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Testing waters for bugs!

Mohit Sharma arrives in office at 9.30 am and checks mails from clients. Thereafter, the Test Manager assigns him the task for the day, which is to look for bugs in a new software! Mohit’s job, as a Test Associate is to understand the functionality of an application and review it for faults.

After the 11.00 a.m. coffee break, Mohit has rolled up his sleeves to write test cases (sometimes he is required to write 20 scripts in a day!), followed by the execution of some existing scripts. Once all the defect reporting for the day is done (somewhere along the way, he’s found time and the opportunity to grab a sandwich), he’s ready for another steaming cup of coffee! Some more regression testing and he’s ready to call it a day, after filing a status report with the Test Manager. At times, there are Team Meetings scheduled to review a client’s feedback (not again!).

Thanks to the boom in the IT industry and the discovery and newer and better software products, the job of a tester has moved up a notch or two, especially with the outsourcing of major test projects to India. Clients trust third party testers as they feel they are more credible and fool proof. When big business suffers due to a bug in a system, testing no longer becomes a formality but a mandatory, in-demand service. Trust in independent software testing (IST) companies is undoubtedly high. The CAGR rate for independent testing companies is estimated at 92%, with India poised to capture almost 70% of it.

At present, there are ten big IST players in India with a combined turnover of around Rs 200 crore, including RelQ, ThinkSoft, ReadyTestGo, Maveric, Applabs, Polaris Application Certification Enterprise (PACE), IQA Tester and Stag Software. Meanwhile, the prospects for testers have also brightened. “Today there isn’t such a huge difference between what testers and developers get paid,” says one employee.

These days, all Indian IT service providers, Infosys, Wipro, Satyam and CTS, besides independent testing firms and product development companies look for B.Techs or MCAs, who have some exposure to software testing environments or possess standard industry certifications related to Q&A, SEICMM or PMI. Since, there are very few institutes in India that run exclusive courses on test methodologies, except for in-house diploma courses offered by the software companies themselves, what is really important for a testing professional is to develop strong quantitative and analytical skills.

Unlike programmers who need to be skilled in writing a code, testers need to be good at breaking code and have a user’s perspective on every software that is to be tested.“What is needed are generalists with a broad understanding of several development areas,” says one expert.
Courses every tester must take to move up the value chain.

1. Test design techniques
2. Automation tools
3. Automation design techniques
4. Performance tools
5. Performance testing techniques

There are not many training companies offering courses in item 5. Companies offering courses even in item 1 or 3 are rare in India, hence gaining on the job experience is very important in this field. At the entry level, a tester can expect to earn Rs 8000-10000 per month, but as the career progresses, he begins to earn on a par with the software developer.

All said and done, software testing is no longer a launchpad to move into other lucrative fields. Today, it is recognized as a service by itself. No doubt, Gartner Research says worldwide software testing market is at $13 billion and the market for outsourced testing services is $6.1 billion.

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