The role of a modern QE (3/4)

We have a in depth understanding of Agile & Scrum Model by now! Lets deep dive how QE fits in the picture!

To read the previous story in the series, click me.

The role of a Quality Assurance Engineer has been the most evolving roles over the years. We have transitioned into giving fancy names for the guy who performs the quality checks of the sprint features and overall product.

Why has the role of a QA Engineer evolved so much?

• The transition of Waterfall model to Agile Methodologies.
• The advancements in the testing technologies & strategies.
• The boom in Mobile Industry.
• The “Everything is on the cloud” ideology.
• The advancements in open-source software for both web and mobile application testing.
• The advancements in testing tools at different layers. ( like Service & Network Layer).
• Increased Browser Support for inbuilt analysis and obtaining different metrics for the product quality.
• Drastic Development in Visual Testing.

and many more!

Hence, it seems necessary to come out of the dilemma of what a QA is suppose to do. The first thing that happened was a transition from QA (Quality Assurance Engineer) to QE (Quality Engineer).

Some fancy names for a modern QE :

• QE (Quality Engineer)
• SDET (Software Developer in Test)
• QE + DevOps

So what does QE actually do? What has changed after all?

• The efforts on Manual Testing has reduced drastically. More emphasis is on Automation and Cloud Testing.
• Manual Testing is not dead. It can never die. The idea is to automate everything that is possible to automate.
• This leads to automation of development life-cycle processes of all kinds, including build, document, test, package, stage, deploy, static analysis, and much more.
• The rise of concepts like Continuous Integration (CI) & Continuous Development (CD) lead to rise of DevOps. There is a thin line between a QE and a DevOps. A QE definitely needs some knowledge of DevOps.
• There is a rise of native frameworks in the industry. Hence, if you are testing an android application, you definitely needs some knowledge of how applications are developed and build in the android ecosystem. Same goes for IOS.
• To test, you definitely need a testing framework, something that can validate actual vs expected result. Different languages, supports different frameworks for validation and generating reports.
• Apart from automating scenarios, the QE along with Product Owners (PO) and Scrum master, makes sure that sprint is running smoothly.
• The developers & QEs alongside vote for the story points of a user story.
• QE requires to learn the complete application flow, along with the technologies supporting the development of the product.
• A QE is in complete sync with developers, on how product should be build, what functionalities it should include. Any questions raised by developers first goes to QE. If they are not able to answer it, then it goes to Product Owner.
• QE Team also takes the responsibility to set up and maintain the Continuous Integration (CI) pipeline.
• Analyzing and generating reports for different metrics is also a core responsibility of QE Team. The health of the pipelines, product quality, code analysis and checking if standard procedures are followed also falls under the responsibility of QE Team.
• A QE helps Project Manager to determine the scope of the product, determining valid test cases and plays a major role in PI Planning and Retrospectives.
• Last but not the least, a QE takes all the noise out of the development life cycle, helps developers to focus just on development, supports them with any information they need either from PO or Scrum master.

Wow! We have come a long way, from defining the old QA mentality to a modern superman QE!

A QE is jack of all trades! But somehow we forgot to discuss about the root of the whole discussion.

Why Quality matters?

• It saves you money and time.
• Stable and Competitive Product.
• Safety.
• Reputation.
• It helps meet clients demand and expectations most fully.
• New suggestions and view on your project.

It’s well said,

“Quality is never an accident; it is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction and skillful execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives.”

With this my friend, i bid adieu. See you in the next article where i talk about modern QE Tech Stack!

To read the next story in the series, click me.

Image Credits : Freepik