is deployed to the production of rolled back.
70 What outsourced and crowd-sourced testing?
Many companies would give the testing of their application to a different company or group of people who specialize in testing. This is done to get better test results and hence better quality. Sometimes, when the project timelines are crunched, in that case also the testing work is assigned to another team or company. This is called outsourced testing.
In crowd-sourced testing, the testing work is assigned to a completely unknown pool of people who may or may not be testers. It is like a crowd of people who are given some benefits for testing an application or software. This concept of testing is picking up fast and allows companies to test their application across different regions, devices, and operating systems.
71: What is a showstopper in software testing?
Showstopper is a defect that blocks the testing activities from proceeding. In such cases, the testing is stopped till the issue is resolved or a new build is cut. An example of a showstopper defect would be login failure, app crash, or not database connectivity.
72: What is a hotfix?
A hotfix is a special build that is rolled out to fix a critical issue. The issue would be very urgent and hence it is not possible to wait till the next build. These builds are very critical and need to be rolled out as soon as possible because they directly impact the customers.
73: What are the different models followed in SDLC?
There are several models to choose to streamline the Software Development Life Cycle. These are:
In API testing, we test the API directly with different inputs and verify the response and response time. API testing is also used for integration testing. The most common tools used for API testing are Postman and SoapUI. There are several other free and paid tools as well.
75: What are the different environments in project development?
The different environments in a project are:
DEV: the development environment
QA/STAGE: the testing environment
PERF: the performance testing environment
UAT: the user acceptance testing environment or a pre-prod environment
PROD: the production or client or deployment environment.
Conclusion
With all our heart we hope that the questions that we have compiled are beneficial for you in the next QA interview. All the best
QA interview questions! In order to triumph your oral interview and skill test, you might be asked many QA-related interview questions and that’s the reason why we have compiled the most probable Quality Assurance interview question and answers just for you.
How can I prepare to rightly answer QA interview questions
Make sure that you are well aware of the project you have been a part of. Not just the quality aspect of it. From design to release you need to have a clear idea about what went on with the project. To make things easier, pen down the project details that contain all the details in bullet points regarding the project and company you were a part of.
The project sheet must have, Name of the company, project details such as the name of the software, database, client base, time period, your role, team information, SDLC, tools used, and task performed
A personal retrospective about the project, tasks performed, your professional and personal gain, hurdles that came up, and how you tacked it
Perform mock interview by referring to most probable Q and A
Be confident about what you know and be upfront about what you don’t
Ensure interaction by asking your doubts
Do not imitate anyone. Be yourself!
Top 75 QA Interview Questions and Answers
1. What is the difference between QA and software testing?
Quality Assurance refers to the activity of monitoring the process of developing software in order to assure customers that the requirements for quality will be met. Through QA, we can identify the inconsistencies and flaws present in the development process.
2. What does Quality mean?
The quality of a product or service is determined by how well they meet the expectations and the requirements set by the customers. A good quality product must be error-free, does not have any lacking areas or any present inconsistencies. Therefore, there are some quality standards that need to be met for a product to be considered to have good quality.
3. Why is checking for quality so important in business?
The following factors are the reasons why quality is very important in business:
Dependency- The success of every business depends on the quality of its products and services.
Business Reputation- If a business provides quality services to its clients and customers, only then will it gain a good reputation in the market.
More Transactions- If customers are satisfied with the quality of services and products that the business provides them, they will keep making transactions with them in the future.
Automatic Advertisement- When the business guarantees and provides quality, the customers remain satisfied, which translates into them referring your business to other people as well
QA is the process of creating, documentation, and agreeing on the guidelines that assure quality. This means that at the end of QA, we get the quality standards for the software that need to be met.
QC on the other hand is a process that focuses on identifying defects in the quality of the developed product. This means that the software is tested at various stages of its development cycle against the various requirements set by the customer.
5. What is the meaning of Testware?
Testware entails all the artifacts or materials that are used while performing tests. This includes test cases, test plans, test scripts, etc.
6. What is the difference between release and build?
The build is the software developed for the customers which is handed over to the testing team by the development team.
A release is an installable application that is officially released for the customer after it is completely tested and certified by the testing team.
A build turns into a release after is removed of any prevalent bugs and errors in it.
What are QA roles and responsibilities?
7. At what point should the QA activities start?
The process of quality assurance must start as soon as the development of software starts. The sooner the QA activities start, the better. This is because QA can help avoid risks that have already been specified in the specification phase.
If QA activities are delayed, they can prove to be very costly, efforts and time-consuming.
8. What is a cause-effect graph?
A graph that represents all possible input domains and the outputs associated with them is called a cause-effect graph. This graph comes into use during the process of test case designing.
9. What is bug leakage and bug release?
When software is handed over to the team of testers knowing that a particular set of errors exist in the release, it is called a bug release. The severity and priority of these errors are known to be very low, as they can be resolved before the final release of the software.
When errors or bugs which went unnoticed by the testing team, are detected by the customers or the end-users after the software’s release, then it is known as a bug leakage.
Bug Triage is the process of prioritizing every bug on the basis of its frequency, severity, risks, etc. It helps to evaluate and then assign the solution to these bugs in a very efficient manner.
A test plan can be considered as a document that defines the objective, scope, approach, and emphasis that will go into the software testing efforts. Test plans can include the features that are to be tested, testing techniques to use, pass and fail criteria, etc.
A test strategy on the other hand can be defined as a set of guidelines that define the test designs in detail and provide instructions on how to conduct the testing process. It includes documentation formats, scope, and objectives, testing processes, test deliverables, etc.
It is a testing methodology where test scripts are created which read test data, such as input and output values, directly from data files. The data sources can be of any type such as CSV files, ODBC files, ADO files, data pools, etc.
Plan- Businesses first need to plan the processes that are related to the goals and objectives and determine what is required to be done to develop a good quality product.
Do- Here the development of the software and its testing is conducted.
Check- An important aspect of QA is to monitor the processes and methodologies that are used to check whether they meet the previously determined objectives or not.
Act- Finding out inconsistencies and flaws in the process and acting accordingly to improve them.
A test case contains conditions and specifications according to which a particular software must be tested for bugs. It includes details of the acceptable inputs, conditions for execution, procedures for testing, ideal outputs, etc.
15. What constitutes a good test case?
A test case can be considered as good if it is capable of finding defects and errors. Therefore, a test case that exhibits the following characteristics can be considered as a good one:
Accuracy- It must exact its purpose
Economic- It must not include unnecessary words or steps
Traceable- It should be traceable to the requirements
Repeatable- The test case must be usable again and again
What are High-level and Low-level test cases?
High-level: The cases which cover all the core functionalities of a product are considered high-level test cases.
Low-level: The cases which are related to the UI of the application are considered low-level test cases.
Which are the most important functions of QA?
The important functions of QA include validation, creation of improvement plans, documentation, and technology transfers.
