Ask someone what a QA engineer does, and you'll probably hear a familiar answer: "They test software and find bugs."
It's a common perception, and to be fair, finding bugs is an important part of the job. But if you spend even a few weeks working on a modern software team, you'll quickly realize that's only a small part of what QA engineers actually do.
Software development has changed dramatically over the last decade. Teams no longer wait months to release new features. Many organizations deploy updates every week, every day, or even several times a day. Applications have become more complex, with cloud services, APIs, microservices, mobile apps, and third-party integrations all working together behind the scenes.
As software has evolved, the role of QA has evolved with it.
Today's QA engineers are involved long before a feature reaches testing. They help review requirements, identify risks, clarify business expectations, verify APIs and databases, automate repetitive tests, investigate production issues, and work closely with developers throughout the entire development lifecycle.
In other words, QA isn't just about finding problems after software has been built. It's about helping prevent those problems from happening in the first place.
Whether you're thinking about becoming a QA engineer, transitioning from manual testing into automation, or simply curious about what quality engineering looks like today, understanding how the role has changed is an important first step.
In this article, we'll explore what QA engineers actually do, why the profession has evolved, and the skills that have become essential for building reliable software in today's fast-moving development environments.
Table of Contents
->How the QA Role Has Changed
->Good Testing Starts Before the First Test Case
->Real-world Example
->Modern QA Is About More Than Automation
->Where Different Types of Testing Fit
->Skills Every QA Engineer Should Develop
->Common Misconceptions About QA
->If You're Considering a Career in QA
->Wrapping Up
How the QA Role Has Changed
Many software usually teams followed a simple workflow. Business analysts gathered requirements, developers built the application, and once development was complete, the software was handed over to QA for testing. If defects were found, the application went back to the development team before eventually being released.
In that model, QA was often viewed as the final checkpoint before production. Testing happened after most of the important technical decisions had already been made.
That approach worked reasonably well when software releases happened only a few times a year. Teams had enough time to finish development, perform weeks of manual testing, fix defects, and prepare for a scheduled release.
Todays software development looks very different.
Many organizations use Agile methodologies, Continuous Integration (CI), and Continuous Delivery (CD). Instead of delivering software every few months, teams continuously add features, fix bugs, and release improvements in short development cycles.
Because development moves much faster, quality can no longer be treated as the final phase of a project.
Instead, QA engineers work alongside developers, product owners, business analysts, UX designers, and DevOps engineers from the beginning of the development process. They participate in sprint planning, review user stories, discuss acceptance criteria, identify potential risks, and help ensure new features are designed with testing in mind before development even starts.
This shift has changed the role of QA from testing completed software to helping teams build quality into the software from the start.
For example, imagine a team is building an online banking application that allows customers to transfer money between accounts. A traditional testing approach might focus on verifying whether the transfer succeeds after the feature has been developed.
An experienced QA engineer starts much earlier by asking questions such as:
What happens if the network connection is interrupted during the transfer?
What should happen if the customer has insufficient funds?
Can the same transfer request be submitted twice accidentally?
How should the application respond if the receiving bank is temporarily unavailable?
Questions like these help uncover potential problems before developers spend time writing code. Addressing these scenarios early is often much less expensive than discovering them during testing—or worse, after the application has been released to customers.
This is one of the biggest reasons QA has evolved from a role focused primarily on testing into one that contributes throughout the entire software development lifecycle.
Quality is no longer something that's checked at the end of a project.
It's something the entire team builds together, one decision at a time.
Traditional Development
Requirements -> Development -> QA Testing -> Production
Modern Development
Requirement -> DEV+QA+Product Owner -> Continuous Development -> Continuous Testing -> Production
Good Testing Starts Before the First Test Case
One of the biggest surprises for people entering software testing is discovering that a significant part of a QA engineer's work happens before a single test case is written.
Many people picture testing as something that begins only after developers finish building a feature. In reality, experienced QA engineers become involved much earlier because that's often where they can have the greatest impact.
Consider a simple requirement:
A user must create a password containing at least eight characters.
At first glance, the requirement seems complete. A developer can implement it, and a tester can verify that passwords shorter than eight characters are rejected.
But software requirements are rarely that straightforward.
