The hows and whys of quality assurance automation

Last week our QA automation workshop sparked an interest among 3rd year computer science students at FOI. There was even a waiting list, but for technical and organisational reasons we could only offer 15 seats.

EFD experts Marko Horvat, Leon Lukman, and Mihael Andjel were the masters of ceremony. They explained the hows and the whys of quality assurance automation, an area expected to gain in importance in the years ahead.

In software development, more and more time goes towards testing. This is due to the growing number of functionalities that an average application has. Unsurprisingly, automated tests are becoming a necessity in the continuous delivery of digital products.

Our guys introduced students to the basic concepts in quality assurance, as well as the testing types and techniques. They explained automated tests and tools that can run them. Students also heard about the types of bugs and how to report them. There were opportunities for some practice and simulation, too. We challenged the group to find and report as many bugs as possible in a scenario that looked a lot like our real work environment. Their performance was great; the most successful bug hunters earned themselves presents.

Our guys also demonstrated how to run an automated test in the Cypress tool. Even though manual testing is still the most common, the value of automated testing is coming to the fore. Lately, many automated testing tools appeared, helping dev organisations improve software quality. Automated tests are scripts that simulate the ways users interact with an application. They aim to test as much functionality as possible, and they can reduce the need for manual testing.

Quality assurance plays a major role in the development of software products. It’s a step you never want to compromise on. If you care about your product quality, you will be both serious and thorough with your QA. It is the foundation of trust that clients place in a digital product and the organization behind it.

This workshop at Varazdin's Faculty of Informatics and Organization (FOI) was a part of their Workshops Days 2023. It is one in many activities and career events offered to students throughout the year, looking to help them prepare for the job market.

Participating in the education of the future experts is both a privilege and responsibility. We were happy to see the great interest in the topic, and we look forward to meeting again soon!