Top QA Trends and Essential Skills for 2024 | QA Academy

7 QA trends for 2021 (2024 updated)

What software testing trends will rule the QA industry in 2021 and what skills should a QA engineer develop to remain in demand? Look for answers in our article.

Due to the global situation, the importance of high-quality digital products, shortened time to market, and optimized budget is growing by leaps and bounds. Today users have plenty of software solutions at their disposal, all tailored to ease lockdown.

What do companies undertake to attract the audience and make them choose the desired items? Pitch on software testing. Now, a QA engineer is probably an indispensable player in a team. And it’s no wonder.

With that in mind, we’ve compiled the list of the sought-after QA trends that will foster industry evolution and help develop products meeting the needs of the most fastidious users.

1. Implementation of machine learning and artificial intelligence

These technologies allow for the formation of a complex ecosystem, so interest in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) continues to grow.

More and more companies will rely on AI or ML in their QA strategy this year, as they’ll allow building processes that require a minimum of human control. Another advantage is using artificial intelligence or machine learning solutions to predict possible defects.

The implementation of this trend will optimize the work of the QA team and ensure the delivery of high-quality code.

2. Exploring the possibilities of IoT

The idea of combining various objects into a single network is called the Internet of Things (IoT). The concept has been booming over the past few years, but with the widespread adoption of 5G, we should expect a new surge of interest in it.

To effectively test solutions based on this technology, you should pay attention to scalability, adaptability, and performance. Modeling and analysis of a wide range of combinations of possible ecosystem devices play a significant role.

3. Mobile testing

During the total lockdown, users all over the world set a new record for the download of mobile apps with educational and entertainment content. Such rapidly growing interest is naturally followed by an increase in expectations.

Now users want to have functional software that works efficiently and ensures the security of confidential information. Localization and UX testing also contribute to overall products success.

4. Agile implementation

Agile methodologies are not new. But 2021 is expected to accelerate the transition to these approaches for all those who paid insufficient attention to process optimization.

The advantage of Agile is that the technical business teams collaborate so that developers and QA engineers represent a single entity. To easily fit in such a project, it is useful for a tester to have strong communication skills and continuously interact with the team members and the customer. Studying at the Academy’s courses will help to form basic communication skills and improve English level.

5. Test automation

It is another long-running trend that does not lose its relevance. Automation allows you to reduce the number of checks performed by a QA specialist and optimize processes.

A significant trend will be to find a balance between manual and automated checks to avoid hyper-automation. After all, tests run by a computer can handle more information, but being programmed prevents them from detecting non-trivial system errors.

It is expected that next year companies will give preference to engineers who not only know how to write autotests but are deeply immersed in the context of the industry of the software product under test. You can master the necessary skills on a specialized course at the QA Academy.

6. Security testing

Active digital transformation allows us to entrust dozens of tasks and operations to software products. We use apps every day for financial transactions, communication, health care, and education. It increases our digital footprint as we trust computers with gigabytes of personal information. Unsurprisingly, software security requirements are growing exponentially.

Another factor driving this trend is the massive shift to work from home. Companies need to ensure that corporate data is secure and resilient to possible cyber-attacks.

Therefore, security testing will become a trend next year. QA specialists will have to carry out many checks, including identification of:

  • Server-side bugs
  • Client-side defects
  • “Bottlenecks” of authentication and authorization mechanisms.

7. Supporting an integrated approach

Within the framework of this direction, a QA strategy is created based on the requirements of specific software. This year, testing teams will be created after an in-depth analysis of the requirements for a software product. This means that experts from different QA areas will have to work together.

This approach helps to save time for quality assurance specialists and avoid unnecessary iterations. It also allows a series of reviews to be run in parallel to each other, which shortens the lead time.

Testers will increasingly have to work in mixed teams, where experts with different competencies collaborate.

Summing up

Information technology is developing rapidly and changing the world around us. New approaches to organizing work, continuous improvement of the digital services industry, and automation of familiar processes are all integral components of the present.
But such a rapid integration of IT solutions into our daily life creates ever higher user requirements. The software is expected to maintain high performance, remain functional, and resistant to cyber-attacks.

Quality assurance helps ensure the attractiveness and effectiveness of software products. In the new year, the QA industry expects active development, the active introduction of novel technologies, and the search for answers to new challenges.

Quality engineers have to take another technological step forward. If you want to join the development of this industry and master a new interesting job, sign up for software testing courses.

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