A QA engineer naturally starts looking beyond the obvious by asking questions such as:
Should spaces or count as characters? Or Should leading or trailing spaces be removed automatically?
Is there a maximum password length?
Are special or Unicode characters required?
Will the same validation rules apply on both the web application and the mobile app?
What error message should users see if the password is invalid?
None of these questions are about trying to catch developers making mistakes.
They're about making sure the entire team has the same understanding of how the feature should work before development moves forward.
This process is often called requirement clarification, and it's one of the most valuable contributions a QA engineer can make.
Without these discussions, developers may implement one interpretation of the requirement while testers validate another. Business stakeholders may expect something entirely different. Even when everyone is working hard, unclear requirements can lead to unnecessary defects, rework, and frustration.
Asking thoughtful questions early helps avoid those situations.
It also saves time.
Finding an unclear requirement during a planning meeting usually takes a few minutes to resolve. Discovering the same issue after development, testing, and deployment can take hours—or even days—to investigate and fix.
Good QA isn't only about verifying that software works correctly.
It's also about helping ensure the team is building the right software in the first place.
Real-world Example
Imagine an online shopping website that offers discount coupons.
The requirement says:
"Users can apply one coupon during checkout."
At first, it sounds simple.
A QA engineer might ask:
What happens if the coupon has expired?
Can two browser tabs apply the same coupon simultaneously?
What if the customer removes an item after applying the coupon?
Can multiple coupons be combined?
What happens if the payment fails after the coupon has been applied?
These questions often uncover situations that weren't considered during the initial discussion.
Instead of becoming production defects, they become design decisions that the team can address before writing code.
That's one of the reasons experienced QA engineers spend so much time asking questions. They're not slowing development down. They're helping the team avoid expensive surprises later.
Modern QA Is About More Than Automation
If you browse job postings for QA engineers, you'll probably notice one thing almost immediately.
Many of them mention automation tools such as Selenium, Plawright, Cypress, Appium, Javascript, Java, Python, and so on - the list goes on
Because of that, it's easy to assume that QA engineers spend their entire day writing automated tests. Automation is certainly an important part of the job, but it isn't the job itself.
Think about a new feature being added to a food delivery app. Customers can now save multiple delivery addresses and choose one during checkout. Before any automation script is written, a QA engineer is already involved.
They review the requirement to understand how the feature is expected to work. They discuss different scenarios with developers and product owners, such as what should happen if a customer deletes their default address or enters an invalid ZIP code. They identify edge cases that may not have been considered during planning and think about how the feature interacts with existing functionality.
Only after those discussions do they begin designing test scenarios.
Some of those tests may eventually become automated, especially if the feature will be used in future regression testing. Others may be better suited for exploratory testing because they require human observation and judgment.
QA engineers choose the right testing approach based on the problem they're trying to solve rather than trying to automate everything.
A typical week for a QA engineer might include a variety of responsibilities, such as:
Reviewing new requirements before development begins.
Designing functional and edge-case test scenarios.
Verifying REST API responses using tools like Postman or Bruno.
Validating backend data with SQL queries.
Building or maintaining automated regression tests.
Investigating issues reported from production.
Working with developers to reproduce and understand defects.
Confirming bug fixes before a release.
Some weeks involve more automation than others. Some involve more investigation, collaboration, or exploratory testing.
That's one of the reasons QA engineering is such a diverse field. No two projects are exactly the same, and the work changes depending on the product, the team, and the stage of development.
Automation simply helps QA engineers spend less time repeating predictable tasks so they can focus on the work that requires critical thinking.
It's a tool that supports quality engineering—not the definition of it.
Where Different Types of Testing Fit
Another common misconception is that QA engineers only test the user interface. In reality, software can be tested at many different levels.
Type of Testing Purpose
UI Testing -> Verifies that users can successfully interact with the application.
API Testing -> Confirms that services communicate correctly and return the expected responses.
Database Testing -> Validates that data is stored, updated, and retrieved accurately.
Regression Testing -> Ensures that new changes haven't broken existing functionality.
Exploratory Testing -> Helps uncover unexpected issues through human observation and creativity.
Performance Testing -> Evaluates how the application behaves under different workloads.
