What is a QA Tester?

It seems when people ask me what is it I do, and I tell them (especially if they do not work in the IT field), they smile and respond with, "Ok... and what is that exactly?"

I was not always a QA Tester. After graduation I worked as a Software Engineer, and half a year later, I decided that coding all day long in a cube was not for me. So I went in search for that perfect computer-related job that fit me better. A few various IT-related jobs later and after talking to one of my dearest relatives, I discovered a job I knew I would enjoy - Quality Assurance Testing.

What does it involve exactly? To glamorize it, it would be equivalent to those individuals that test out video game software to make sure there are no problems - or "bugs" - in it. Then of course if the person I am talking to knows what a QA Tester is then, the next question I get asked is, "Ooh! So do you like get to play all those new video games?" Uhhh... no.

I have done testing of various applications - most of which include medical software. It may sound dull, but I actually really do enjoy it! Being a QA Tester makes you think how the client would be using the application. It forces you to think how the real end-user would operate with your program. Would a user really be clicking a lot on those "Search" and "Help" buttons? Is that a priority for them? And what would they expect to find there? What functionality would they love if you added to your program? Are you missing anything?

The jobs of a QA Tester go through various cycles: from getting new software builds from the Engineering teams, testing their builds, finding any defects, reporting any new, existing or old defects, and receiving new builds with the supposed fixes. Then, the cycle starts over with testing again. When the final, bug-free build is available, it goes through a final phase of regression testing, where you do a full cycle of testing the application. And lastly, your product is ready to be delivered to the customer.