{"id":2577,"date":"2022-09-07T15:15:17","date_gmt":"2022-09-07T10:15:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/testing.dicecamp.com\/insights\/?p=2577"},"modified":"2022-09-09T15:10:56","modified_gmt":"2022-09-09T10:10:56","slug":"manual-testing-a-major-qa-challenge-in-2022","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/testing.dicecamp.com\/insights\/manual-testing-a-major-qa-challenge-in-2022\/","title":{"rendered":"Manual testing, a major QA challenge in 2022?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Software quality testers<\/strong> have a huge list of test scenarios. Each time a manual test finds bugs, the software returns back to the QA to validate the new version.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Manual testing is painful in that a human can\u2019t work on repeated things with the same accuracy and interest.&nbsp; At the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.globalapptesting.com\/blog\/qa-pros-in-2022-a-look-behind-the-scenes\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">QA Global Summit 2022<\/a>, more than half (55%) of QA professionals termed manual testing as taking too much time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Automation testing<\/strong> is therefore prevailing in the technology landscape that takes the boring test scenarios to machines, leaving QA with more thoughtful work such as exploratory tests, and reviewing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, not all manual tests can be automated. Machines can never accurately mimic human insight to judge user experience.&nbsp;Hence manual testing can\u2019t be completely neglected in QA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This blog discusses the banal aspects of manual testing and how automation testing can salvage QA testers from painfully boring job tasks.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Please stick by to learn how to become a QA engineer in Pakistan amid the escalating IT exports of the country.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><a href=\"#stages\">The Manual Testing Process<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#strategy\">The Software Testing Strategy<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#automation\">Automation Testing: An alternate to manual testing?<\/a> <\/li><li><a href=\"#career\">Quality Assurance (QA) Career Advice in Pakistan<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"stages\">What\u2019s manual testing process?<\/h1>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\" style=\"max-width:500px\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lh6.googleusercontent.com\/WfpAPOrUAn2OWI1vfoY9BfGCFsUtSBj3TTYoOOiOHnAZgyHyiJWRfIwO-8H3LFvfk61LRxQC_cWF2vwo_7u-JP2_AIy8PMS8Vk4OXI9RdOkbRum8faDWHd2gJDTL20pEfGsZSckYSUrNvcyzMyjHt8A\" alt=\"What's manual testing in QA?\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>There are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.browserstack.com\/guide\/manual-testing-tutorial\">five stages<\/a> in manual testing. Each stage has its own sub-tests and is deeply comprehensive to make sure no bug is left behind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Remember, anything that appears outside software\u2019s requirements is counted as a <strong>bug<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A <strong>quality tester<\/strong> starts from investigating functionality of the smallest part of source code called a unit and proceeds gradually through other stages each larger than the first one.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Units are integrated together and tested in <strong>integration testing<\/strong>. Combine these integration elements together into a whole system for <strong>system testing<\/strong>. <strong>UI testing<\/strong> checks the system\u2019s GUI and visual performance over 3000+ devices to test functionality for each element.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The last test scenario called <strong>acceptance testing<\/strong> takes the whole software into the real world, allowing users to test the product in something called beta testing.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Before any QA tester starts off with these five stages, it\u2019s important to build a software testing strategy, adding yet another important task in the list of quality engineer roles<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"strategy\">What\u2019s software testing strategy?<\/h1>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/theqalead.com\/topics\/obtaining-quality-assurance-job-tips\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">QA engineers<\/a> act as a <strong>buffer<\/strong> between development and production.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A strict discipline is needed to catch malfunctioning source code residing possibly at any corner of the software. Just a slight element missed and the quality of software is undermined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>An excellent quality testing strategy follows six basic steps:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Know the desirable <strong>behavior of software<\/strong><\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\" start=\"2\"><li>Create a <strong>test plan<\/strong> to measure the desired behavior<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\" start=\"3\"><li><strong>Write<\/strong> down the test cases; What are the tests? What will they reveal? Do they cover all requirements?<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\" start=\"4\"><li>Get the plan <strong>reviewed<\/strong> by QA lead<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\" start=\"5\"><li><strong>Execute<\/strong> the plan<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\" start=\"6\"><li><strong>Document and Report<\/strong> findings<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p>Once a report is sent to the development team, the bugs are fixed in accordance and a new version of software is sent back for the same manual testing for verification.