There are many types of software testing approaches, among which the commonly used ones are:
Unit Testing
Integration Testing
Systems Testing
Functional testing
Non-Functional Testing
Black and White box testing
Regression Testing
Exploratory testing
Agile Testing
Ad-Hoc Testing
Smoke Testing
Alpha and Beta Testing
18. What are the stages in a Bug Life Cycle?
The bug life cycle includes all the stages through which a bug goes, throughout its lifetime. The different stages in a bug lifecycle ate as follows:
The bug is detected and identified, its state is ‘new’
A tester approves the bug as genuine and its state becomes ‘assigned’
It is checked whether the bug is in the scope or not. If it is not, then the bug is postponed for later
Its state becomes ‘in-progress once a tester starts working on it
When the bug is fixed, its state changes to ‘fixed’
If it passes the final testing process, the state is set as ‘closed’
22. What does Bug Control mean in product development?
It is an approach that aims at developing software products that are free from bugs and errors. In this approach, efforts are made to detect and avoid errors only in the testing phase, and not after that.
Functional tests are those which check the functional aspects of the software to validate their efficiency. Smoke testing, unit testing, integration testing, user acceptance, regression testing, etc. come under functional testing.
Non-functional tests are those which check the non-functional aspects of the software to validate its performance. Performance testing, load testing, stress testing, scalability, volume testing, etc. come under non-functional testing.
Agile testing is a software testing approach where continuous iteration of developing and testing the software takes place throughout the SDLC. In this approach, the requirements are gradually developed during the development lifecycle by the customers and the testers. This means, in agile testing, the coding and the testing processes are conducted simultaneously.
25. When a bug is found in production, how can you make sure that the same bug doesn’t occur again?
Whenever a bug is detected in production, the best practice is to create a test case immediately for it and to include it in the regression suite. We can also create alternate or similar test cases to include them in the suite. This way, we can prevent the occurrence of that same bug again in production.
The following kind of bugs can be categorized as un-reproducible bugs:
Defects that surface due to issues of low memory.
Errors or bugs that arise due to addresses pointing to memory locations that do not exist.
Race conditions are error scenarios that occur when the time of execution of one event impacts another even executing in a sequence.
27. How can you handle unreproducible bugs?
To handle un-reproducible bugs, a tester can follow these steps:
Executing test steps that are as close to the bug description as possible.
Evaluating the environment of that test.
Examining and evaluating the results produced by the test execution.
Keeping the time and resource constraints under check
28. What is the difference between a Test Driver and Stub?
A test driver is that piece of code that calls the software component that needs to go under test. Test drivers prove to be very useful when following the bottom-up testing approach.
A test stub is a dummy piece of code or program which is integrated with an application to complete the application’s functionality. Test stubs come into use when following the top-down testing approach.
29. What is meant by Entry and Exit criteria?
Entry Criteria- The process which needs to be run when the testing begins. It includes:
Software Requirement Specification (SRS)
Functional Requirement Specification (FRS)
Test cases
Use cases
Test plans
Exit Criteria- It tells when a product is completely testing and when it should be formally released. It includes:
Metrics
Test Summary Reports
Defect Analysis Report
30. What are the roles of White and Black box testing?
The black box testing approach does not require the tester to have knowledge of the internal code and structure of the software. The tests in this approach are based on the software’s functionalities and requirements.
White box testing on the other hand requires the testers to test the internal designs, implementation, and structure of the software. Therefore, in this approach, the tests are concentrated on path coverage, statement coverage, and branch coverage.
Smoke testing is done to confirm the basic functionalities of a product. Through smoke testing, you can identify the most basic test cases to execute.
32. Why is sanity testing used?
Through sanity testing, you can ensure whether the software runs without the occurrences of any logical errors or not. It helps to avoid the wastage of cost and time involved in testing when the entire build fails.
In negative testing, the software is validated by evaluating how it behaves when invalid inputs are provided to it. Therefore, it is conducted by keeping a negative point of view to check whether the software behaves as expected when negative inputs are provided.
In positive testing, however, the software is tested by providing positive inputs to it and checking how whether the results match with the expected results or not.
Verification is the process of thoroughly evaluating the software in the development phase to check whether it meets the specified requirements or not. It is done to make sure that the software is capable of meeting the requirements. Activities like meetings, reviews, and inspections are involved in verification.
Validation is the process of thoroughly evaluating the software after it has been developed completely to make sure that it meets the customer’s requirements and expectations. Activities such as black and white box testing are involved in validation.
35. What is the cause-effect graph?
A cause-effect graph is the graphical representation of all the inputs and their respective output effects that can be used while designing test cases.
36. What is meant by Quality Audit?
It is a process where systematic examination of software is conducted by an audit team or by a quality auditor. Here, tests related to the effectiveness of procedures adopted in quality control are performed. It is done after all tasks related to the software are completed.
37. Which Two Levels commonly come under Quality Certification?
Optimization
Repeatable sequences
38. Which factors must be given higher importance in the development of a product in QA?
Testers must first concentrate on planning before starting to work on any software. Adopting and integrating the latest technologies in processes is also very important. Attention must also be focused on identifying the factors on which the software is heavily dependent.
Sometimes quality can be assured simply by paying close attention to the development process of the software. Testing also plays an important role in assuring the efficiency and quality of software.
39. Why is Quality Assurance a ‘proactive approach?
QA testing takes place during the development process and starts as soon as the software goes into development. This is why quality assurance is considered as a proactive approach.
Know More: Top 50 Selenium Interview Question that will help you land a Job
40. How is QA defined in the ISO 9000, Clause 3.2.11?
Quality assurance is defined as that aspect of quality management that deals with assuring the customers that their set requirements for the software’s quality will be fulfilled.
41. How to know if software specifications have been met or not?
By using the traceability matrix tool, we can map requirements to test cases. When all test cases in the matrix are executed successfully, it will mean that the code meets all software specifications.
It is a document that captures all the requirements proposed by the client and the traceability.
A traceability matrix is a document that traces and maps the test cases and the user requirements.
43. Which QA practices can be considered the best?
There are many good practices for QA, among which the best are:
Thoroughly evaluating the selected release criteria
Automating testing for highly sensitive areas
Creating a testing environment that is robust
Simulating final outcomes for evaluation
44. What is Recovery Testing?
Recovery testing is conducted to recover the software from any unexpected or expected events so as to prevent loss of functionalities and data. Events can include unexpected communication loss, shortage in the disk space, etc.
It is the process of automating as many parts of the testing process as possible so as to make QA testing more accurate, efficient, and quick.QA automation can be done by using various automation tools.
Name a few QA automation tools.
Selenium- It is an open-source automation tool that is the most widely used tool for QA.
UTF (Unified Functional testing) – It is an automation tool by SmartBear Software. A few significant features of this tool include Scripted Testing, Test Visualizers, and GUI Testing.
TestingWhiz- It is a QA automation tool by Cygnet Infotech that provides code-less scripting. Some of its features include Integration with Test Management Tools, record and Playback test frameworks, and Keyword Driven Testing.
Retesting is conducted to check whether the errors have been successfully removed or not, while regression testing is conducted to check the impact that error fixes have on other software functionalities.
48. What is meant by MR?
MR or Modification Request can also be called as a Defect report. It is a document that is created to report all the errors and defects in the software and any suggestions which can be taken into account.
49. How are validation activities conducted?
Following techniques are used to conduct validation activities:
Hiring third-party independent people for validation
Assigning team members who are not involved in the verification activities
Getting the software independently evaluated
50. Which types of documents are created during software QA?
The following documents are created during the software quality assurance process:
Requirement document
Test cases and Test plans
Test Metrics
User profiles
Test log
Transaction Mix
Task distribution flow chart
Test incident report
Test summary report
51: What is BVA? Name any other testing technique.
