Six Must-Have Skills to Look for in Your QA Tester

When you’re choosing a QA testing team, you obviously want them to be skilled in quality assurance testing. However, there are other skills that your QA tester should have in order to ensure your software launches without a hitch. When you sit down to meet your potential QA testers, then, keep an eye out for these six must-have skills:

They know how to listen

Quality assurance is a team effort. If someone on your QA team isn’t a good listener, it could disrupt the entire operation. Your QA testers should be able to listen to your concerns and suggestions as well as those of the other testers on their team. You should get a sense of this when you first sit down with a tester to interview them. If they’re talking over you or dismissing your suggestions, this could be a huge red flag that will come to haunt you further down the line.

They’re flexible

When it comes to quality assurance, almost anything can happen. You may create a detailed plan, but you never know when it could all blow to pieces. As such, you need a quality assurance tester and testing team that knows how to be flexible. They need to be able to adapt at a moment’s notice. This may be hard to tell in the initial interview, but you can get a sense of it by looking at their past experience. Candidates who have learned a variety of new things on the job are probably used to changing circumstances. Additionally, to gain some more insight, you can ask straight out what they did when something unexpected happened.

They portray critical thinking skills

Critical thinking skills are, frankly, critical. Almost every job requires some critical thinking skills, but this is especially the case with QA testing. As we said before, QA testing can change at a moment’s notice. You may even have problems to solve that could truly stump the most experienced members of your team. So, you need testers who can think outside of the box, view things from a customer’s perspective, and come up with several “What if” scenarios. All of these require critical thinking skills.

They’re quick learners

If a QA tester claims they know “everything” about quality assurance, they’re probably lying. Quality assurance is an ever-changing industry where knowledge can quickly become outdated. No QA tester knows everything, but they must be able to learn everything. Having a QA tester who is a quick learner will ensure that your project keeps running ahead smoothly. They’ll be able to adapt to any changes as well as any new tools or techniques that may need to be introduced.

They collaborate with others

QA testing is not a solo project. It not only requires several testers, but it will also require cooperation with other departments. This is especially the case if you’re using a DevOps strategy. DevOps requires the collaboration of both development and operations teams, as well as any other team that may need to be involved in the production of your software (e.g., marketing, sales). Just as QA testers need to have good listening skills, they must also be able to work well with others.

They have good time management skills

Everything is on a deadline. While some of those deadlines may be missed, ideally, you’d want to meet the majority of them. As such, you will want a QA testing team that has good time management skills. They should have the organizational and planning skills necessary to ensure that you don’t fall behind and can launch your product on the intended date (or at least, close to it).

Here at Beta Breakers, our QA testers have all the above skills and more. We have been in the quality assurance business for more than 25 years and have dealt with hundreds of different companies and industries. To learn more about our QA testing services, contact us today at 415-878-2990.