After analyzing hundreds of thousands of employee-generated reviews, CareerBliss found that QA analyst was ranked #2 on their list of happiest jobs. While this may come as a surprise to many testers and QA professionals, CareerBliss Data Scientists (who did not have the happiest job) took into account many factors including compensation, work environment, growth opportunities, company culture, professional reputation, daily tasks, and relationship with the boss and other co-workers to determine the ranking.
Software Testing is a Decent Job
That software testing is such a happy experience may have come as a surprise to you since testing is still no walk in the park. One unfortunate fact of life is if it is fun all the time then you have to pay to do it.
But if you think about it, jobs related to QA are actually not bad after all. The good things about testing are that it doesn’t require higher education to enter and, relative to most jobs, testing software is well paying, secure, and does not pose a high risk of having heavy things fall on you.
Making It Even Better
So, the real question is how you make your job even better! If you are a manual tester the answer is easy – nothing standstill in this life, especially technology. Looking into our crystal ball we see testing as changing. The good thing is that it’s easy to predict an even greater demand for valid code in the future. For all that, to really take advantage of these new opportunities testers are going to have to adapt with the times. And the times they are a changing.
What The Future Holds
Of course, no one can predict with absolute certainty the future. But it’s safe to say that technologies such as AI, Blockchain, DevOps, Smart Contracts as well as implementation methodologies such as Scrum are going to increase rather than decrease the value of testing. At the same time, these technologies will in general increase the complexity of the testing process and open up new career prospects for those QA analysts fortunate enough to adapt.
Automated Testing is Better for Your Career
Compared with manual testing, automated testing offers even better pay, more job security, and more prestigious jobs such as product manager, DevOps, enterprise architect and even IT management. The reason that automated testing opens the door to these positions is that it demands problem-solving skills, the ability to complete projects successfully, and requires more coordinated teamwork.
Automated test suites such as Bitbar are not any more complicated than most social media sites and a lot less complicated to master than most games. One reason to choose Bitbar Testing is it offers the most versatile cloud-based mobile app testing solution with hundreds of devices in unique hardware and software combinations. What is required to become an expert in these different combinations is some discipline, dedication to understanding their ins and outs, and practice. All things that look good on a resume.
Conclusion
Although there is some consolation in knowing that no matter how bad your job is, there are many more that are much worse, it will still pay dividends for QA Analysts to look ahead. Real testers, who are passionate about their work and adept at utilizing all of their industry knowledge, will always be in demand. But those same testers with skills in automated testing will be better paid, more highly valued, and harder to replace.