BVA stands for Boundary Value Analysis. This technique is used for doing field-level testing for numerical fields. This test is performed by entering a number +1 and -1 from the extreme values that the input box can take. E.g., if a field can take values from 0 to 100, then by applying the BVA technique, we will try to enter the values -1, 1, 99, and 101. Of these, -1 and 101 should not be accepted by the system.
Equivalence Class, Decision Table, Error Guessing are some other software testing techniques that are used frequently.
52: What is the difference between the severity and priority of a bug?
The severity of a bug is determined by the tester, based on the expected impact of the bug on the application from the perspective of a tester. The highest severity bugs are related to a crash in the application or a functional issue with the most business-critical functionality. The least severe bugs are cosmetic bugs like alignment, spelling mistakes, or color variations.
The priority on the other hand is determined by the developers, based on when they plan to fix the reported issue. Priority 1 issues are of the highest priority and need to be fixed at the earliest. The lowest priority is generally given to cosmetic bugs or those bugs that are likely to be moved to the next iteration or project cycle.
Exploratory testing is an informal testing technique where the tester randomly navigates through the application without any defined steps followed. The testers just check for the overall look and feel smooth page transitions, and expected messages to ensure the application is not crashing at any point.
54: What is UAT? How is it different from functional testing?
UAT or User Acceptance Testing is a form of function done by a subset of the users. For eg, if the software is developed for a departmental store, the UAT should be performed by somebody from the store to see how easily they can adapt to the new software, if they can perform their daily operations, and also understand if any improvements need to be done before handing over the application to the client.
55: What are the test cases you can prepare for a login screen?
There are several test cases that we can write for a login screen, some of them are:
Correct login and password should allow the user to log in.
Incorrect credentials should block the user
For incorrect input, an appropriate error message should be displayed.
The combination of blank login and/or password needs to be checked for appropriate error messages.
For the login edit box, check the maximum character limit along with all field level validations.
For the password edit box, check the maximum character limit along with all field level validations.
Forgot password link should be available.
The register or create account button should be available as per business or requirements.
The alignment of the screen and the spellings should be checked.
The company or product logo should be available as per business or requirement.
56: What is defect density?
Defect density is defined as the number of accepted defects per 1000 lines of code (LOC). It helps the development team to understand more problematic areas in the code and if needed do a restructuring of the code as well.
57: What is the 80-20 rule?
The 80-20 rule is also called the Pareto Principle and in software testing, it means that 80% of the defects come from 20% of the code. This principle helps us to identify the areas of the code or the functionalities that need more rigorous testing to ensure the best quality.
58: Explain the different test coverage techniques.
There are 3 main types of test coverage techniques:
Statement Coverage: here testing aims to cover every line of code. This is the most exhaustive testing and most often the testing team would not have the bandwidth for this type of coverage.
Decision Coverage: As the name suggests, in this testing each decision flow in the code is tested. In this where ever there is a decision box, each flow of the code is tested.
Path Coverage: Path coverage ensures, all the paths leading to a code or functionality are covered as part of the testing.
59: What is DRE?
DRE, Defect Removal Efficiency is a metric used to measure the effectiveness of the testing activity. It is a ratio of the number of defects found by the testing team vs the defects found in production. Higher DRE means more effective testing.
DRE = No. of defects found during testing / (No. of defects found in testing + No. of defects in Prod)
60: What is big bang testing?
After the completion of testing of individual modules, all the modules are combined or integrated and tested. This type of end-to-end testing is called the big bang testing and it is carried out towards the end of the testing life cycle.
61: What is the top-down approach?
In top-down testing, the highest-level modules are tested first. Type of testing uses stubs and drivers to simulate data if any modules are not available for testing. The testing is done downwards, after the highest-level modules, the next highest is testing till the unit level code.
62: What is the bottom-up approach?
In a bottom-up approach to testing, the lowest modules are tested first followed up by the modules above them. The sequence continues till the highest modules are integrated and tested together. The bottom-up approach is very useful in finding code-level and module-level defects at the early stage itself.
Alpha testing is similar to user acceptance testing and is done by either the developers, testers, or the clients at the tester or developer location. It is done right before shipping the product to the clients. This is done to ensure that there are no last-minute missing functionalities or defects and the client can use the product as expected.
Beta testing is carried out by the client at their location with their infrastructure before the product is deployed for wider use. The purpose of this testing is to find out issues that are related to the infrastructure and set up at the deployment location that could not be replicated during the testing phase.
65: What is user experience testing? How is it different from functional testing?
User experience (UX) testing is a form of performance testing where the performance of the UI of the application is measured. For eg the time taken for the results to be displayed, time taken for the page transitions, etc.
UX testing and functional testing are similar in the way the testing procedures and steps are defined. But they differ in the expected results. Let us take a login scenario. The user enters the login credentials and password and hits the login button. For a functional test, the expectation would be that the user is logged into the application and an appropriate application page is displayed. Whereas for a UX test, the expected result would be to achieve this login within a specific time say 5-7 seconds. If the login happens successfully after 7 seconds, it would be considered a failure for the UX test.
Localization testing, also known as location-based testing is used to test functionalities that are specific to the location where it is deployed. These tests can be related to language, location maps, mobile or internet data speed, or any other regional data. The best example for localization testing would be the search functionality in mobile phones. Whatever you search, be it hotels or petrol pumps, the expectation is to get results closest to your current location.
67: What is Soak Testing?
Soak testing is a type of performance testing where the system is subjected to a load over a long period ranging from a day to a week or more. This type of testing is very useful in finding defects and issues that occur only when the system is in use for a long period. Like issues caused by memory leaks.
68: When will use automation for your project and why?
Automation can be used in the projects to cover regression testing of stable functionalities as well as for smoke testing the build before it is accepted for further detailed testing.
The main benefit of automation testing is that it helps the testers to thoroughly test the newly implemented functionalities by letting the already stable functionalities be tested by the tool. This ensures that the new code changes have not impacted the existing functionalities. And at the same time gives more bandwidth to the testers to test new and more business-critical modules.
69: What is CI/CD and how does testing fit into the pipeline?
CI/CD refers to the continuous implementation and continuous deployment of software from code to production. As the name suggests, every time there is a new code check-in, it gets deployed to the production branch as well. All this happens automatically.
Most companies have automated batch processes that check for any code changes. Once a code change is detected, a new build is triggered. This build then triggers an automation suite. This is where the testing comes in. Based on the results of the automated test, the build is deployed to the production of rolled back.
70 What outsourced and crowd-sourced testing?
Many companies would give the testing of their application to a different company or group of people who specialize in testing. This is done to get better test results and hence better quality. Sometimes, when the project timelines are crunched, in that case also the testing work is assigned to another team or company. This is called outsourced testing.
In crowd-sourced testing, the testing work is assigned to a completely unknown pool of people who may or may not be testers. It is like a crowd of people who are given some benefits for testing an application or software. This concept of testing is picking up fast and allows companies to test their application across different regions, devices, and operating systems.
71: What is a showstopper in software testing?