QA engineers don't necessarily perform all of these types of testing every day, but understanding when and why each approach is useful helps them choose the right strategy for different situations.
Quality isn't achieved by relying on a single testing technique.
It's achieved by combining multiple testing approaches to build confidence that the software behaves correctly under real-world conditions.
Skills Every QA Engineer Should Develop
If you're just starting your QA journey, it's easy to focus on learning specific tools. While tools are important, they're only part of the picture. The most successful QA engineers build a combination of technical skills, problem-solving abilities, and effective communication.
Here are some of the core skills that will help you grow in QA role.
Skill -> Why It Matters
Communication -> Helps clarify requirements, explain defects, and collaborate effectively with the team.
Critical Thinking -> Identifies edge cases, risks, and scenarios that may not be immediately obvious.
API Testing -> Verifies how applications communicate and ensures backend services behave correctly.
SQL -> Confirms that data is stored, updated, and retrieved accurately from databases.
Test Automation Reduces repetitive testing and improves regression testing efficiency.
CI/CD Knowledge Helps integrate testing into modern software delivery pipelines.
Continuous Learning Keeps your skills current as tools, technologies, and development practices evolve.
We don't need to masters all of these skills overnight. The important thing is to build a strong foundation, stay curious, and keep learning as the industry evolves.
Common Misconceptions About QA
If you're new to software testing, you've probably heard some of these statements before. While they may sound reasonable, they don't reflect how modern QA teams actually work.
Myth: QA engineers Only Find Bugs
Reality: Finding bugs is only one part of the job. QA engineers also review requirements, identify risks, design test strategies, automate repetitive testing, validate APIs and databases, and help teams prevent defects before software reaches users.
Myth: Automation Will Replace QA Engineers.
Reality: Automation is a tool, not a replacement for human thinking. Automated tests can execute repetitive tasks, but they can't decide what should be tested, identify unclear requirements, or evaluate whether a feature delivers a good user experience.
Myth: QA is Responsible for Quality.
Reality: Quality is a shared responsibility. Developers write reliable code, product owners define clear requirements, designers focus on usability, DevOps engineers build dependable deployment pipelines, and QA engineers help ensure everything works together as expected.
Myth: Manual Testing is No Longer Useful.
Reality: Automation is excellent for repetitive regression testing, but manual testing remains valuable for exploratory testing, usability checks, and investigating unexpected behavior. The two approaches complement each other rather than compete.
Myth: QA is Easier than Software Development.
Reality: Modern QA requires strong analytical thinking, technical knowledge, communication skills, and a solid understanding of how software systems work. While the responsibilities differ from software development, both roles play an equally important part in delivering high-quality software.
If You're Considering a Career in QA
If you're thinking about becoming a QA engineer, don't worry if you don't know every testing tool or automation framework yet. Every experienced QA professional started by learning the fundamentals.
Begin by understanding how software works. Learn how web applications communicate with APIs, how data is stored in databases, and how different components interact to deliver a feature. These concepts will help you understand why you're testing something, not just how to test it.
At the same time, practice thinking like a user. Ask questions, explore different scenarios, and look beyond the "happy path." Some of the most valuable defects are discovered simply because someone asked, "What happens if this doesn't go as expected?"
As you grow, gradually build technical skills such as SQL, API testing, automation, version control, and CI/CD. Focus on continuous learning and improving one skill at a time.
Most importantly, remember that software quality isn't created by one person or one team. The best QA engineers work collaboratively, communicate effectively, and help everyone build better software together.
Wrapping Up
Software testing has come a long way from being viewed as the final step before a release.
Today's QA engineers contribute throughout the software development lifecycle. They ask thoughtful questions, clarify requirements, automate repetitive testing, validate APIs and databases, investigate production issues, and help teams deliver reliable software with confidence.
Finding bugs will always be an important part of the role, but it's no longer what defines a successful QA engineer.
What truly makes a difference is the ability to prevent problems before they happen, think critically about how software is used, and collaborate with the entire team to deliver a better product.
If you're just starting your journey in software quality, don't measure your progress by how many testing tools you've learned. Focus on building strong fundamentals, staying curious, and continuously improving your problem-solving skills.
Technology will continue to evolve, but those qualities will always be valuable.
