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#312315 - 21/07/2008 00:12 Software QA
Phoenix42
veteran

Registered: 21/03/2002
Posts: 1424
Loc: MA but Irish born
Well it looks like my career is going to take a bit of a left hand turn, again. An opportunity has presented it's self and while I have many of the qualifications and skills needed, I am missing Software QA experience.
So, in order to come up to speed as quickly as possible, are there any must read SQA books, concepts, etc that the empeg community can recommend?

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#312320 - 21/07/2008 05:51 Re: Software QA [Re: Phoenix42]
tfabris
carpal tunnel

Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31597
Loc: Seattle, WA
I could talk your ear off about it, but don't have any books to recommend. The truly important stuff I learned over the last two years of doing it for a living isn't in any book.
_________________________
Tony Fabris

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#312321 - 21/07/2008 07:06 Re: Software QA [Re: tfabris]
LittleBlueThing
addict

Registered: 11/01/2002
Posts: 612
Loc: Reading, UK
QA stuff to think about and maybe discuss in an interview :

* Design
* Requirements (including acceptance criteria)
* Testing requirement compliance (functional + non-functional)
* Edge cases, non 'happy path' cases
* Bug reports
* Testing bug fixes, regression tests
* Version control
* Documentation/terminology/context

Testing is a huge subject - consider unit testing and end-2-end testing.

Consider that QA should have veto control over any release of any product - from a patch for a game to an airliner. How does QA fit into the organisational structure - will you have the authority to guarantee quality?

Nb - none of this is software specific.
_________________________
LittleBlueThing Running twin 30's

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#312325 - 21/07/2008 14:13 Re: Software QA [Re: LittleBlueThing]
tfabris
carpal tunnel

Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31597
Loc: Seattle, WA
Originally Posted By: LittleBlueThing
Consider that QA should have veto control over any release of any product


In my experience, it's QA's job to let the management know what the problems are, and what their potential impact is. But they don't get the power to decide whether or not the product gets released. That's still the management's job.

In an ideal world, products wouldn't be released if QA still found any problems with them at all. In the real world you have a bugbar, and you have release deadlines.
_________________________
Tony Fabris

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#312337 - 21/07/2008 18:29 Re: Software QA [Re: tfabris]
Roger
carpal tunnel

Registered: 18/01/2000
Posts: 5683
Loc: London, UK
Originally Posted By: tfabris
In an ideal world, products wouldn't be released if QA still found any problems with them at all.


In your ideal world, nothing would ever be released. Or management would just get rid of QA. I'm cool with QA having a not-quite-veto-but-close when management comes to make that decision, however.
_________________________
-- roger

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#312340 - 21/07/2008 20:11 Re: Software QA [Re: Roger]
LittleBlueThing
addict

Registered: 11/01/2002
Posts: 612
Loc: Reading, UK
uh.... "think about and maybe discuss" smile
_________________________
LittleBlueThing Running twin 30's

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#312470 - 26/07/2008 23:59 Re: Software QA [Re: Phoenix42]
Phoenix42
veteran

Registered: 21/03/2002
Posts: 1424
Loc: MA but Irish born
I figured that a lot of it is going to be learned the hard way, in part because that is how real life is, but also because a QA role is going to vary greatly from product to product and company to company.
Just trying not to look completely wet behind the ears when I start. Granted they did hire me knowing I didn't have a strong QA background, but would just prefer not to have then questioning their decision.

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