Showstopper is a defect that blocks the testing activities from proceeding. In such cases, the testing is stopped till the issue is resolved or a new build is cut. An example of a showstopper defect would be login failure, app crash, or not database connectivity.
72: What is a hotfix?
A hotfix is a special build that is rolled out to fix a critical issue. The issue would be very urgent and hence it is not possible to wait till the next build. These builds are very critical and need to be rolled out as soon as possible because they directly impact the customers.
73: What are the different models followed in SDLC?
There are several models to choose to streamline the Software Development Life Cycle. These are:
In API testing, we test the API directly with different inputs and verify the response and response time. API testing is also used for integration testing. The most common tools used for API testing are Postman and SoapUI. There are several other free and paid tools as well.
75: What are the different environments in project development?
The different environments in a project are:
DEV: the development environment
QA/STAGE: the testing environment
PERF: the performance testing environment
UAT: the user acceptance testing environment or a pre-prod environment
PROD: the production or client or deployment environment.
Conclusion
With all our heart we hope that the questions that we have compiled are beneficial for you in the next QA interview. All the best
When it comes to server testing, testing will be restricted to client/server I/O, network stress, CPU consumption, and memory consumption. But the significance of the process in SDLC is huge and cardinal.
The process helps servers to go down, record lock, Input-Output errors. It can test addresses system performance and understand how the servers can best respond to heavy workloads and what causes the failure during peak loads.
This article will help to understand and get an overview of service testing and the advantages behind conducting the testing.
Why is test services required?
Several advantages surround around the idea of server testing which justifies the need for investment of time and finances for this process. Firstly, the team becomes responsible and knowledgeable to understand the services and functions of them.
They can hence make observations and expose bugs immediately. It speeds up the performance and speed.
Secondly, before the developing work even begins, one can point out and understand the flaws of the service.
With the testing scripts, one can identify the bugs and flaws immediately before the issue is caused at latter stages. This henceforth helps saving time. Thirdly, these test scripts are enhanced faster than manual testing hence they require only seconds to understand complex issues.
They are consistent and allow teams to understand changes effectively and quickly. Since one can observe what is changed and what needs to be changed, the issues can be identified and corrected immediately.
Finally, server testing makes the tasks easier on part of the team leading to less time consumed to identify bugs and issues and also manually debug the problems.
What needs to be understood before doing Server Testing?
Time taking
Developing the process of server testing takes time in order to prepare and write scripts. However, one can be assured that the team can save rest lot of time in long run scenario.
Maintenance
It is not easy task to maintain scripts if any of the change. Hence maintenance issues exist and one needs to keep this on mind to avoid headache at later stages
Documentation
Appropriate service documentation is required to be able to write the scripts and develop the process.
Testing techniques
There are several testing techniques which can be useful while testing server programs. It is important to have effective techniques so as to identify bugs at early stage.
Since companies and brands also prefer to get their products to market as soon as possible, it helps to prioritize the risks and errors in engine and solve them.
First one among the techniques is risk driven testing. In risk driven testing, the tester will take the part of server or system he intends to test and examines the impact of errors and likelihood ratios.
This testing prioritizes potential errors in the service and probability of failure during testing processes.
Secondly, the performance testing is a method to test client and server programs. It evaluates and examines components of system such as software, parameters for performance and speed, resource utilization, time and transaction rates.
Due to its features, it is also called stress testing or load testing. But before performance testing an application, several issues should be known and understood beforehand such as, the number of users working on it simultaneously, stress felt on the server, peak user performance, function of the system during maximum workload timings and so on.
These information helps to understand workload stress on the server. Later, the performance testing verifies scalability and reliability factors and can look into if the product can work according to the expectations or not for commercial use.
Further, this testing also helps to understand if any part of the program is causing trouble or delayed performance and comes up with a solution to the error.
Different types of Testing
There are types of testing which can be relevant for client server applications. These are the unit testing, integration testing and system testing.
Unit Testing
Unit is the smallest component which is testable in a program. It separates small parts of program and tests the individual parts or units separately to understand and prove if they work efficiently and correctly.
The documentation provides all required records of the test that can incorporate the characteristics which helps to make the unit successful. It also documents positive and negative uses of the unit and highlights the negative issues or errors which may trap the program.
However, the unit testing single handedly cannot test and catch all the bugs. It should be combined with other testing techniques since it is just a phase of three layer testing.
Integrated Testing
Integrated testing, otherwise called as I&T combines individual components and tests them as a group. They take components that the test has released and they test this input with a plan.
This output is hence an integrated system which can be then given for final layer of testing, which is, system testing. Hence the integration testing verifies the functionality, reliability, and performance of the server or system.
It shows if any inconsistencies are occurring between or within the components or groupings of the units which are integrated through testing plans and outputs.
System Testing
Finally, system testing is the layer of testing which is conducted after the system is integrated.
The input here is integrated elements which has passed integrated testing. System testing detects hence the inconsistencies, if any, between assemblages in the system. It is final testing and hence known to be aggressive.
It is known to be as destructive testing as it can run the system almost up to the point of failure. This testing covers reliability, usability, maintenance, performance and compatibility.
This article highlighted the benefits of server testing from both business and development angle.
Although it takes a while to maintain and make the time as initial investment, it totally helps to complete the projects at later stage more quickly and efficiently. It speeds up the development and helps ship better products.
Game testing has been an essential part of the gamer’s world. It will make two things pop into the mind of a tester, a lazing around a job or dream job. As a matter of fact, the truth is different from what we believe.
There is a difference between playing a game and testing it. The whole process has two different mindsets on which an individual will work. While playing a game, one is completely focused on the entertainment prospect of life whereas a tester will focus on every single detail.
So, let us get your all buckle up before we take you to the bumpy ride of game testing.
The job of Game Tester
Software tester and quality tester are the designations that have a number of responsibilities of their own.
The main aim of both the job is to give out error-free work with the assured quality of software and game respectively.
In this manner, one have to work on the game that allows them to check out the errors or the expectations that might be falling out in the whole process. If we say it in a simple language then the tester will start by finding bugs.
The work is not to play and have a gala time but to go to the depth of the code and extract any part that has no added value to the game or a part that is creating trouble to it.
Hence, it is essential to stop the conventional way of playing the game and work on every single detail from the movement of the hand of a player to the environment that they are playing it.
We have witnessed the craze of Pubg in recent months. It has different environment change as per our movement. In addition to this, the players keep on popping in from different sides that make it difficult to have a hang on.
In such a case, one must have the proper game mind to work on the environment and extraction of the gun from a box. The character, objects, environment, real-time sequence, etc. compiled it all together.
It is essential to combine it all in order to get to the depth of the whole process. The functions and character and compiled in such a way that makes us want to think out of the box.
In such a case, one has to work on the requirement and every single module effectively. Also, one has to keep the mind in the game to ensure that the process is going in the right direction.
5 things to work on
Now, since we know that being a game tester is no cake walk, we need to work on the right path to ensure that we come up with the most perfect part of the process.
It can only be achieved if we focus on 5 important part of the Software testing game that can allow us to have astable testing future. So, let us focus on the famous five:
Passion –
If one is not passionate enough to complete the whole game testing process then it won’t be possible for them to survive. It is essential that one is passionate enough to give their time to do this job precisely and work in the right direction to make the game error-free.
