How to Get a Quality Assurance Job in Nepal

A Quality Assurance Engineer is responsible for ensuring that the product and service meet the eligibility standards set by the company through various phases like inspecting and proposing measures. Although the responsibility may differ based on the particular company, usually, the core duty of a Quality Assurance (QA) engineer is to maintain overall quality control of the products by adhering to reliability performance and customers expectations. One with a QA job in Nepal has a managerial role or a directorship role with the flux of company reputation. 

A qualified Software QA engineer in Nepal compiles the software before its launch and finds bugs, then extracts the report for further review. To get a QA job in Nepal, one must have valuable skills in meticulous, excellent verbal and written communication, managerial, and analytical skills are the most important among these. Companies shortlist Bachelor graduated Quality Assurance (QA) engineers rather than undergraduates.

What is a Quality Assurance Engineer?

Quality Assurance Engineer (SQA) is responsible for monitoring every phase of software production and finding bugs, then handover the report for further action. Software quality assurance is a stalwart employee that plays a vital role in meeting deadlines and staying within the allocated budget to continue the organization's workflow. SQA assurance is an umbrella activity that is credible to customer expectations in performance and value.

What Does Quality Assurance Engineer do?

Software Quality Assurance engineers regularly work for more than 40 hours per week in an office or in a computer lab with some additional nights depending upon the workload. SQAs can stay long, sitting in front of a computer typing and programming codes.

Some companies have entertainment infrastructure to keep employees focused on their work after being refreshed. The employees get away from the computer as they get mentally tired because software quality assurance engineers have to work continuously sitting in front of a computer screen which causes them eye strain and headache.

Responsibilities of Quality Assurance Engineer

The responsibilities of Software Quality Assurance can be comprehensive and diversified. They have to compose the following task daily:

1. Creates test plans and cases based on research and analysis per the test requirements.
2. Perform Grey Box testing, Black Box testing, Stress testing, and security testing.
3. Understand Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) and contribute to the improvement.
4. Assist development team in performing test campaigns as per required.
5. Analyze the software through the implementation of various testing methods.
6. Communicate regularly with developers, and play an important role in enforcing testing & validation of operational procedures.
7. Review of software technical design document and verify for further process. 
8. Identify bugs' overall life cycle management to make the software long-lasting and maintainable. 
9. Command the developer team to explain processes and request to conduct a software running test.

Scope of Quality Assurance in Nepal

QA engineers can also execute different responsibilities within a certain project. There are four main designations in a QA specialist role i.e. Test Analyst, Test Designer, Test Executor, and Test Manager. The roles of the QA engineer specialist are mentioned below:

• Test Analyst

Test Analyst is responsible for static testing of requirements and verifying them for completeness and continuity. 

• Test Designer

Test Designer is responsible for creating sets of tests based on the firm’s requirements and plans configurations that are essential for testing.

• Test Executor

Test Executors are responsible for executing the test program designed by the test designer. Test Executor performs documentation to find the bugs in testing and suggest change/fix them.

• Test Manager

Test Managers are responsible for monitoring and managing the testing process and procedure within following the protocol. Test managers are supposed to make complete the testing process by meeting the deadline.

How to Start a Career as a Quality Assurance Engineer?

One of the crucial stages for QA Engineering in Nepal is parallel to getting yourself skilled both in soft skills (non-technical skills) and hard skills (specific technical skills). Quality Assurance Engineer is a high-grade profession that anyone from random background can’t pursue the career.

One has to invest a lot of time and effort to become a master in the field. In order to be a successful Quality Assurance Engineer following is the complete roadmap:

Learn Coding

The first step of becoming a Software Quality Assurance Engineer is to learn to code. At this phase, the route that you choose to learn coding determines your pace of learning. You can learn the following in-demand programming languages to add value:

1. Python
2. JavaScript
3. Bootstrap
4. jQuery
5. MERN

Refine Soft Skill

Soft skills are non-technical skills but they are an annex of the SQA profession. Professionals with refined soft skills can empathize and really understand the client's needs and values which can go a long way to producing a successful end product. Understanding the client’s priorities is an indispensable part of displaying empathy. Some of the other soft skills that make a Software Quality Assurance Engineer more bolt in the career are as below:

1. Empathy
2. Attention to details
3. Strong communication skill
4. Problem-solving skills
5. Systematic thinking
6. Autonomy
7. The broad range of expertise
8. Time management skill

