What is a QA engineer: Responsibilities, job roles, salary and more

The increasing need for cyber security has increased the demand for Quality Assurance engineers in the software industry. These skilled professionals are at the helm of delivering high-quality software and ensuring regulatory compliance. They identify and find appropriate solutions to any potential bugs or defects in software products, systems, and services to be delivered to clients. QA engineers play a critical role in the entire lifecycle of software development, emphasizing finding and preventing defects, rather than fixing them at later stages.  

This blog defines the exact QA engineer job description, job roles in the domain, and the expected annual pay scale. 

What is a QA Engineer?

A Quality Assurance or QA Engineer is a skilled professional who is responsible for ensuring that software products and systems comply with the defined quality standards. They check the functioning of all software before they are released to the end users. QA engineers are also responsible for identifying any malfunctioning in software products and ensuring that they are fixed before the products go live. In other words, QA engineers make sure that the software is fully functional, reliable, and user-friendly before it reaches the end user.

Roles & responsibilities of a QA Engineer

Now that we understand who exactly a QA Engineer is, let us move on to learning a little more about what they do. Given below are some of the key QA engineer responsibilities that essentially define their role in the software and IT industry:

• Identifying defects and bugs in software products using tracking tools, reporting them during the testing stage, and documenting them
• Designing comprehensive plans for testing, including defining the schedule of the proposed testing activities
• Conducting a thorough analysis of the testing results to identify potential improvement areas
• Performing both manual and automated testing to improve the efficiency of the process and mitigate any risks in the process
• Conducting regular audits to check regulatory compliance of products and systems, and identify any potential issues in the early stages of the software development cycle
• Collaborate with product managers, developers, and the concerned stakeholders to clearly understand requirements before initiating work on them
• Write scripts for facilitating the automation of repetitive tests, thereby improving efficiency  

Skills required for a QA Engineer

QA Engineers generally require a combination of analytical, technical, and interpersonal skills to perform their jobs well. Here are some of the most demanded skills that are required in QA engineer job roles:

• Analytical skills – A keen eye for detail and the ability to identify and resolve issues
• Technical skills – Using tools for test automation such as JUnit, Selenium, and TestNG, a keen understanding of the software development lifecycle, knowledge of programming and scripting languages, such as Python, Java, C#, and JavaScript, and understanding of SQL queries 
• Testing skills – Automated testing, security testing, manual testing, and performance testing
• Interpersonal skills – Collaborating with cross-functional departments, communicating with product managers, developers, and other project stakeholders, and negotiating for defect resolution with development teams
• A keen eye for detail – QA engineers must be meticulous in their approach to work, with a keen eye to identify any minute defects in the software  

Importance of a QA Engineer

Let us briefly understand the role of a QA engineer in an organization and how they contribute to the IT and software industry.

As stated earlier, a QA Engineer plays a significant role in the software development lifecycle. They are responsible for ensuring that the final product complies with the required quality standards.

Here are some ways in which they contribute to this role:

• Facilitating cost efficiency by identifying and fixing bugs or defects in the product at the early stages of development
• Assisting in risk management processes for the organization
• Ensuring regular legal compliance with specified quality standards 
• Conducting regular improvement processes for the organization
• Assuring the excellent quality of the final product 

QA Engineer salary in India

The average QA engineer salary in 2024 has been defined as approximately INR 6,50,000 per annum. This is indicative only and likely to vary for different professionals from one job to another. It may also differ for different locations and industries, as well as based on the skills and certifications or experience earned by the individual.  

Why pursue an online MCA from Sikkim Manipal University

Sikkim Manipal University (SMU) offers its MCA program in 100% online mode via the Online Manipal platform. The course is dedicated to equipping students with desirable skills in advanced programming languages, AI, computer applications, and deep learning. The course is ideal for students and working professionals alike, offering them the much-needed flexibility to carry on with their jobs while equipping themselves with the most desirable skills in the industry, required for advancing in their career paths. 

The online MCA program is also designed in a way to enable graduates to find rewarding job roles in QA Engineering and many other IT-related domains. These include software development, database administration, systems analysis, and more. Graduates of the program learn advanced technical skills that are useful in both the public and private sectors, research organizations, and academia. 

Some of the subjects covered as part of the online MCA curriculum include Java programming, database management systems, fundamentals of computers & IT, computer organization and architecture, python programming, data warehousing and data mining, and mobile application development. Sikkim Manipal is accredited by NAAC and its online MCA program is UGC-entitled. Sikkim Manipal University was also recognized among the top 101-150 universities in 2023.  It has also been ranked as no. 1 in Private Universities in the North East and stands among the top leading universities showcasing entrepreneurial spirit.  

Conclusion

This blog is aimed at highlighting a general QA engineer career overview to help you understand the prerequisites for becoming one in India. QA engineers are skilled in the task of ensuring quality, efficient performance, and reliability of a software product in the software development lifecycle. It is a responsible job that requires a deep level of trust and confidence, but can also be highly rewarding. 

The high standards of quality that QA engineers help maintain result in overall customer satisfaction, which in turn puts them in high demand in the job market among companies. QA engineers are therefore essential to bridge the gap between the process of developing software and the experience that the end user is put through. Software products and services with the highest quality standards inevitably create happy customers which is a win-win for the business and the end users both.

Take the first step on this lucrative career path with an online MCA program by Sikkim Manipal University on the Online Manipal platform. The two-year course is perfect for students seeking career advancement in the dynamic computer science and IT industries. Sikkim Manipal is renowned for offering quality learning and unique methods of teaching students by offering a well-structured online curriculum to remote learners. Boost your career in IT and QA engineering and develop cutting-edge skills with a fully online learning experience from Sikkim Manipal University’s online MCA course.