Just because one is passionate about playing games, doesn’t mean that they will be focused on the whole setup process as well. However, everyone is not going to be focused on the manner whether you like to do it or not so if you are interested in finding the bugs then it might do well with you.
All the employers will need is a person who is able to sit in front of the system while working on a game to come up with a possible outcome. In addition to this, it is also important that people are focused on the gameplay while working on it.
Hence, a tester must start with working on the small modules then moving towards the bigger part to get in a habit of testing. There are many tools that allow one to work on such a prospect.
Education or Technical Skills
When it comes to testing, there is no major degree that is mentioned in the whole job scenarios.
However, they do prefer candidates that know the coding and ways around it. This is the main reason that companies usually go for engineering students in order to fill in the job profile instead of any other person.
The coding is the main point that must be covered by the candidates in order to secure a job.
It can be with a certification or with the help of the proper graduate degree in any of the coding line. The main task that will require technical skills are troubleshooting in the hardware issues and to build in a PC as per the game requirement.
Also, one must know the software language if they are into the localized testing form to keep matters in the hands only.
Also, it is expected from the compliance testers that they know about the whole constructor’s process in the certification work. Hence you need to cover up the topic before the company gets it out of you.
Core Skills
Without core skills, you simply can’t do much in the game testing field. One must have the main skills so that they can cover up the main part of the whole process.
The major skills that must be covered up by the software tester are:
Troubleshooting and investigation skills –When we work on a system – software and hardware – then it is common to come through a few errors that one simply can’t avoid. It becomes the tedious task for them to manage the whole process easier if a tester doesn’t know how to get it over with. Hence, it is essential to get information on how to resolve certain issues with the troubleshooting mode.
Observation and orientation – In this part, one must have amazing observation power that makes them catch any detail easily without worrying about the tedious part of testing. If they have observation and orientation skill then work can be done easily and on time.
Analytic thinking – This type of skills is required to secure a good job in the company while having ‘out of the box’ thinking. It is essential to have the proper setup and process to ensure that work is done easily with no error.
These are the major skills that one must work on when you still have time.
Experience
This actually counts when one knows how to test. This adds value to the whole resume and makes companies jump towards the candidate. The main reason behind this is that companies don’t have to train a candidate and invest any money in them to polish them up. They can simply get the work started with no delaying of time. This makes the companies work on the experienced candidates in place of a fresher with a higher degree. However, it simply doesn’t mean that fresher can’t apply for it. They are only required to put extra efforts in their skillset and prove their worth during the time of the interview.
Additional Skills
The main skills that are added when one want to be a game tester are:
Written and oral communication –It is a major part of the whole setup when it comes to communication skills. The person must be able to have the flawless report about bugs so that developers can work on the errors easily. Also, it is essential for them to explain every single point in details that are easily understood by the other person.
Team player – When you are hired as the game tester, you are not going to work alone. There will be a group of tester and developers with whom you have to get in touch with every now and then. Hence, it is essential to have this ability to work in the team. It is not about sitting alone and working on the testing. The testers are required for other departments as well that might mean that you need to relocate for a certain project.
Work ethics –This part is also essential when it comes to the testing environment. Yes, it might be easy to simply ignore a bug and assume that no one else is going to know about you. But the workers are relying on you for the project so you need to make sure that their trust is intact.
Good working relationship – It is part of good communication only. If an individual can work in the collaborative team with flowing communication then it will be easy for them to have a great bond.
These are the major points on which an individual must work on to ensure that they have a safe and secure future.
Regression testing tools why do they exist? What sort of wonders they can do to your regression test.
To ease up your job a lot many regression tools are available in the markets that ensure the smooth running of regression test cases. But out of hundreds of tools available, which one to choose is a big question mark.
So to ease up your worries, we have curated the list of Top 15 Most Popular Regression Testing Tools in 2021. Here, let’s have a look.
if you are anxious to know about those regression testing tools that made it to the list of 2021,
Here it is
Top 15 Most Popular Regression Testing Tools in 2021
Watir stands for Web Application Testing In Ruby. You can read it as water. It allows you to write tests that are easy to read and maintain. Watir is a family of Ruby libraries but it supports many apps developed in different technologies.
It can assist you in automated regression testing. It enables you to have quick and easy creation and maintenance of regression tests across web, mobile and desktop applications.
IBM Rational Functional Tester is an automated regression testing tool. It supports a variety of applications like terminal emulator-based applications, Adobe PDF documents, Java, SAP, etc.
TimeShiftX is a time shift regression testing tool. It allows applications to travel in the past or future to help you perform temporary or date simulating testing.
TestDrive is an automated software quality solution (ASQ). It can help you with easier and faster regression testing. It allows lithe, dynamic, and easy deployable tests.
It is easy to use the regression testing tool. It can assist you in automation testing for web applications. It is a platform-independent automated regression testing tool.
TestingWhiz is a code-less automated regression testing tool. It offers you, end to end testing of Database, Web, Mobile, desktop apps, API and Cloud. It is built on the Flexible Automation Scripting Technology Automation Engine. It has 290+ inbuilt test commands that allow you to automate test cases in the shortest time.
Webking is an all-inclusive regression testing tool by Parasoft. It supports the automation testing of web services. It can help you in testing and installing dynamic Web sites. It uses C/C++ and Java testing techniques to detect errors in a website.
Key Features:
• Uses a path creator browser
• Integration with Parasoft reporting system
• Supports many data sources like Excel, .csv, Webking’s internal tables, databases, etc.
SilkTest was formally known as Borland Silk Test. It supports rigorous regression testing of mobile, web, rich-client, and enterprise applications. It supports test creation in collaboration with both business and technical stakeholders.
Serenity BDD is a regression testing tool to assist you in faster testing. Serenity produces demonstrated and descriptive reports using the test results. It keeps an account tests executed and the requirements they were tested for.
Key Features:
• Write cleaner tests
• Creates illustrated, narrative reports
• Works well for non-web tests
• No time wastage in constructing and keeping your own automation framework.
It helps you in automated regression testing of Web, Windows, Java applications, etc. It comes with resource management, full scripting, and debugging capabilities.
Key Features:
• Complete IDE for scripting
• Very Flexible
• Works well with heavy loads
• Test Track to manage test cases and to manage script execution.
Ranorex is pioneering test automation software. Ranorex makes regression testing easy and quick for you. It comprises flexible tools making it ideal for companies of virtually any size.
Key Features:
• User interface items repository
• Supports various applications
• Ranorex tests can be data-driven
• Ranorex has Recorder unit to create testing scripts
• Supports test activity management
Conclusion
Out of the many Regression testing tools mentioned above, the choice of best fit for you depends entirely upon you. Study your requirements and then wisely choose the regression testing tool that fits your requirements perfectly.
Collaboration can never be successful without communication. It has a tendency to break or make a project.
Whether it is about testing and software testing team or between a manager and client.
However, now companies are moving towards agile technology that has managed to break down the walls between different departments.
But there can be times when one forget all about collaborations and work differently. It can be a difficult form to keep a track off. Hence, it is essential to follow up the operations and development of a project in order to test off the whole logic.
Importance of Communication
When it comes to development and testing, one is required to follow up an accurate path in terms of focus.
The testing team and developers have to complete their end of the deal as per the requirements of the business.
