What to expect when you become a Junior QA?

If you have made the choice to explore the career path of a QA specialist and you have just been recruited by an IT company you will have to keep in mind several things. For a Junior QA the most important are the following:

1.Learning the ropes.

You will have to learn a lot about SDLC. You will most likely have a mentor or someone in your team that will be assigned to you, who will explain the most important things in your line of work. They vary from company to company so ask lots and lots of questions. This will help you get accustomed to how things are done in your team and in the company in general. And don’t worry about asking questions – it’s normal to have them being a Junior QA.

2.Every company is different

You will probably know a little bit about the systems that are used during the SDLC, but they vary from company to company so you will most likely have to get familiar with a new system from scratch. Sometimes companies use a different system setup or add-on, so don’t panic. Everything will be explained prior you take control of your main job activities.

3.Getting familiar with the product/service at hand 

Your main responsibility from your first working day will be to know inside and out the software solution your team/company is developing and testing. This is crucial! You will have to learn every single thing about it – functionality, scalability, usability, system requirements, etc. You will have to be the most dedicated user of the solution in development.

It will help a lot if you write down everything you learn – passwords, development/testing environments, tasks workflow, FAQ documentation … Everything that will make your work easy in the long run. Just write everything down and remember to keep it absolutely safe. There are passwords involved. 😉

4.First steps

You will probably start with simple tests (e.g., logging in; logging out; searching). Keep in mind that you don’t know the product yet, so don’t expect anything major for testing at this point. Nevertheless, if you somehow think you have found a bug of some sort, forward it to your QA colleagues. Sometimes there are software solutions that have unusual behavior and it may not be a bug at all. If you can, just search through the Requirement Specifications for this specific functionality, so you can know for sure if this is or is not a bug. You might also join your mentor or one of your team colleagues and test a new functionality that has been developed recently or in the making. This way you will see the full process of testing – from planning a test to assigning a QA for this test to, last but not least, closing it after you have checked it for bugs.

5.Platforms and test environments

In the first days of your job as a Junior QA it is best to see all the environments that the software solution is being tested on – all types of devices and operation systems. If you don’t know some of them I recommend getting at least familiar with their main capabilities and functionalities. It is a good idea to ask someone to show you the ropes especially the ones that you find difficult or to watch some YouTube videos that will explain how it works and all the options that you may need to know.

6.The best that you can be

Keep in mind that it’s your mentors/team leads job to pick for you the tasks you can manage. After a while you will do the tests with less help from your colleagues. This is your goal after all – to work with confidence and have better results. This will come with time, so good luck with your new job as a Junior QA!

I will be glad if you share your experience on the topic in the comments section below or to answer your questions if you have any.