What the work is
A QA engineer (tester) checks that software works as intended and finds bugs before users do. They study the requirements, design checks — from everyday scenarios to edge cases and “impossible” ones — report the defects they find and follow them through to a fix. Over time many testers automate their checks, writing automated tests in Python, JavaScript or Java.
A typical day
Testing a new feature on staging against a checklist, plus exploratory “what if…” testing. Writing bug reports: steps, expected and actual results, screenshots. Talking through borderline cases with the developer and the analyst. Running the regression tests before a release.
How to start
- Learn the basics of testing: kinds of tests, test cases, the defect life cycle.
- Practise on real websites and apps: find bugs and report them properly.
- Learn the tools: an issue tracker, Postman for APIs, basic SQL.
- For automation, learn one programming language and a test framework.
Related professions
Frontend developer, backend developer, data analyst, DevOps engineer.