Developers are required to complete the functions that are derived in order to come up with something accurate. In addition to this, the main task of testing team is to implement and focus on the overall improvement of the development cycle. No matter how different their task might be, they have a common goal of having an error-free end product.
In order to achieve goals, one is required to follow up the path of agile technology that can contribute to collaborations. However, this is only possible with honest and open communication as per two-ways. For better understanding, you can consider it as the tyres of a cycle.
If a single of them is flat then you won’t be able to ride your bike. It requires a great deal of balance that can be attained with honest communication. In addition to this, one has to understand the whole concept of ROI, quality, speed, etc. that can be facilitated with communication only.
Here are five of the major ways in which one can attain collaboration between both the teams.
Sharing Responsibilities
The whole project can never be successful if we depend on the only a single person.
The whole project requires the equal contribution of both teams – testing and development.
This is actually really simple to understand. When we talk about the agile world then there is nothing known as them or us.
It is a whole team that works on a single project to improve product quality.
Hence, they are required to divide each and every responsibility among themselves.
The development team can come up with relevant and accurate unit test while coding.
This will help testers while testing an application since the test cases are already formed for them. On the other side, the tester will help to gate pass a project accurately.
It will allow them to work on the product with more responsibility and without changing any code.
This can be achieved if we follow up a meeting with everyone involved to get proper input before proceeding with the project.
Collaboration of Tools
Another of the important factor that must be kept in mind while typing code is flexibility with tools that are used in collaboration.
The best form of communication that is proved is face-to-face. Since it allows one to work on the facial expression of an individual as well.
However, there are times when teams have to work together from a different location.
At that time, it becomes essential to come up with some alternative to ensure that you have attained goals.
It becomes difficult when members are not right in the next cabin or a walk away.
In such case, e-mails are potentially used by the member to be updated and for queries.
It can be spreadsheets or even online platform options allowing them to work on sharing basis.
In addition to this, remote access can be used widely to ensure that teams are working properly.
Hence, now is the time to get acquitted with a management application that is all over the internet.
A number of applications that allows an easy communication route for the members and be updated with work done.
These workflow management applications allow individuals to get through work or even assign it to others.
They have scalable, readable, maintained and flexible features intact.
Earlier, businesses were dependent on Skype but now there are applications such as Trello and Wrike that have taken it to a top notch.
In addition to this, it is now easy to be on the same page as other with these applications.
Visibility of activities
Another of the essential factor of collaboration is visibility. It will also have a huge impact on the trust of the teammates.
It will expand the agility in the team. The point is that you must not simply assume what others know.
It is possible that some of the members have no idea why you have added on a new function.
Hence, it is better to be visible at every single step. If you are adding something then let them know or what standards are used. The best thing for a tester to do is to have a review session with developers to have a proper outcome format.
On sharing the work, it will generate an upstream towards the whole work mode.
It will influence the testing scope at a huge rate. Not only developers, but stakeholder or architects can be life saviour when it comes to working on the product.
They will give their input and you might know what more is to expect out of this whole system. This will allow deep scrutinizing of product.
Critical Bugs – Find and Fix
When it comes to finding bugs, the best thing to follow is to prioritize the whole system.
It will give you an easy adoption to where to start and how to run off test cases.
In addition to this, the product managers can focus on the goals of the business. This will help in keeping our focus on finding out bugs that can be fixed up by testers or developers.
In order to start this, teams can make a list of whole features as per their priority.
The one that is most important can come at the top followed by others.
It will give an idea to the departments about their test cases. Also, one can work on the application as per the customer point of view.
It is a way to get a bigger picture of the complete product. They will find out the solutions to the points that are more essential than the one that is not.
It will also help in being working out in the single aspect with not worrying about the other one.
Battles to win
If we try to fight off every single threat that is present in the product that you can forget about it.
This is a difficult task when we try to work on all the bugs and trying to eliminate it.
You need to know which bugs can be resolved on your end while leaving others for your team members.
In addition to this, one must know what is worth their time.
Testing already works on a strict time frame and hence not even a second must be wasted on something that you have no idea about.
Also, it is possible that everyone is working on the points that are not even important.
The most essential aspect that will fall with it is the red line form. You need to make a line for you or the whole team.
It will determine where you must keep your focus on. It will also help in determining the essential interactions point on the product end.
For instance, usability, load time, etc. are major points.
If you are concern about this then you can have a whole team just to fight these defects only.
This will take the mind of developers and testers off them and the defect team can work on them with some predefined guidelines.
It will only help you to make sure that there are no other major points that can be a downfall for the application.
In addition to this, everyone will be focused on their own task with no distractions.
Bonus Point – Test Driven Development and Business Driven Development are also a major part of the whole development and testing cycle.
One must be specific while forming testing cases which will be used by the developers.
After the implementation of the code, these cases can work together with the unit testing mode in order to come up with accurate results.
This will cover up all the requirements at the business end and also give an idea of where to end the whole process.
You cannot depend on a single end of the rope to make sure that you will not fall.
The other end must be tightly bounded to something to prevent a fall. Similarly, to work on a stead road, you need to take an initiative.
This will determine a route with the improvement in the whole collaboration system.
Go, the renowned programming language was designed by Ken Thompson, Rob Pike, and Robert Griesemer and is very similar to C, which was first released 46 years ago in 1972.
Go programming language or Golang offers exclusive features like garbage collection, memory safety, CSP-style concurrency, and structural typing. It is an open source language, which means you can use the tools, source code, and the compiler for free.
The language is often described as having the efficiency and static typing of C++ and Java and, ease of use and productivity of JavaScript and Python.
Golang is mostly used as a standard for API documentation, building, testing, and package management.
Golang testing acts as a micro benchmark and can be used for unit testing. The language also comes with a special package that makes writing tests very easy.
Understanding Golang Testing
Testing is a crucial part of every website, web application, and mobile application development process. It is a series of processes that give the same results and confirms that the software is free of errors.
Tests are not limited to the software work. Every time you go to buy an electronic, you switch it on and check if it is working fine.
Tests can be simple or complicated like DiRT by Google. Golang testing is very similar to it. For testing, you have to write a code, which makes the typing automatic.
It is usually faster than manual testing because it is written in code and developers can share it among themselves.
For example, if you wrote a code to check the sum of two numbers, you will have to write the following test to ensure it works as expected.
You run this test on Go Playground to check if its giving the expected results. In this test, we wrote the main package, which isn’t a problem when you are testing a small function.
You cannot write the main package over and over again, as it is not only time consuming, but also takes up unnecessary space.
When you start the test with a tool by Golang, you only have to mention the Go testing package and begin with the sub part.
This is what you will write for the same addition function we mentioned above. Package testing101 is the main package.
This is how the test result will look like.
Naming files for go testing
Golang testing is so easy because it is a standardized process. You need to name the files in a particular way for them to be recognized by the tester. Here’s the protocol that you should always remember:
1. File name
Golang needs you to end each file name with _test.go. It is easier for the language to identify files that are to be tested and provide the exact functionality during the testing process.
2. Type of package
After selecting the file name, you have to select the testing package. It can be for identifying an error or deviation from the expected result.
3. Function name
In the above example, the function name that you should use is TestSum(). When you write the code, you should write it as func TestXxx(*testing.T). Xxx is any name that you want to give to it. Remember, the first character should always be an uppercase character or a number.
