QA/Testing has become one of the most lucrative and prominent career paths in the IT industry. There are plenty of growth opportunities in the best IT companies that you can achieve in this profession. These individuals have to oversee the quality assurance process of a product or service to make sure that it abides by the industry or organizational standards.
In fact, they have to indulge themselves in testing, develop risk mitigation strategies, and collaborate with the product team to suggest further improvements. In this blog, we are going to learn about the transition process to land a management or leadership role in QA.
Before we learn about the process, we should know a little bit about the job role
Who is a QA Team Lead?
A QA Team lead is a technical professional who manages or leads the quality assurance team of a software development organization. They have the responsibility to analyze services and products to ensure the quality standards of the organization and the market. S/he has to develop, implement, and manage test plans in the QA process.
This high-level job role requires years of industry experience and effective leadership skills. The roles and responsibilities of a QA team lead might differ according to different companies, clients, and market trends. However, these are some key roles and responsibilities expected from a QA team lead;
Drafting QA Test Plans
A qualified QA team lead is expected to draft effective testing procedures by determining the quality metrics and strategies.
Instructing and Mentoring
A QA team lead has the responsibility of instructing a team about the quality metrics and testing strategies for specific projects.
Providing Feedback
The QA teams of a software development company rely on the feedback of a QA manager to mention corrections or improvements for the product or service.
Collaborating with the Management
A QA team lead has to constantly collaborate with the management team to provide updates about the project status.
Top Skills Required to Become a QA Team Lead
A quality assurance team of software development entirely depends on a team leader to delegate tasks and take charge whenever necessary. Thus, the team leader must possess several skills to ensure a successful work environment and an effective testing process. These are some of the most important skills to gain if you want to become a QA Team lead;
Expertise in Quality Assurance
This is quite obvious if you want to get into a management or leadership position. You must have years of experience with quality assurance, different processes, and procedures. Furthermore, you have to be well-versed in test management and project management software. Then only you will be able to provide guidance to the team members.
Excellence Communication Skills
Any management requires good communication skills to effectively communicate and lead the team. In QA testing, it is very important to delegate the tasks across the team to ensure maximum productivity. Effective communication skills help in providing better feedback, recognizing good performance, answering questions, and maintaining morale in the organization.
Top-Notch Organizational Skills
A QA lead must have the best organizational skills to ensure the efficient completion of complex quality assurance projects. In fact, they have to set schedules, review the work of each team member, assess risks, and coordinate with the management team. Thus, it will be very important to polish your communication skills and project management skills.
Adaptability
When you are leading a team of QA professionals, you must be aware of the roles of individual members. In fact, some of them have to multitask if there are multiple projects at once. You must have adaptable to the constant changes in your roles and responsibilities while leading a team of QA professionals. A software automation testing course from LSET can help you develop the most relevant industry skills and Fastrack your career to become a skilled QA team lead. Adaptability is an important skill to overcome critical challenges faced in the QA process.
Leadership Skills
Being a manager or a leader requires effective leadership skills. In fact, the individual has to lead an entire team of QA professionals. Only effective coordination can improve the activities and productivity of the team. Good leadership skills will enable you to take accountability for all the members of your team.
Deep Industry Knowledge
Knowledge is everything in this field because your organization will expect you to lead a team of multiple QA professionals. Thus, you have to be constantly updated with the latest quality assurance standards, software, and practices. This in-depth knowledge will greatly help you in developing the most effective testing strategies and guiding your team.
The Process to Become a QA Manager/Team Leader
You might have started your career in QA analysis and want to progress further to become a QA manager. Continue reading the blog to learn how you can obtain this job role and everything about career transition.
You might learn about the critical skills, qualifications, and the time it takes to become a successful QA manager.
Achieve a Degree
Degrees do have significant value when it comes to impressing top employers. Thus, you should earn a Bachelor’s degree in computer science or any related field. This would make you a competitive candidate in the job market.
During the process of obtaining the degree, you should focus on learning industry-specific skills. This would be very helpful in enabling you to apply for entry-level positions just after completing the degree. Moreover, a software automation testing course from LSET can be a very sensible decision to make you job-ready.
Choosing a Specialization
As a QA manager, you will need to work on a specialization in your field. In fact, before starting your career, you must decide which part of QA is the most interesting for you. This would greatly help you make important career decisions once you get started in the workplace.
Starting an Entry-Level Position as a QA Manager
Once you have started your career in QA analysis, it will take a couple of years to master the skills and gain relevant experience. You can start looking for entry-level positions as a QA manager in small enterprises. This would give you the best relevant experience and growth opportunities to target big corporations.
Advancing Your Career as a QA Manager
After gaining sufficient experience in a small enterprise as a QA manager, you should be aiming for big corporations. It might be necessary to obtain additional qualifications such as a Master’s Degree in computer science or any related field. Moreover, a certificate course in software automation testing can be very beneficial to equip yourself with advanced knowledge and industry skills.
Salary and Job Outlook of Quality Assurance Manager
The average salary of a QA manager or team lead might vary by industry. However, the average salary is around 68,420.08 GBP according to PayScale. It is an ideal job role for dedicated tech-savvy people who have impeccable project management skills, leadership skills, communication skills, and expertise in the quality assurance process.
Top Reasons to Become a QA Manager
There are several on why you should consider progressing your career to become a QA manager. Below are some of the most prominent reasons;
Diverse Job Possibilities
This lucrative career path is suitable for professionals from various IT backgrounds. Thus, it gives more growth opportunities to regular IT professionals to become QA managers.
A Lot of Scope for Growth
Since it is a high-level leadership position, you will get career advancement if you are an ambitious individual. You will find many professional skill development opportunities and become to climb the corporate ladder.
Diverse Skillset
Actually, this job role is not entirely technical. In fact, you will need a lot of other soft skills such as communication skills, negotiation skills, analytical thinking skills, and more.
Rewarding Career
Software companies work on a variety of digital products on a daily basis. Thus, individuals involved in the QA process have the opportunity to explore interesting and challenging tasks every day. In fact, they will find plenty of new things to learn by becoming a QA manager.
Strong Community of Like-Minded Individuals
Being a QA professional in the software industry means becoming a part of a huge robust and supportive community. You will find thousands of like-minded people who are passionate about becoming QA managers and professionals. Platforms like Reddit, StackOverflow, and Twitter are some of the best-known platforms to find talented people who love to discuss tech.
Joining a Software Automation Testing Certificate Course
The software industry is rapidly changing with increasingly complex and large applications. Automated testing has a huge demand in the market. Thus, a career in QA can be very lucrative with high packages and great learning opportunities. You can enrol in the LSET Software Automation Testing course to build industry-relevant skills, explore the latest tools and technologies, and become job-ready from day one of completing the certificate course. We empower students with project-based learning to make the learning process as practical as possible.