Why is testing so important? Some research has shown that for an international company, downtime caused by a failure can result in losses of up to $1-5 million per hour. This might make it a moot point how crucial testing is. Nevertheless, there are many myths and misconceptions about quality assurance.
"It seems like a simple task. "
One of the most common misconceptions about testing is that it is an easy task. In contrast, quality assurance professionals claim that it is a very difficult task, involving many software approaches and both manual and automated testing. It is important to note that testing is a way of detecting defects, which require a lot of effort to identify. First, the tester must get to know the software and then the QA team can start the testing process that is the base of quality assurance. It is therefore clear that quality assurance is essential for effective testing of any system or software - and it is not an easy task.
"Quality assurance does not require coding. "
Many people believe that testing does not require a high level of coding skills, but it should be remembered that this is a myth. A tester needs to be familiar with the commands and statements needed to write SQL queries used for database level operations, the technologies needed for automated testing - be it HTML, CSS, XPATH, Javascript or Unit test framework, the way CI systems work, as well as OS level scripts (e.g. Linux) and many other technical level things. The QA team can only write automated tests properly if they are familiar with the code language and the associated framework. This level of technical depth is not only helpful in developing test systems, but also in identifying software bugs in the design and solutions used.
"Human testers are now obsolete. "
Artificial intelligence solutions are evolving day by day and are becoming more and more prominent in various industries, including software testing. But this does not mean that human testers are becoming obsolete, even if AI models can perform a specific workflow. A real tester can think in systems, can see through complex operations, can take into account requirements (functional, non-functional), which AI cannot yet provide. In the longer term, it is conceivable that it will be able to generate test cases for domain-dependent use cases, whether manual or automated, but the devil is in the detail, so handling edge cases and negative cases that require creativity will presumably remain the domain of human software testers.
Are these really just myths?
Today, on average, less than 20% of resources are still focused on testing software under development. Therefore, it is necessary to address quality assurance from both the technical and management side to ensure that software development projects are delivered on time, within budget and at the desired quality.