Develop Hard Skills

Software QA engineers must have to use different technical skills to get success in their chosen careers. Along with programming skills, there are many other career-driving hard skills that an SQA needs to learn which makes to become more proficient at testing overall. Some of the software that SQA must be able to operate with efficiently is as below:

1. Blackbox software testing
2. Satisfice
3. The Association of Software Testing

Get Certified

There are the top five shortlisted QA certification programs, and among them, you can pick one and get certified. You don’t have to choose more than one platform to get the certification. After certification from a world-renowned organization, you will add more value to the profession. Here is the list of the certification programs, you can go through to become certified:

1. International Software Testing Qualifications Board (ISTQB)
2. Certified Manager of Software Quality (CMSQ)
3. Certified Software Test Engineer (CSTE)
4. Certified Software Quality Analyst (CSQA)
5. Certified Associate in Software Testing (CAST)

Build Your Portfolio

After becoming certified Quality Assurance Engineers, it’s time to build a stellar portfolio. It is one of the tools that is fully functional to showcase the process of past working experience. It is compulsory to build a catchy portfolio to stand out in an interview. The online presence of your testing and technical skill can make a difference in whether you get the offer or not. Here’s the outline to build a catchy portfolio for Software Quality Assurance Engineers:

1. Write a test scenario/cases
2. Report bugs you encountered
3. Perform accessibility testing
4. Get familiar with Jira and Asana
5. Start a blog in WordPress
6. Make videos and post them on LinkedIn and YouTube
7. Code your resume and post it on GitHub
8. Write a basic cypress test
9. Display and promote your personal brand through different social media

Search for job

  After all, things are done, search for jobs. Browse different job portals and apply. Make an excel sheet where you’ve applied, then analyze and decide which company will better suit for your future career prospect.

Note Arrange all the documents in a proper manner before applying for jobs.

 In the context of Nepal, Software Quality Testing jobs are easy to get, and the market is also expanding with the flux of industry 4.0 (current industrial revolution).

 Once you have all the essential knowledge and skills to become a QA engineer in Nepal, you are now ready to start a career in Quality Assurance. Below are the steps you can follow to get a QA job in Nepal;

1. Enroll in Software Quality Assurance (SQA) certification course/program.
2. Along with course parallelly sharp your practical knowledge.
3. Apply for an internship in well and reputed company
4. Prepare and update essential documents like CV Resume, Statement of purpose, portfolio, experience certificate, educational certificate, etc.
5. Browse SQAs jobs from different job portals (e.g., JobAxle, MeroJob)
6. Shortlist the companies with high potential growth for both parties (company and you).
7. Be prepared for further process and interview.
8. Arrive company for an interview at the proper time. (Time is more important for SQA because they will be responsible for meeting the project's deadline. So, don't make your impression bad at the beginning.)
9. Congratulations! you are successful in initiating a professional career.

In order to initiate the career, one should have to be certified from an educational institute, apply for internships for numerous tech companies and shortlist them. At the end of your internship, consult the human resource department of the concerned company on whether to go further for the job over there, or you can take your internship certificate and apply for software QA engineer jobs in Nepal.

Where to Learn Quality Assurance?

Learning a QA course is one of the most crucial things and the first step to becoming a Quality Assurance Engineer. In choosing any educational institute for the course, one must be careful and brainstorm for a long time. After enrolling in any educational institute, Quality Assurance should feel that he/she should be equipped efficiently. Otherwise, the pressure of the course will be stressy, which affects the enhancement of the skill set of the trainee. If you choose an inappropriate educational institute, that result in lots of drawbacks like:

1. Trainee can't be able to focus on the course content; he/she feels that it is very hard to study Software Quality Assurance.
2. You'll be evaluated beyond your capacity at the end of your course.
3. You lose interest in the field if the lecturer's teaching methodology is old and outdated.
4. You can't be able to properly communicate with the institute authority if there is no friendly environment.
5. If you don't research and consult with experts, you are compelled to pay high fees for the course.

 Where Do You Find QA Jobs in Nepal?

Software Quality Assurance Engineer SQA) is a highly reputed professional with sensitive duties to compile before the software launch. There is also freedom, entertainment, and sensitive duties in the job. After getting certified in the QA course in Nepal, you can browse JobAxle where you can find better QA job vacancies and internships. JobAxle is a platform that is popular among tech enthusiasts who wants an IT career in Nepal. You can find a variety of jobs related to Quality Assurance at JobAxle.