Today, I am interviewing Stefan Marian Oancea, QA Manager / Global QA Lead at NCR Corporation in Munich, Germany. Stefan has a degree in computer systems, geological engineering, and business administration. He worked as a QA Engineer and QA Lead. As a QA Lead, he is now hiring QA Engineers/Software Testers. He is the perfect person to tell us whether a QA Engineer/Software Tester needs a tech degree to be successful.
Hello Stefan, thank you for accepting my interview! I believe that it will help a lot of people to understand the in and outs of getting a Software Tester/QA Engineer job. As I saw in your LinkedIn, you have a broad study background including computer systems.
So it probably was not hard for you to get a QA Engineer job, right? Did your geology and business administration studies help you in your successful career as a QA Engineer/Software Tester and later as a QA Lead?
Hello Helena, thank you for the invitation. I would love to help people gain the confidence to enter this field of work. Especially, since the IT sector has become the most sought-after industry at present.
You might not believe it, but I started working in QA immediately after my first year of University. My family’s financial situation wasn’t the best after the economic crash of 2007-2008. Me going to university was a bit of a gamble for them. Long story short, I had to find a job.
At that particular moment, Electronic Arts were looking for entry-level testers for their night shift. This went together nicely with my university schedule, so I went for it. The only experience I had was the years of gaming that I spent growing up. The only things that helped me were my communication skills and the diligence that I showed; the geology and business management studies I had were useless.
Now you work as a QA Lead so I suppose you are participating in hiring new QA talents. Do you feel like it is hard in Germany to find good quality QA Engineers/Software Testers? And if so why?
At the moment the whole world is being governed by Corona and competent health organizations. As you might know, Europe was importing most of its workforce from outside the EU. Now being very hard to enter any European Union country, it feels like there is a shortage of good testers. These include those with good technical knowledge, understanding of business perspective, and willingness to communicate with the rest of the team proactively.
What kind of personality are you looking for in a QA Engineer/Software Tester usually? What personality types make a good QA Engineer/Software Tester in your opinion?
Usually, I like to work with people that are extroverted and outspoken. Being a tester is hard and from my experience, the testers are the black sheep of any project. People like to put the blame on them for any problems that may arise during the project, even the budget. The only way to survive and be actually liked by your fellow colleagues is to be constantly aware of everything that is going inside of a project and communicate loud and clear with all team members.
Do you have good experience with QA Engineers/Software Tester applicants with non-technical background? Are there any pros and cons to having a more versatile work experience in your opinion?
Depending on what area of a project they would test. If you have somebody that doesn’t have any technical background, you don’t assign them to back-end testing or something similar. Front-end testing could be done by anyone, even the end users are unofficial testers after all.
I have good experience with non-technical testers, they are usually the link between the guys doing the development and the business guys.
Is there a big difference in technical skills between QA Engineer/Software Tester with a technical and non-technical background?
I wouldn’t say it is a big difference. Just the range of tasks that a technical tester can do is a bit more vast, but that doesn’t mean that the non-technical testers don’t have some aces up their sleeves. Plus there is always the possibility that with some hard work you too can become more technical. Just make sure to learn the tools that are being used on the project.
Is there a way to recognize whether a person without a tech background will have a hard time to learn technical skills? Could you check that in the interview?
Usually, if you ask what the last thing they learned recently was. If they say nothing or can’t answer a follow-up question about the thing they just learned, it is a pretty good indicator that they won’t be interested in learning something new.
Do you feel like having a testing certification helps to become a successful QA Engineer/Software Tester when not having a tech background? If so which one?
Personally, I don’t have any certificates other than the ones I got from LinkedIn. From what I’ve heard any Agile and ISTQB level certificate will help you get noticed.
Would you hire young people right after high school too if they are interested in IT, have some pet projects online, and are curious, but no degree and not much other work experience?
In my hometown, in the 3rd year of technical high school, there is a special module that assigns jobs to high schoolers depending on their class’s profile. I was in a telecommunication class. So every Wednesday I would work at a local IT repair shop for 6 hours. In the beginning, I was just cleaning laptops and doing basic software installation. So things weren’t very complicated but helped me get some work experience. I would totally hire anyone if they can pass a simple practical test and show that they are interested.
What is the one thing (if there is one) that the QA Engineer/Software Tester candidate should not mention in the interview? For example, I heard that some candidates said that they just wanted to try testing or they wanted to do testing only to become developers etc. Would that make an influence how you decide about such a candidate?
Well, I’ll be honest about this, it really depends on the project and how many people we need. I’ve had situations where this was an actual plus. For instance, a while ago I was a team lead at Electronic Arts, working on their FIFA title. During the summer we needed a huge number of testers, but only for 3 months. In that case, wanting to try out testing is a good thing.
But in my opinion, just try not to be cocky and tell me you’ve seen everything in software – because you haven’t.
Is there anything else you would like to add that could help prospective QA candidates without a tech background when looking for a software testing job?
Don’t be afraid to give it a try and don’t shy away from entry-level, low-paying QA jobs; they can be a gateway to a whole new environment. Every person has a unique way of perceiving quality. You just need to get in the position to make yourself heard. Also since we are living in Covid times and remote work is always welcomed, try platforms such as utest or usertest. It is a good starting point to see if you like the job without having to prove yourself in the hiring process.
Thank you so much for making time to answer these questions. I believe that your input will help a lot of people!!!
Thank you for reaching out Helena, I hope that my answers give people some hope and confidence to pursue a career in this field.
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