A List of Responsibilities of a Software Tester

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Given how entitled our lives have become with the progress in technology, it is not that surprising that most of us are oblivious to the significant contribution of software testers in our day to day life in this digitized existence. From the apparent point of view, the job of a software tester may seem like a pretty straight forward, single faceted affair, but in reality, the roles and duties of a software testing engineer is much more layered and complex. Technology is something that almost the entire world is familiar with but many of us don't realize often that manual software testing services are a real thing and our Smartphone (or PC or tablet...you get the point) would have been a dead mass without their existence. To know about these software testers and their whereabouts in a little more details, lets start from the beginning.

What is software testing?

Software testing is a procedure where a program or application is run by a technician to look for presence of any bugs. Testing is also important prior to the implementation of the program in order to ascertain their integrity of design as well as their quality and to ensure that the programs meet the requirements of the client.

Software testing is conducted in a couple of different steps:

Static Testing: It is carried out during the process of verification. It is a cost effective way of testing as it does not require executing the code in order to look for errors, it just reviews the documents and static analysis.
Dynamic Testing: In this procedure, a program is executed to observe the final result of the test runnings. It is carried out while the validation process occurs.
Planning: It is important to plan what testing methods are to be used and how the activities are going to be controlled.
Preparing: Once the testing method is selected, testing conditions and testing cases are to be designed.
Evaluation: During this step, the softwares performance is checked and evaluated and if the program fulfills the criteria of completion, it is given a green flag.

Why is testing necessary?

By virtue of the essential difference between human beings and a well programmed machine, all of us are bound to make mistakes in whatever we do. And as of 2017, humans are still the ones behind the designing and programming of softwares. So it is quite natural that a software program must contain some glitch in it after being built for the first time. This is where testing becomes necessary-to make sure that the programs the developer conjured up with his lost appetite and sleep deprivation does not fall flat on its behind upon implementation. Hence, the importance of software testing goes as following:

To point out the errors made during the development of the program
To make sure of a certain quality standard of the software
To increase the customers confidence on as well as their satisfaction from the program
To ensure that the application does not result in a failure. Or else it will take a toll in the later phases of development.

What are the roles and responsibilities of a software tester?

The very obvious responsibility of a software tester is to test the programs and report the bugs. During the test planning and preparation stages of testing, testers are to review and construct test plans along with analyzing and assessing the requirements of the design.

Apart from their obvious functions, software testers are given additional responsibilities depending on the companies they work for. Some of these add ons include:

Understand the requirements of the software and clarify doubts regarding the same
Learn about the software that is being tested and all the other softwares that are associated with it
Understanding the entire plan of the master project
Create required test data for the procedure of testing
Maintain test logs
Design specific cases of testing according to the requirements
Create testing plans
Organize the necessary test beds of hardware, software and network.
Report the bugs to the stakeholders
Inform the stakeholders of the test results
Attend to bug reports that have been returned
Update the cases of testing as defects are discovered
Conduct a re-test of the resolved bug issues
Update the automation of tests depending on the updated cases of testing
Report the progress in work to the project manager or team lead
Help the team out through providing them with inputs

The responsibilities differ depending on the firms that one is associated with. For example, smaller companies are able to hire lesser people and hence an individual employed in such a company has to tackle much more responsibilities than the employees of a bigger company.

Overall, manual software testing services are surely not a piece of cakewalk. More or less software testers are burdened with more complicated tasks than their literal designation. Without them, the world of technology would be crumbling apart in a day. So now for the next thanksgiving, you know whom to add to your list of gratitude.