{"id":3067,"date":"2023-03-16T11:30:00","date_gmt":"2023-03-16T15:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theforage.wpengine.com\/?p=3067"},"modified":"2024-07-17T15:09:37","modified_gmt":"2024-07-17T19:09:37","slug":"quality-assurance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theforage.wpengine.com\/skills\/quality-assurance","title":{"rendered":"What Is QA (Quality Assurance)?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As you\u2019re researching careers in software engineering<\/a>, you may have run across QA and wondered, what does QA stand for? QA stands for quality assurance, and it\u2019s a large part of the software development process. Without it, there\u2019s a chance companies would ship products that didn\u2019t work at all!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because QA is part of software development, some think it\u2019s a hard career to break into or that you need extensive training or degrees. However, a career in QA may be one of the easier fields to enter, no matter your educational background. Ready to learn about the quality assurance field? This guide covers everything you need to know about QA.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Definition of Quality Assurance<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In the broadest sense, quality assurance (QA) is the process of ensuring a product functions as intended. Does it work properly? Deliver on its promises? Exceed customer expectations? QA is the testing and retesting of the product during development (or updating) to find any flaws and correct them before customers start using it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The two main reasons companies have QA is to protect their brands and save time. By finding and eliminating problems before something is shipped, the company doesn\u2019t have to issue a fix or recall later. And it doesn\u2019t have to send out a mea culpa that may not go over well with its customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Is Quality Control?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Some people may think quality assurance is the same thing<\/a> as quality control. When you\u2019re ensuring something\u2019s quality, you\u2019re making sure it\u2019s up to snuff. When you\u2019re controlling something\u2019s quality, that\u2019s basically the same thing, right?<\/p>\n\n\n\n\t

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Software Engineering<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

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Not exactly. Quality assurance<\/em> is the overall process. There are documented steps and procedures to define what quality is, how to determine if the product meets that definition, and what happens if the product doesn\u2019t meet those standards.Quality control<\/em> is part<\/strong> of the QA process. It\u2019s the actual testing and checking of the product. For example, a quality control check would be seeing if an app crashes when a user attempts to open it on a mobile device. The tester would open the app and see what happens. If it crashes, that\u2019s flagged, and it goes back to the developers for corrections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\t

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Learn what it's like to work as a quality control inspector. Create a 2-D drawing and learn what goes into an accurate inspection.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\tSkills you’ll build:<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\tAttention to detail, AutoCAD, ComputerAided Design\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

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What Is QA Testing?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

QA testing ensures that things work before<\/em> they’re released to the public and is most commonly associated with software development. Examples include looking for security risks and ensuring the newest version of the software is compatible with past and future versions of operating systems and devices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Industries Use QA?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

From manufacturing physical products to developing cloud-based software, nearly every sector imaginable has a QA process, giving you lots of job opportunities. \u201cThere\u2019s flexibility in what industry to work in. Most companies require some sort of QA,\u201d says Rebecca Arrenius, QA manager at Forage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) predicts<\/a> that jobs for software developers, quality assurance analysts, and testers will grow 25% (much faster than average) between 2022 and 2032. However, within industries, the growth potential varies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As an example, the BLS says that between 2022 and 2032<\/a>, the need for software quality assurance analysts and testers should grow by 12.1% in the computer and electronic manufacturing sector, 14.9% in miscellaneous manufacturing, and 5.7% in retail trade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\t

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Software Engineering<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\tSkills you’ll build:<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\tCryptography basics, password cracking, password best-practices\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

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How Does QA Testing Work?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Though the specifics of QA testing varies by product and team, the process is generally the same across companies and industries. Here\u2019s a look at the Forage QA testing process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The QA team meets with stakeholders (product managers<\/a>, project managers<\/a>, etc.) to collaborate<\/a> and understand exactly what the end goal is. How should this feature function? What will determine if it\u2019s functioning correctly? From there, the team decides the order it will test features.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During testing, the QA team puts the features through the wringer, shaking out the bugs and figuring out what isn\u2019t working yet. They take their findings to the people who can make the necessary adjustments (like the engineers). Once the fixes are applied, the improved version is sent back to the QA team for more testing. Once everyone is satisfied the product works, the changes are rolled out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The entire QA testing process looks something like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Types of QA Testing<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

There are several types of quality assurance testing in software, and each tests something different. These are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n