Software development organizations need testers with high skill levels in a broad range of technical areas and application domains. Accordingly, we need a better understanding of how testers meet such skill demands in the practice of their role. This work aims to deepen the understanding of the typical tester role. We performed a thematic analysis of 19 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with software testers working in various industries. To investigate employers’ views on such roles, we conducted a thematic analysis of 400 job ads. From the interviews, we identified five subroles of software testers: domain-specific tester, test automation specialist, test infrastructure specialist, user experience tester, and test manager. Most of the practitioners preferred to develop skills and act in one subrole. In contrast, most of the job ads requested that testers act in multiple subroles. Our findings provide a deeper understanding of the tester role, which may guide testers in their acquisition of skills and employers in the recruiting of testers.

Abstract Although extensive research has been conducted on the characteristics of the agile developer, little attention has been given to the features of the software-testing role. This paper explores the human factors of the software testers working in agile projects through a qualitative study focusing on how these factors are perceived. We interviewed 22 agile software practitioners working in three international companies: 14 testers, five developers, and three designers. Additionally, we observed 11 meetings and daily work of 13 participants in one of the companies. Our findings show that the views on the human factors shaping the agile software tester’s role were crystallized into seven traits, which the agile team members saw as central for the software-testing role: the ability to see the whole picture, good communication skills, detail-orientation, structuredness, creativeness, curiosity, and adaptability. The testers spent half their day communicating and learned how to mitigate the fact that they had to bring bad news to other project members. They also facilitated communication between the business side and development. Based on our results, we propose the seven traits as dimensions to consider for organizations recruiting agile software testers, as well as a reference for IT and non-IT professionals considering a software-testing career.

Context: There is an indisputable industrial need for highly skilled individuals in the role of software testers. However, little is known about the educational background of these professionals, their first contact with the role, their preferences in acquiring skills, the impediments they face, and their perception of the software testing role. Objective: In the current paper, we report on the background, skills, learning preferences, and role profiles as described by professionals in software testing, spanning over a significant number of industries, countries, and software development models. Method: We conducted 19 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with software testing practitioners, across eight industries. We performed a content and thematic analysis of the collected data. Results: The practitioners in software testing had diverse educational backgrounds, and their first contact with the testing role was accidental. Exploratory testing was the preferred testing technique, while curiosity was identified as the most important feature in their skill set. Our respondents collaborated extensively with the developers, whom they perceived as a learning source and symbiotic work partner. Conclusion: The professionals in software testing described their skills as a rather undefined heap of knowledge, increasing with each work task. They used mainly informal and hands-on learning approaches. They found it necessary for education providers to present information on software testing. Generally, companies assisted them well in their skill development but need to allocate sufficient time for the learning. We identified five specialties of the role: product owner in testing, UX tester, DevOps tester, test-script automator, and test-process coordinator.

Developing software with high quality is challenging in distributed software development. The purpose of the current study is to investigate the testing skills and tools required in the ever-changing world of global software engineering, according to industrial needs. We analysed 500 job ads from 33 countries. The results show that a quarter of the testers and a fifth of developers are asked to work in distributed projects. The testers are asked to be highly skilled in a variety of test activities and tools, while the testing-skills demand for developers is low and somewhat vague. The profile of testers has a strong technical component in addition to the managerial one. Our findings show that employers need most that testers are competent in automated testing. Furthermore, the industry does not cover all aspects of testing with the demand for testers and developers. Surprisingly, neither role is asked to test the implementation of the general data protection requirements. Our study bridges the industrial needs and the practitioners' skill development process. Therefore, software testers can use our study as a reference point to enhance their skills. Employers should use our results to check their testing-skill coverage within the development teams. Tertiary education providers are encouraged to use our findings, to update the curriculum in the software development area.