Quality Assurance is the science of ensuring that applications are reliable and functional in the field. When applications are created, their functionalities have not been put through stress tests. QA experts are the people called upon to look for vulnerabilities in applications and test software programs on a number of parameters. Companies understand that QA professionals are a must-have, especially if they have ambitious dreams for their applications. Quality Assurance automation is an advanced way of using software and tools to automate the testing of applications. QA automation roadmap or automation tester roadmap is a thorough breakdown of the journey to becoming a QA specialist.
QA automation involves using software tools and frameworks to automate the testing process, allowing QA teams to execute tests more efficiently, increase test coverage, and accelerate the delivery of high-quality software products. When you consider specializing in QA automation, you should understand precisely what they do.
A QA automation specialist:
- Designs, implements, and maintains automated test suites and frameworks that execute continuous tests and integration throughout the development lifecycle.
- Ensures the functionality, adaptability, and reliability of applications. By rigorous and frequent testing, Quality Assurance specialists can ensure that a project reaches its desirable deliverability.
- Ensures performance scalability: QA specialists ensure that applications are scalable. That is, they run applications through rigorous load conditions and stress tests to see their performance. Performance overload is a condition that determines an application’s performance when users on it become more. Performance overload metric should never decrease; that is, QA specialists ensure that an application delivers seamless and powerful performance, regardless of its load. Achieving this could include targeting and repairing bugs that can break the integrity of the application.
Let’s explore how you can become a QA automation engineer roadmap:
Automation Tester Roadmap for Beginners
Start with the basics
Begin learning the basics of software testing and QA principles, including testing methodologies. You can also familiarize yourself with different testing variants, like unit testing, system testing, integration testing, and acceptance testing. The fundamentals also include familiarizing yourself with the benefits and challenges of automation and determining the automation direction for each project you encounter.
Programming Languages
You must be proficient in several programming languages like Java, JavaScript, Python, and C#. You should also understand data structure and algorithms, especially how to write clean and maintainable code.
Scripting Languages
You must be proficient with scripting languages like PowerShell and Shell Scripting. With scripting languages, you can automate workflow. Learning scripting language is an important step in the roadmap to become a test automation engineer.
Frameworks
You need to know how to use testing frameworks like Selenium, WebDriver, TestNG, Appium, and Robot, amongst others, for automation. Learn how to create and execute automated test scripts (that will ensure that automation runs on command), collate data, and generate reports.
Web technologies and APIs
You need to master programming languages like JavaScript, HTML, CSS, and DOM and also understand the workings of popular frameworks like React, Vue.js, and Angular. Learn how to automate Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) testing through RestAssured or Postman.
Automation Architecture and Hands-on Automation
You must develop skills in test automation architecture by learning about principles and best practices for scalable, maintainable, and reusable frameworks. These principles and tools are the cornerstone of Quality Assurance systems through automation. You should also understand concepts like page object models, data-driven testing, and behavior-driven development. Practice hands-on automation by working on real-world projects, writing test scripts, and collaborating with teams.
Continuous Learning
The biggest flex with Quality Assurance expertise is the capacity to learn. Your test automation roadmap never really ends. Technology rapidly evolves, and skills known today might not be entirely relevant in the next decade. It’s essential to keep up with other professionals in your field. Attend seminars, webinars, industry meets, trainings, and even competitions. Test your skills against other QA experts. Follow the best Quality Assurance professionals on social media channels like Twitter and LinkedIn. Reach out to people. Sometimes, you can get directions and career advice when you reach out to your role models online. Be respectful and willing to learn a thing or two. Stay connected with other architects and engineers on blogs and forums. The sky is your starting point.
Conclusion
The roadmap we have meticulously created is your automation tester roadmap. But remember, it is essential to have a timeline for your learning goals. If you have fundamental QA knowledge, scaling to advanced skills will be relatively easier than if you are starting from scratch. But whatever your situation is, you must be able to adapt, learn, apply, and earn from the QA skill. As a beginner, you will be terrible when you start. Do not let this bother you. Even the experts today were once beginners. As you learn and grow, you will take on projects that challenge your expertise. The roadmap to automation testing will put you in the top percentile of QA professionals.
Author: Gregory Swenson
Gregory is an experienced IT professional with a knack for solving complex tech challenges. With over a decade in software development and technology consulting, he shares his insights and expertise through articles to help others navigate the IT landscape.