What are quality assurance skills that are paramount for testing those components?
- Understanding how all the applications components work together and separately, knowing REST and SOAP
- Understanding the basics of object-oriented programming and scripting languages
- Experience working with programs to conduct API audit
- Understanding the specifics of working with service in a sandbox mode
- In-depth knowledge of testing methods and cases of their implementation
Manual QA engineers would take a black-box approach to check the quality of data processing modules. They focus on verifying if all the modules, including server, database, and services, work correctly. The data and specifications they receive in task documentation are all they have as input. And they use that input to estimate testing results.
Black box testing allows QA specialists to review an application from the perspective of an average user. But sometimes, diving into details is essential.
You may need to scrutinize a source code to trace a bug to its root cause. White box and grey box methods allow you to delve into parts of a source code. By taking those approaches, you may reduce testing and debugging time if your coding skills and knowledge of object-oriented programming permit.
How could white or grey box testing change the game? For instance, you need to test a data entry field by using black box testing. You would draw up a matrix of possible input options, both correct and incorrect, and you would check that matrix as soon as a build is complete.
Too long to wait? You may employ a grey box testing method. It permits you to narrow down the number of input options, depending on the variable used in the code – int, double, or others in Java. Besides, you can check if there is a bug handling block before a build starts. By doing so, you would save time fixing bugs, conducting acceptance testing, and complete regressions.
And what about testing API and microservices? To verify APIs,
professional quality assurance and testing engineers should understand REST and SOAP that power the mechanics of modern applications. Besides, they need to know the pros and cons of data sharing formats, like JSON and XML, and transfer protocols, like HTTP and HTTPS.
If you need to test a microservice, you should focus on studying documentation carefully. Before testing, I strongly recommend that you read through technical data on the developer's website to identify service specifics. Examine how technology is implemented in reality and don't rely on theoretical knowledge.