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>QA engineer did work well, but going through all of the stages again that too for the same software is very painful!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"automation\">What\u2019s the other way to quality testing?<\/h1>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\" style=\"max-width:500px\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lh4.googleusercontent.com\/KSYYZf4qPR1tXJaXF_2g1tNQwRDoU7YQuqninfCIkIJ5cDmfDtOP7F29JLvYO73LMJcu3E-JtvoMAAUaWXHt21gzOkGGpX0gvh90N2cZJmlaGoAF1vRqnmyJrzMgtzGRVUIHh9KAN2B24JYSNJSbkwo\" alt=\"what's automation testing in QA?\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Automation testing. It\u2019s a technology that takes all the mundane testing procedures to machines which are programmed to perform the rule based manual scenarios.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>QA engineers are thus left with more valuable work such as exploratory testing and reviewing of results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.browserstack.com\/guide\/automation-testing-tutorial\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Automation testing <\/a>saves the QA team from lengthy <strong>testing coverage<\/strong>, drastically reducing time of quality assurance.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Moreover, the accuracy of results is amazing, since machines don\u2019t feel bored when they work through the same strategy again and again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>An initial effort, however, demands extensive automation planning and resources. Once passed through this stage, the effort needed to qualify a software is reduced straight to bottom.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Manual testing doesn\u2019t support this kind of ease and requires a constant effort from software testers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Full automation testing is not desirable!<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Although it may sound surprising, automation is not a complete solution when it comes to software quality assurance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The charm of manual testing lies in that it\u2019s centered around <strong>user perception<\/strong>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Although test scenarios such as<strong> regression testing, functional testing, smoke testing, <\/strong>and<strong> testing of complex functionalities<\/strong> are easily simulated over a machine; because of the simple rules they follow as they move towards completion, other testing stages such as <strong>User Interface<\/strong> testing can\u2019t be made understandable to machines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Only a human is capable of verifying the visual aspects of a software, predicting how another human (user) would interact with the software. This is known as modeling the user&#8217;s experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"career\"><em>Senior SQAE automation engineer at <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.trackonomics.net\/product-overview\/\"><em>Traconomics<\/em><\/a><em> Ms. Naheed Anjum (<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/naheed-anjum-72a08a4b\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>LinkedIn<\/em><\/a><em>) suggests adopting a mix of manual and automation testing for software quality assurance.&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>In collaboration with QA industry experts, <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/diceanalytics.pk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>Dice Analytics<\/em><\/a><em> is nurturing a sustainable QA talent to meet Pakistan\u2019s increasing IT services demand especially within a competitive neighborhood scenario.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Taking your way to the <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.istqb.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>ISTQB Certification<\/em><\/a><em>, the training serves as a first step in furthering your career towards other relevant areas such as RPA, DevOps, Cybersecurity, and Data Analytics.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Visit our <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/diceanalytics.pk\/school\/courses-and-workshops\/software-quality-assurance\/#view-content\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>services page<\/em><\/a><em> for more information.&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In this automation advanced landscape, manual testing remains unbeatable. A 2022 QA engineer thus needs a mix of both manual and automation testing skills.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":2578,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2577","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uncategorized"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/testing.dicecamp.com\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2577","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/testing.dicecamp.com\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/testing.dicecamp.com\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testing.dicecamp.com\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testing.dicecamp.com\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2577"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/testing.dicecamp.com\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2577\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2590,"href":"https:\/\/testing.dicecamp.com\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2577\/revisions\/2590"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testing.dicecamp.com\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2578"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/testing.dicecamp.com\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testing.dicecamp.com\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testing.dicecamp.com\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}