Today we will visit Kuwait in the series of my interviews with QA Leads/Managers about whether a tech degree is necessary for a successful QA Engineer/Software Tester career.
Amro Mohamed Rustom is a Software QA Automation Engineer at Diyar United Company in Kuwait and he was a QA Lead at Tawseel eCommerce Group. Amro has a degree in computer science and worked as QA Engineer and QA Lead in multiple companies in Kuwait and he has wide experience in software testing. This will be an amazing opportunity for us to find out from Amro whether a tech degree is necessary to get a QA Engineer/Software Tester position in Kuwait.
Hello Amro, 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 tech background so it probably was not hard for you to get a QA Engineer job, right? Do you still remember your first QA Engineer job interview?
Hello Helen, thank you too. Actually yes, my technical background and academic study helped me to find my first job in the information technology field. I was working with a big team as technical support for ERP systems. Then I shifted to a QA position in the same company because there was a big leak in this critical role and it was affecting customer satisfaction at that time. So my first interview questions were for a technician and related to programming rather. I learned my QA skills by dealing with technical issues and customers’ business.
Now as a QA Lead I suppose you are participating in hiring new QA talents. Do you feel like it is hard in Kuwait to find good quality QA Engineers/Software Testers? And if so why?
You are right, it is a little hard to find a good QA Engineer with both experience and skills which you are looking for, like automation testing for example. The Kuwait market is not that big which is another problem. QA Engineers should be ready for nonstop learning, either learning new technologies or new business. As a QA Lead, I’m focused on automation testing and programming skills when I participate in hiring new QAs. I also check the skills of the QA Engineers/Software Tester candidates.
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?
The main character is to have a big ability to learn new technologies and new business models. Candidates need to have a good understanding and analytical mind. QA Engineers/Software Testers need to be able to deal with different roles in SDLC, focus on details, analyze defects and find bugs, have problem-solving skills, good communication skills, and not be nervous or neural.
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?
Quality Assurance is a concept and a set of skills. It is about practicing those skills. Candidates in software testing have to possess the ability to learn, research, and self-study. That means some kind of technical background in the software field should be there. At least a course or training with certifications like ISTQB for example.
Is there a big difference in technical skills between QA Engineer/Software Tester with a technical and non-technical background?
Sure there is a difference, especially if we are comparing between two QAs on the same level (eg. fresh graduates). On the other hand, skills are earned. So the individual success of a candidate in software testing will depend mainly on their personality.
In comparison, a software tester with a technical academic background who is not developing their skills and updating their knowledge of software testing tools will usually fail. So again, it depends completely on the personality.
Is there a way to recognize whether a person without a tech background will have a hard time learning technical skills? Could you check that in the interview?
Usually, the interview will not be enough to determine this specified skill. I can give the candidate a small task, and notice their way of thinking to search and solve it. I can also check the approach the candidate used to execute the task.
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?
Not the certifications but mainly the training for them is useful. Since QA is a concept and a set of skills I prefer to have training within a team for a specific project or training with a professional trainer at least. This helps the team increase their QA knowledge and skills together and adds value to the team’s QA know-how. In my opinion, the training for ISTQB and Agile Certified Practitioner training are very good.
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 on how you decide about such a candidate?
No, even this thinking (to do testing to become a developer) is not that bad to reject a candidate for. Software testing and development are close to each other and complement each other. Both are critical in the development life cycle. Testers with developers are one team working on the same project. It is ok if the software tester wants to become a developer in the future.
Is there anything else you would like to add that could help prospective QA candidates without tech background when looking for a software testing job?
Increase your knowledge in the technology field, read more, practice more.
Thank you so much for making time to answer these questions. I believe that your input will help a lot of people!!!
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