Software Tester or Software Quality Assurance Engineer profession came into existence in early nineties. There was no job in the IT industry for software testing prior to early nineties, but now the new jobs are steadily emerging all across the globe.
The graph for the software testing professionals has soared much higher than anyone can guess. It is interesting to know that there is no undergraduate degree course for the software testing in the accredited colleges. Here, if you want to get trained in this field, then there are just a few small voluntary schools available in some areas. And, these non-accredited schools fill the vacuum of thousands of the professionals in demand by the top-notch software companies. Among the software testers working for the big software giants, there is a major ratio of the professionals, who do not have a degree either in computer science or related fields, such as Mathematics or Electronics. The reason behind this is that one can be an excellent tester even if he or she has a professional or educational background in subjects such as languages, biology, health sciences, mechanical sciences, music, accounting, psychology or economics and so on. If you have done a short-term programming course, your chances of getting higher salaries increase manifolds. The companies prefer the candidates with knowledge of programming because a software tester with basic programming skills helps the companies to save time and efforts on re-programming.
Do you know why software testing has become so attractive to the aspirants from all other fields, striving to enter the computer industry? Here are the reasons:
The knowledge and professional experience in the subject
People with background in microbiology, pharmaceuticals, medicine, and biochemistry fields made the best software testers for companies operating as software for pharmaceutical, healthcare, and medical research companies. Here, a working knowledge of professional area in the subject will produce a better tester than a computer professional, who has in-depth knowledge and skills of computer programming. To become a better software tester, the programming skills do not count as much as the professional skills and good knowledge of the subject does. You will find hundreds of software testers with experience of accounting, banking, finance, statistics, or economics.
It is easy to learn the profession
What all required to be a professional software tester is hard work and determination to learn the required skills. People with good aptitude and understanding can learn it with 100 to 150 hours of training. Although, there are thousands of professional software testers in the market, who have not even taken a formal professional training of software testing. You are required to have sound knowledge of your chosen subject and the basic computer skills to perfect yourself in the profession of software testing. However, a short-term course in programming will help you to find the errors and rectify them yourself and will help the company to save its productive time and efforts.
Age is not a factor of much concern
The age is not a bar to enter the field of software testing. If a pharmacist in the age of his fifties wants to join the programming or testing job after taking some classes in programming, there are good chances for him to get a suitable job with a software company. Already, it has been witnessed that many people have successfully obtained a job in software testing after doing the required professional training.
Good salaries are paid to software testers
Although, the testers get the salaries less than the programmers but if you have a good marketing strategy, you can even get an amount as much as $ 100,000 per year with in few years of experience. The beginners with a college degree in subjects (not necessarily the computer science) can easily get more than $ 40,000 per year at the entry level.
Companies are offering sponsorship to software testers
The companies are offering to sponsor H – 1B visas for the foreign nationals in the field of software testing. There is a large number of foreign nationals entering the software testing profession, which spouses are already working in the United States and hold the H4 visas. These people are highly educated and are willing to work.
So, there is a good scope in the field of software testing. The industry is growing at a good pace and every day new opportunities are emerging. You just need to have a hard worker and passionate about working, you will have good remuneration and a nice working environment.