Stojanka Danilović: QA inžinjeri čuvaju obraz firme! / Stojanka Danilovic: QA engineers protect company's reputation!

U toku procesa razvoja softvera posebna pažnja se posvećuje njegovom kvalitetu. Kvalitet je jedan od ključnih faktora, jer je direktno povezan sa svim oblastima razvoja, a on definiše i kako je softver dizajniran i razvijen. O kvalitetu softvera, načinima testiranja, kao i situaciji u BiH po pitanju QA razgovarali smo sa našom stipendisticom i budućom QA inženjerkom Stojankom Danilović, koja zajedno sa nekoliko prijatelja organizuje meetupe softver testera iz BiH.

Stojanka, možeš li nam reći šta je to Quality Assurance?

QA (Quality Assurance), kao što i sama riječ kaže, je osiguranje kvaliteta nečega. Software QA je osiguranje kvaliteta softvera. QA inženjer (tester) obezbjeđuje kvalitet softvera njegovim testiranjem. Naš posao je da tražimo greške ili popularno rečeno "bagove" (bugs) tj. da tražimo sve one stvari koje ne daju očekivani rezultat i da preventivno djelujemo na njih kako se te greške dalje ne bi ponavljale. Postoji manuelno i automatsko testiranje, black box i white box testiranje, integracijsko testiranje, regresija, agilno testiranje, testiranje performansi, sistema, itd. U suštini, jako zabavan posao i nije toliko stresan.

Zašto nam je QA važan?

Smatram da je QA dio na projektu od izuzetne važnosti. Stvari se trebaju raditi i praviti kvalitetno. Svima se desi neki previd, ili propust, i to je sasvim normalna stvar, pogotovo ako je projekat veliki i zahtjevan. Uloga testera je da prilikom testiranja razmišlja kao krajnji korisnik aplikacije. Zbog toga će njemu biti lakše da uoči određene bagove nego samom developeru. Takođe, QA inženjeri čuvaju obraz firme, jer oni potvrđuju kvalitet softvera, i čine kompaniju pouzdanim partnerom.

Da je QA dio na projektu jako važan, pokazuje i činjenica  da se ozbiljne posljedice mogu desiti ukoliko se softver ne testira. Na primjer, usljed greške u softveru 2007. godine, pogrešne informacije su bile poslate u mrežu carine Sjedinjenih Američkih Država, što je uslovilo da 17.000 aviona budu osam sati zarobljeni na aerodromu.

Takođe, jedna od posljedica netestiranja softvera je da se usljed greške u softveru kojim su se unosile informacije o organima koji mogu biti izvađeni iz donatora, pogrešni organi su izvađeni iz 25 donatora u Velikoj Britaniji 2010. godine. Softver za prikupljanje podataka se koristio od 1999. godine, a naknadno je pronađeno još 400.000 grešaka.

Šta je Sarajevo QA Crew i kako si došla na tu ideju?

Sarajevo QA Crew ima za cilj da oformi bh. zajednicu testera (BH testing community), da na jednom mjestu okupi sve QA profesionalce i entuzijaste kako bismo diskutovali o trendovima iz QA svijeta i kako bismo razmjenjivali ideje i iskustva kroz neformalna druženja i meetupe. Sama ideja za meetupima se rodila kada sam bila na ljetnoj praksi u kompaniji Softhouse Balkans zajedno sa prijateljicom Ninom Mučibabić. Nas dvije smo bile česti gosti meetupa koji su se organizovali u Sarajevu. Na nekom od tih meetupa smo se nas dvije i upoznale. Primijetile smo da se često organizuju meetupi za programere, pa i dizajnere, ali malo ili čak nimalo nije bilo nekih meetupa ili predavanja vezano za softversko testiranje. Mi smo tu vidjele priliku za ostvarenjem naših malih snova. Oformljen je Sarajevo QA Crew i tako je sve krenulo. Još bitnije da se nastavilo. Organizovan je prvi meetup koji je izazvao nevjerovatno interesovanje publike. Tražila se stolica više. Taj naš prvi meetup je takođe bio prepoznat kao najbolji QA meetup od strane EuroSTAR konferencije i bili smo nagrađeni sa 4 ulaznice na najveću evropsku konferenciju o softverskom testiranju – EuroSTAR konferenciju. Nastavili smo sa planiranjem, pa se i za drugi meetup tražilo mjesto više. To nam je najbolji pokazatelj da činimo pravu stvar i da bh. zajednica testera polako raste.

