1. Outstanding Communication

Finding faults and problems in apps is the responsibility of a QA specialist. However, once they have discovered these defects, they must document and describe their findings to others in a report in order for these problems to be resolved. Therefore, in order to successfully convey a problem to an intended audience, QA professionals must be able to do it both orally and in writing.

2. Setting priorities

You must be aware of the duties that must be finished before proceeding when working in quality assurance because there may be several things happening on at once.

You might have to redo chores if you complete tasks out of sequence, which might occasionally result in a small mess.

3. Teamwork and interpersonal abilities

Being able to communicate well with others is essential when working in a team, which is what the majority of QA professionals do.

A lack of awareness or interest in improving one’s interpersonal skills could result in a problematic team dynamic and make working on a project very challenging because QA is likely to be a team activity.

It’s better for the team as a whole if you truly value each team member for who they are and their talent because you have to work with them on a regular basis.

4. Composed

Your work will quickly get quite cluttered if you don’t have total control over it as a QA professional. Since a QA tester’s primary responsibility is to guarantee that a product’s quality is sound, they should model this behaviour in how they organise and structure their own work.

5. Detail-oriented

You must look for errors that others have made as a tester. Therefore, when assessing a product, you must use creativity and take into account the quality of the product from numerous angles. In other words, occasionally a small bug can cause bigger issues down the road, and you don’t want that to happen.

A tester must be extremely precise and focused while performing testing.

6. Knowing When and What Questions to Ask

Working in QA will require you to interact closely with others and communicate effectively on a regular basis. Knowing what questions to ask and when to ask them is therefore an excellent talent to possess.

Sometimes we get sucked into talking to various people or team members, but having an engineer on your team who can steer a conversation back on course is empowering.

This kind of person frequently gets to the heart of a problem and is adept at asking the right questions so that the team is clear on what needs to be done.

asking the right questions, there is no way of deciding what needs to be done, and how something needs to be done. 

7. Hearing

When conducting a QA test, a lot of action should be made, but you should also be able to listen intently.

It can mean the difference between QA success and failure, therefore listening is crucial.

Consider this: in order to ascertain whether the product’s quality satisfies its requirements, QA specialists must be able to listen to what the product owners want, what the end users say, and what the development team have mentioned.

However, it’s crucial that you listen to your team members as well when working as a team because they can also have ideas and problems to discuss.

8. Solving problems

You will need to fix problems every day in your role as a QA specialist. Not every problem can be solved easily, but there will be instances when you need to think more carefully in order to tackle a challenging issue.

It makes sense that since QA specialists are hired to identify problems, they would also want to resolve them.

9. Time-Management Skills

Rarely will you have unlimited time to complete your test. In order to avoid a difficult situation for you and your team in the future, it is therefore important to learn how to estimate, prioritise, and schedule all of your testing operations.

10. User Compassion

Having empathy with and a grasp of the end-attitude user’s is essential for a product’s success since as a QA expert, you will frequently assess a product’s quality from the perspective of the end-user. Consider this: if you test a product for quality without considering the end user and what they want, you will have tested and approved a product that the end user does not want or need.

Empathy for the user is crucial!

11. Gut feeling

Regardless of how proficient you are technically, there are moments when only your intuition can assist you solve a problem. Don’t worry; developing trust in your judgement takes time and experience.

12. Flexible

Like any employment, quality assurance might experience gradual or abrupt changes. You must have the ability to quickly adjust to a situation—or, in some cases, to several situations at once—if you work in quality assurance.

You must constantly stay up to date with the procedures, modifications, and comments you get when working in QA.

You won’t be able to keep up with the task and the team if you aren’t adaptive.

13. Resilience

Testing can be repetitive and will need work on your part, we won’t lie to you about that. However, you must maintain a positive outlook and keep in mind that, despite how tedious the job at hand may appear, you can be confident that the project’s owner and the product’s end users depend on your hard work and perseverance.

14. Coordinate meetings and discussions

Although not often the case for QA professionals, there may be occasions when you are requested to chair a meeting or a conversation with your team. If you prepare yourself beforehand, it won’t be as horrible as it seems.

Taking the lead in talks allows you to see how everyone is progressing on the project and provides an opportunity to think about and share any problems or ideas. Additionally, it might raise the level of teamwork.

15. Making Decisions

In order to go forward appropriately, you will be gathering data and information while working in quality assurance.

Since you’ll be doing this frequently in QA, it’s important to have a solid decision-making process in place to make sure you don’t take too long to decide.

Making judgements doesn’t have to be a personal matter, but when working on a QA project, you will likely be under pressure to meet deadlines, so you won’t have much time to think things through.

16. Resistance to Stress

Did you know that QA analyst is the second-happiest job in the US, according to CareerBliss? Yes, this job has significance, the pay is great, and there are prospects for career advancement.

However, you will also have to deal with pressing deadlines, monotonous work, and perhaps the odd challenging coworker. Therefore, developing the ability to remain optimistic and stress-free in every circumstance can help you succeed in your QA profession.

17. Take lessons from the past

Like most other aspects of the IT industry, QA is always expanding. Therefore, you may use your prior expertise and apply what you learned to a new project as you move from one project to another. Since different projects will frequently share similarities, you can apply what you have learned to tackle issues in other projects.

As you are continuously learning rather than consistently making the same mistakes, this is also displaying a development mindset.

18. Knowledge Exchange

You’ll probably find yourself sharing your knowledge and prior experiences with other team members since QA is typically done in a team setting. This is a fantastic method to involve others in a project because you can all contribute your expertise to find the best answer.

It’s also really beneficial for those who are new to the team since they can see that the group is nice and cooperative and always wants to support one another and produce the highest-quality work possible.

19. Quick Learning Speed

Without the capacity to pick things up rapidly, it is hard to become a top-notch QA specialist. The testing industry changes incredibly quickly; new tools are introduced and approaches are often modified. You can only accept the rapid shift and be ready to keep learning as a result; there is nothing else you can do.

20. Excellent analytical abilities

Software testing also places a high value on analytical thinking. Complex problems must frequently be divided into much smaller pieces so that you can thoroughly examine each component and find the best solution.

Conclusion

Keep in mind that having a thorough understanding of testing techniques and equipment can help you get hired as a QA tester. But keep in mind that your future success depends just as much on your soft skills.

If you believe that you lack some of these abilities, don’t panic; recognising your shortcomings is only the first step in strengthening them.

Next, what? Visit our website to learn more about our courses if you believe a career in quality assurance is right for you.