Adding Multiple Tests For one Function
The test code that we mentioned above is a very simple one. There is only one test for the function but when you are writing it, you might be realise that you want to check the function’s other features as well. For example, you might want to test if the function can handle negative numbers or not.
Golang is the easiest when it comes to adding multiple tests to one code. All you have to do is create another file, for example – sum_test.go. Then you add the function of negative numbers, which can be TestSumWithNegatives().
Here, you don’t need to create multiple test functions but only one – testing.T. Add Run() to it, which lets you add a sublet test.
This is how your code with multiple functions look like.
Advanced Golang testing techniques
Now that you know the basics, it is time to go a level up and take a look at some of the advanced Golang testing techniques.
1. Test suites
In suite testing, you develop a test that is 100 percent contrasting from the common interface. You can use it to check different types of test implementations. Check below to see how the test you code will look like after you use suite testing.
You may have previously had the chance to work with codebases that use this kind of testing. They are mostly used in plugin-based systems because they use tests that are coded against the interface.
Their primary use of it is to check if the system meets all the behavior requirements as intended. Suite testing is going to save you days of work and give you more time to focus on solving P versus NP problems.
In this type of testing, you swap two types of testing without needing to write more number of tests.
You will have to use the dependency injection to set up the suite from your testing package to implement it.
Check the golang.org/x/net/nettest library to find wonderful examples of suite testing. You will also find some handy ones on Github.
2. Non-interface pollution
An interface is crucial for testing and is considered as the most powerful tool, which means you need to understand how to use it correctly.
A package exports an interface, which is either used by the consumers to try a package implementation mock or export a mock that they develop.
Before you export the interface, you need to carefully analyze them. Instead of exporting an interface that mocks out consumer behavior, developers should develop a document that increases hard dependency their package and that of the customers.
If you don’t want to use a particular interface, you can keep it within the package by using internal/ package subtree.
After doing so, you don’t have to worry about the customers taking advantage of it. It is a flexible choice as developers can create new interfaces according to new requirements.
To run tests locally, you can use dependency injection and create interfaces only for external dependencies.
3. Use net/http/httptest
When you use http test, you can access the http. Handler code without having to bind to a port or spin up a server. T
he tests are a lot faster and you can run all of them simultaneously, without any obstruction. Let’s take a look at how the test will look like when you use net/http/httptest advanced testing method.
With net/http/httptest, you can divide the test into different sections and test only a particular part of the function.
You don’t have to face any side effects like no middleware or no routers, when you use handler factories, servers, handler factory factories, and other services that are a part of Golang testing.
4. Separate _test package
Even though you develop files in pkg_test.go, they are stored under one domain — package pkg.
However, you can create a new test package within a package and name it foo_test.go. The test will be saved in the foo/ library and declared as package foo_test. If you want to download some dependencies, you can visit github.com/example/foo to import them.
We recommend you to use this method for cyclic dependencies and make the package easy to use. You no more need to perform brittle tests.
Benefits of using Golang Testing
Golang has made a lot of news in last couple of years because it makes the process of software development easy and more enjoyable. Here are four reasons why you need to start using Golang testing:
1. Tried and tested
Some of the best companies across the world use Golang testing. These companies include Dropbox, Apple, Google, The Economist, Twitter, IBM, YouTube, Facebook, The New York Times, Docker, and BBC. This indicates that Golang is a programming language fit for fulfilling the needs of the future.
2. Open source
Golang is just one of the things that Google offers for free to everyone who would like to use them. Since it is an open-source programming language, it is clean and more efficient compared to other languages.
3. Simple and fast
Thanks to its simple syntax and structure, Golang. It is also easy to learn as the whole language is based on functions. Golang offers a short processing time, which means you can release your product faster in the market. It not only saves time, but also gives you more time to capture the market.
4. Special features
Golang has an automatic memory management that keeps up the speed of the performance. It is easy to keep bugs away with the language because it is a compilation of several others. Developers need to stay more attentive while coding for the code to be accurate and neat.
Apex is a robust OOPs (Object Oriented Programming) language which is developed by Salesforce.com and used to develop Salesforce platforms. Developers can execute the flow and transaction control statements on the Salesforce servers in integration with calls to APIs.
Apex enables developers to add business logic to system events, like button clicks, by using syntax which is easy to understand for people with prior knowledge of Java. The Apex application programing interface allows developers to use data present on Salesforce.com. It also permits developers to access the backend databases and client-server interfaces of Salesforce.com and create Software as a Service (SaaS) applications.
The applications created using Apex are hosted on the Salesforce.com servers and do not require any installations on the user’s PC.
Why do you need to test Apex?
Like any other language and software development process, testing plays an important part in Apex application development as well. It is very essential to test software to ensure that it executes successfully and generates the expected output. This helps you deliver the best software to your customer’s increases your credibility.
Apex applications can be tested in 2 ways: first is by testing the user interface, the second is by testing its bulk functionality. You need to keep testing the Apex application after adding new functionality or upgrading the features of the application to ensure that no regressions are generated after the upgradation.
You must ensure these things before you deploy your code for the Salesforce AppExchange server:
75% of your Apex code must be covered by unit testing and the tests must be executed successfully
The tests you perform must cover all the triggers
The classes and triggers used in your Apex code must compile successfully
Remember the following things:
All the unit tests in your organization namespace are executed by default when you deploy the Apex code
The test methods and test classes are not a part of the Apex code
You need to ensure that all the use cases of your application are covered when you perform unit testing. This way you will be able to test 75% of the Apex code efficiently.
Salesforce makes sure to run all Apex tests before any upgrades on behalf of the developer through a process called Apex Hammer. It does so in order to make verify that the functionality or the results do not get altered due to any upgradations. During the Apex Hammer process the issues found are fixed immediately and perfected before the upgrade id released.
What to test in Apex Testing?
There are few factors that you need to test your Apex code for:
Single action
You need to test and verify that every single record generates the expected output which is correct. This can be done by performing unit tests to check specific actions.
Bulk Functionality
Another thing you need to test during Apex testing is the bulk functionality of the code. Bulk actions may include trigger, class or an extension.
Positive behavior tests
Positive behavior tests need to be performed in order to ensure that the code generate expected output corresponding to very expected input. In this test the input values are kept within some limits and the code is tested for known values to check for expected behavior.
Negative behavior tests
Every application has a certain limitation to the inputs that it can take. In negative behavior tests the Apex code is tested for input values which are out of the limits to check the error messages that will be displayed in such cases.
Restricted test
You also need to test the code under restricted environment to check how it will perform when a user with limited access to application resources uses the application. The restrictions can include a limited access to objects or methods.
Apex Testing
Apex testing process is quite similar to any other testing methods for web based applications. Testes need to have clear knowledge of the system under test so that they can focus on testing the core functionality of the application in detail by using different techniques instead of sticking to the features offered by Salesforce.
The apex code can only be written in a Sandbox environment and it needs to be deployed into a production environment in order to be tested. All the tests in Apex testing are performed in a production.
Unit Testing in Apex
Unit testing is performed on every single action to make sure that each unit of code performs efficiently and produces expected results. The most astounding feature of the Apex testing framework is that it will enable you to create and execute tests on all the classes as well as triggers on the Lightning platform. This confirms that the code is of high quality and meets customer requirement and specifications.