Kakva je situacija u Bosni i Hercegovini kada je u pitanju testiranje kvaliteta softvera?

Generalno, nije loša. Naravno, uvijek može bolje. Testeri su jako traženi i to zanimanje je mnogo aktuelno. Kompanije čak i na praksama nude pozicije vezane za softversko testiranje. Nerijetko se mogu naći i posebno QA prakse. Takođe, veliki odziv na naše meetupe, dovoljno govori da je posao testera jako aktuelan i zanimljiv.

Stojanka Danilovic: "QA engineers protect company's reputation!"

During the software development process, special attention is paid to its quality. Quality is one of the key factors, because it is directly related to all areas of development, and it directly defines how the software is designed and developed. About the quality of the software, testing methods, as well as the situation in BiH regarding QA, we talked with our scholar and future QA engineer Stojanka Danilović, who, together with several friends, organizes meetups for software testers from BiH.

Stojanka, can you tell us what is Quality Assurance?

QA (Quality Assurance), as the word itself says, is the quality assurance of something. Software QA is software quality assurance. The QA engineer (tester) ensures the quality of the software by testing it. Our job is to look for errors, popularly known as "bugs" (i.e. to look for all those things that do not give the expected result and preventatively remove them so they don't repeat anymore). There are manual and automatic testing, black box and white box testing, integration testing, regression, agile testing, performance testing, systems, etc. Basically, it's a very fun business and it's not so stressful.

Why is QA important to us?

I consider QA to be of great importance. Things need to be done and done well. Everything has some kind of defect or a failure, and this is quite normal, especially if the project is large and demanding. The role of the tester is to have in mind the end user of the application while testing. That way it will be easier for him to catch certain bugs than the developer himself cannot. Also, QA engineers protect the reputation of the firm, because they confirm the quality of the software, and make the company a reliable partner for business.

The importance of QA we can understand better if we take a look at the serious consequences which happen if the software is not tested. For example, due to a software error in 2007, the wrong information was sent to the US customs network, which required 17,000 aircraft’s to be trapped at the airport for eight hours.

Also, one of the consequences of not testing the software is a software error which occurred in the United Kingdom in 2010, when wrong organs were taken out of 25 donors. The data collection software has been used since 1999, and subsequently, another 400,000 errors have been found.

What is Sarajevo QA Crew and how did you come up with that idea?

Sarajevo QA Crew aims to create BH testing community, to gather all QA professionals and enthusiasts in one place to discuss trends from the QA world and to exchange ideas and experiences through these informal gatherings and meetings. The idea for meetup was born when I was on a summer internship at Softhouse Balkans together with my friend Nina Mučibabić. The two of us were frequent guests of the meetups that were organized in Sarajevo and at one of those meetings we met. We noticed that meetings are often organized for developers, even designers, but few or even none at all had some meetings or lectures about software testing.

We saw the opportunity here for the realization of our little dreams, so Sarajevo QA Crew was created and everything started. More importantly, it continued. The first organized meetup caused an incredible interest of the audience and everyone was looking for an extra chair. This first meetup was also recognized as the best QA meetup by the EuroSTAR Conference and we were awarded with 4 tickets for the largest European Software Testing Conference - EuroSTAR Conference. We continued with the planning and our second meetup was also very crowded. This is the best indicator that we are doing the right thing and that BH testing community is slowly growing.

What is the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina when it comes to software quality testing?

Generally,  it is not bad, but, of course, it can always be better. Demand for testers is very high and this profession is very popular at the moment. Companies even offer internships in software testing and the number of opportunities is constantly growing. Additionally, a great response to our meetups says that the work we do is very popular and interesting.