In this fast-paced world and with the frequent evolution of technology. You need to test them simultaneously. This will ensure that the software application has no bugs and is ready to entertain the end users with a seamless user experience. QA Automation engineers play an important role here. They are the ones who implement the designed and developed automated testing solutions for software applications. This further ensures that the software application is ready to be deployed in the market and is a quality product.
A QA automation engineer focuses on various aspects of the software testing process. They pay attention to the critical test cases and process automated repetitive testing for them. Also, they are the ones who script the test cases using various programming languages that can detect bugs to ensure the quality of the software applications. Along with these, they also need to manage test cases and test data and perform analytical skills to detect the bugs present in the software application.
Nowadays, QA automation engineers can perform their roles and walk into their career paths more efficiently. There are various cloud-based platforms available for QA automation engineers. They can store their designed test script on the cloud. Other members of the team can easily access them when required. Also, automated testing can even be executed on the cloud without physical resources. This makes the testing process cost-effective.
QA automation is a vast field with various career paths and roles for you to perform. Here, we will learn about them and get a brief idea of the key tasks you must perform when opting for those roles or paths. So, let us check on them one by one.
Test Automation Developer
For a well-developed quality software application, it is essential to test them efficiently. Today, automated testing is highly preferred since software applications must be developed in a very limited time. But it is not that the test automation tools can do everything independently. To deal with these, we need a test automation developer.
Test automation developers are QA Automation engineers. Their main focus is maintaining and writing code to execute automated tests. The test scripts are written in various languages such as Python, Java, C#, JavaScript, and many more, depending upon the category of the software application. Therefore, the test automation developers must have a sound knowledge about these to create an effective test script for testing the software application. It is also considered best if the test automation developer knows about various test automation tools and frameworks such as Selenium, Cucumber, Appium, Cypress, and others. They must be able to find and fix bugs in the software application. With the growing need for cloud testing platforms like LambdaTest, developers must know how to use such platforms.
LambdaTest is an AI-powered test orchestration and execution platform to run manual and automated tests at scale. The platform allows you to perform both real-time and automation testing across 3000+ environments and real mobile devices. LambdaTest has emerged as a comprehensive solution for cross-platform compatibility testing, offering the flexibility, scalability, and real-world testing environments needed to ensure that applications meet the expectations of users across diverse platforms and devices.
Test Automation Architect
Test Automation architects are experienced QA engineers. They are the seniors who look upon the overall automation testing process. They aim to design and maintain the strategy for test automation of the software applications. The test automation architects need to analyze various software application components, such as their scope and requirements. Then, they also have to analyze the various risks associated with the software application.
Based on the requirements and risk, they decide the best framework and tools for efficiently testing the software application. They are also responsible for deciding the various tests to execute with the software applications. What are the various features that need to be tested under which testing process? They consist of a software testing team under their guidance. Thus, it provides test automation development with guidelines and best practices that must be followed during testing. To get into the role of test automation architect, the QA engineers must excel in test automation with various other management skills such as leadership and communication.
Test Automation Consultant
Another role you can pursue as a QA Automation engineer is the role of Test Automation consultant. The test automation consultants are the ones who provide additional support and give external bits of advice to the clients regarding test automation matters. A test automation consultant usually works in a consulting firm or an organization with a test automation consultant. As a test automation consultant, he can even freelance if the QA automation engineer does not want to work under any organization or firm.
The main motive of a test automation consultant is to help clients deal with current test automation maturity. They also identify opportunities and build gaps between the software applications and clients. A test automation consultant recommends solutions and helps clients demand an improved software application version. Also, the test automation consultant has to guide its clients with the execution and implementation of the test automation of the software application so that they can evaluate whether the software application is being developed according to their requirements. For this, they must be skilled with test automation and have interpersonal skills for effective interaction.
Test Automation Engineer in DevOps
A QA automation engineer can even opt for the role of test automation engineer in DevOps as their career path. A test automation engineer in DevOps works in a DevOps environment. In a DevOps environment, the software application development is integrated and automated with its delivery. Here, the responsibility of the test automation engineer is to team up with the software development team and the other stakeholders to analyze the software application. This will ensure that a quality software application is developed and maintained throughout the software development life cycle.
Also, test automation engineers in DevOps prefer using automation tools such as Jerkins, Ansible, Kubernetes, and Docker. Therefore, they must be well-versed in these tools and frameworks and have experience using them. Since the development and delivery of the software application are integrated into the DevOps environment, the test automation engineers are also responsible for creating and executing automated tests in CI/CD pipelines. Thus, they must be technically skilled in scripting and automating test cases. Along with these, they must be able to perform configuration management.
Test Automation Engineer in AI/ML
Quality Assurance automation engineers interested in Artificial intelligence and Machine Learning can opt for Test Automation Engineer in AI/ML as a career path. In this role, QA Engineers execute test automation to ensure the correct functionality of the AI/ML models. They also look into its accuracy and reliability. The test automation engineer in AI/ML works with AI/ML applications and thus is responsible for monitoring them. The maintenance of performance and security of the AI/ML software applications is also the responsibility of the test automation engineer. Thus, they must have a deep understanding of artificial intelligence and machine learning. They must also be skilled in data-driven automation, adaptive, and exploratory testing.
Release Manager
Suppose you are a QA Automation engineer with a deep understanding of the Software Development Life Cycle and how software applications are released in the market. In that case, you can take up the career of Release Manager. As a release manager, you need to plan and coordinate the release of software applications. Also, you must look at the overall process for releasing the software application. A release manager has to collaborate with the entire software development team, the testing team, and the operational team so that the software application can be released conveniently. The release manager also ensures control of the release process with minimum disruptions and smooth integration.
Performance Testing Engineer
As a quality assurance engineer, if you are interested in how a software application functions and performs under various conditions, you are perfect for the role of performance testing engineer. As the name suggests, you must look at how the software application works under critical conditions and analyze its behavior. To check the performance, they use automated tools such as JMeter and LoadRunner to check on various conditions and ensure that the software applications can perform efficiently to deliver optimum results.
Quality Assurance Lead/Manager
When a quality assurance engineer has worked for a long time under severe and critical conditions, they know the techniques to handle critical functionalities of the software application. With this experience and skills related to leadership and management, they can opt for the Quality Assurance Lead/Manager role as their career.
As a Quality Assurance Lead, you are responsible for overseeing the software application’s overall quality. Also, as a quality assurance manager, you must be skilled in communication to interact with other departments and ensure that the software application is as per the Software Requirement Specification and matches the quality expectations.
Conclusion
QA automation engineers are the ones who ensure the quality of the software application, but there is a wide range of career paths associated with it. Thus, it offers a variety of roles as a professional. You can become a QA automation engineer in DevOps and AI/ML with knowledge about their respective fields as a beginner QA automation engineer. And with a good experience, you can even opt for a test automation architect. As a QA automation engineer, you get diverse opportunities and exposure.
The career path described above as a QA automation engineer briefly describes various roles that can help you select an interesting field for yourself where you can grow and excel.
