The demand for quality assurance skills is on the rise. However, the talent pool may be shallower than business leaders realise.
Quality assurance (QA for short) efforts have been a critical component of software development, but many companies have been forced to make cuts to their available testing resources in the past. According to IDG News Service, the most recent economic crisis led to such circumstances within many organisations. In order to keep operating costs down, business leaders felt obligated to reduce their spending on QA. In doing so, they drastically inhibited their ability to effectively test their software products and ensure they performed at a high level before going to market. As the economy continues to recover, companies are once again addressing their QA needs by looking for new talent to bring on board.
These efforts may not be entirely successful, however. John Reed, senior executive director at staffing firm Robert Half Technology, told the news outlet that many individuals who once held a career in QA have since moved onto other job opportunities. This has created a limited applicant pool for organisations to pick through, and has potentially bolstered the earning power of QA professionals. Replenishing software test teams may not be as easy as company HR officials might believe.
Get More with Agile Methods
To get more value out of their available Quality Assurance resources, businesses will need to employ more effective managerial methods and test management systems. Business 2 Community contributor Teodora Ivanova highlighted the benefits of agile development, noting that this approach allows organisations to better manage their time and conduct their work more efficiently. This is because agile methods encourage developers and testers to work more closely as a single unit. The traditional waterfall method pushes the testing process toward the very end of the development cycle, allowing many flaws to embed themselves deeply within the code and taking more time and effort to remove. And Agile Developers constantly run tests on in-development software, they are more likely to identify those problems as soon as they crop up, enabling them to nip issues in the bud.
Another benefit to agile development is the ability to engage in continuous deployment. Instead of going through a long and arduous development period, teams can roll out software more quickly with the caveat that they will continue to fine-tune that product as customer feedback is returned and the need arises. This capacity alleviates the risks that can be incurred during a major software project. The implications of any given release are lessened, preventing a single faulty product from sinking a company.
Organisations can also choose to supplement their internal QA teams by outsourcing some or all of those duties to an offshore operation. Keeping those off-site members in sync with other team members can be extremely difficult without a high-quality test management system. These tools allow individuals to upload changes in real time, ensuring each tester is on the same page at all times. This way, development projects can stay on track and meet tight release schedules.
Author
Sanjay Zalavadia is the VP of Client Services for Zephyr. Sanjay brings over 15 years of leadership experience in IT and Technical Support Services.