Benefits of Apex unit testing:
It ensures that 75% of the apex code is tested and executed
It verifies that all the classes and triggers work as expected and produce the desired output
Allows the creation of quality applications that meet all the customer expectations
Unit tests help in meeting code coverage requirements for deploying the code to production
The apex unit testing you need to develop separate test classes for each test case.
What are test classes?
In Apex unit testing, code coverage is performed with the help of test classes. The test classes are sections or units of code that test each unit for its correct and efficient functioning.
This is how you can create test classes:
1. Create the data
You first need to create the data for the test class. You need to provide this test class access to the organization data as it cannot access this data by default. If you set @isTest(seeAllData= True) the test class will be able to access the organization data.
2. Use @is Test
You need to the @isTest annotation to specify that the test class will not be considered against the total code limit of the organization.
3. the methods with ‘testMethod’ keyword
The test methods in apex unit testing do not take arguments, commit data to the database, do not send any emails and are declared with the testMethod keyword. They can also be declared with the isTest annotation in the method definition.
4. Starting and stopping the tests
The test classes can be controlled by using the Test.startTest() and Test.stopTest() classes. These classes contain the event or action which can invoke test classes and stop them as well.
5. .assert()
This method is used to compare the expected output with the actual output that is produced.
Challenges faced while performing Apex testing
Creating apex applications is not a simple task and testing the apex code is even more complicated. Here are some of the challenges that you may face while performing Apex testing:
Through apex programming advanced applications are created for Salesforce or server cloud console, and testing them is not an easy task.
For Lightning framework user interface all the classic tests need to be recreated.
As mentioned earlier, there are two ways of testing Apex code: GUI test and bulk functionality test. The GUI test does not work when the code is shifted to a test environment.
The standard functionalities cannot be removed even if they are not in use.
The automated test should work in all the test environment
Creating field locators for the Salesforce screen can prove to be a difficult task as the field IDs differ from organization to organization.
Best Practices for Apex testing
The best way to conduct apex test is by using real user profiles. This way you can find all the faults from the user’s perspective
You should prepare the test data to verify the reports functionality
You should test the apex code using all the testing methods including: unit tests, GUI test, regression testing, system testing, function testing and integration testing.
You should pay special attention to the visual force pages which are dynamic in nature to make sure that all the elements are able to load asynchronously
You need to perform automation testing by using tools like Selenium and HP unified functional testing
You must determine the limitations to the input in order to perform positive and negative testing
If the code includes conditions and ternary operations you must test each possibility and condition separately to ensure that the application deliver the most efficient output in every situation
You must ensure that apart from the apex code being error free it should also not generate any exception.
Always compare the actual output with the expected output by using the System.assert method
You must always perform the bulk functionality test by using at least 20 records in the test.
Create the required test data for your test classes
Always test all the classes in you apex code separately. It is a bad practice to test the entire application in a single test as detecting errors becomes very difficult once the system is complete.
This was a guide to Apex testing. You need to have knowledge about the Apex language in order to be able to test apex code efficiently and resolve the errors that are encountered.
Are you still slogging on to excel sheets to manage test cases? Gone are the days when excel sheets were the only tool available to manage test cases. With the outburst of JIRA software, 66% of testers today leverage it to their benefit. So, why should you lag behind?
Going forward in this article we will discuss, everything that you should know to leverage JIRA Software for Test Case Management.
A quick overview of JIRA software
JIRA software is a product of Atlassian Corporation, an Australian enterprise software company. It is largely used for issue tracking, bug tracking, and project management. But many teams are now using it as a Test case manager as it allows testers and developers to remain at one platform. But, how can you use it for Test case management? Let’s check it out.
There are two ways that can help you to use JIRA for Test case management by:
1. Configuring JIRA for Test case management
2. Incorporating testing tools with JIRA
But before moving forward let’s have a look at various features of JIRA that assist test case management.
JIRA can help in manual testing and is a great tool for it.
Associated with defects and requirements.
Supports issue types such as user story and test case.
Offers multiple fixes for different versions.
Supports both manual and automatic issue assignment.
JIRA Workflow has the power to control developers, QA and tester actions.
Can incorporate source code.
Offers reporting facility.
Easy to customize.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGdVEbHTI1A
1. How to Customize JIRA for TCM?
You can customize JIRA software for test management in either of the ways:
Using the “User story”
Adding a “Test Case” issue
You can configure your JIRA software for test case management by using the User Story. Here’s how to proceed with it:
Generate a user story to act as a test case.
Further, add subtasks referring back to the user story (your subtasks here act as test cases or test runs)
If all the subtasks pass, then your user story is good to go for production.
This approach raises a few challenges. The main challenges that you can face are:
When you have to reuse the test cases: In JIRA software if you finish working on any issue, it is marked done and is closed. To reopen it and to convert it into the test case format requires a lot of efforts and maintenance overhead. So if you want to use any test case again, it becomes very complex.
When you have to align test cases: If you have multiple test cases that link to several user stories, it gets very difficult to align them.
Creating a Test Case Issue Type
You can configure your JIRA software for test case management by creating a Test Case issue type. Here’s how to proceed with it:
Add a test case issue type.
Add the required steps for testing.
Assign your test case as parent issue.
Create and label subtasks as “Test Run”.
Add outcomes, the assignee to run the test cases, the affected version under the “Test Run” subtask.
But creating a test case issue type possesses few challenges for the user. Here are the few challenges that can be faced by you:
When you have to reuse the test cases: As discussed above reusing test cases is a very complex process.
When you have to rerun test cases: JIRA software requires you to add subtasks every time you have to run a test case.
When you have to create coverage reports: In JIRA software all the subtasks are mostly assigned under one issue. It is not possible to group various test runs to different configurations and to create a coverage report.
2. Incorporating testing tools with JIRA
Since JIRA is not custom made for test case management it possesses many limitations. To devoid it of its limitations, you can incorporate various testing tools with JIRA.
You can add testing functionalities to JIRA by the following two ways:
1. Using Ad-ons
2. By external integration of testing tools
Using Ad-ons
Various Ad-ons are available on Atlassian Marketplace that helps enhance the functionalities of JIRA as a test case manager.
Eg: Zephyr for JIRA and Xray for JIRA promotes manual test execution.
qTest Scenario and Behave Pro assist TDD, BDD, and ATDD testing
Integrating test case management tools to JIRA
Test case management is one of the major tasks of STLC. Using an apt test case management tool can save you both on time and efforts. A number of test case management tools are available in the markets that can be externally integrated with JIRA, resulting in better test case management.
How can test case management tools help you?
They can help you to consolidate all your executions while you can also use JIRA.
They can help you eliminate one of the biggest drawbacks of JIRA – reusing test cases. With test management tools you can reuse executions and help in better execution setup.
They enhance the capabilities of JIRA by keeping the complete execution history inside JIRA.
They permit numerous test runs of the test cases with different configurations, assignees, results, etc.
Though deploying dedicated test case management system with JIRA offers the best experience. It also possesses some drawbacks. You can eliminate it by using the solution that offers the most optimal integration experience based on your requirements.
Conclusion
The choice to pick one of the above-mentioned methods depends entirely on your requirements. We have curated a chart to help you judge your preference.
