( In this SmartBits, Sriramadesikan Santhanam outlines “QA skills for digital world“.  The video is at the end of this blog)

Skills and competencies are most important. One needs to understand that it is not just the business or it’s not just the technology, it is both. One needs to acquire multiple skills. One needs to understand what the customer is going to use this product for, how is it getting implemented, the expectations of the various end users’, and their perspectives. 

Acquire those skills and competency to understand these. That’s what I advise – try to understand what customers are looking for, what their customers are seeking, and then finally what the end users are looking, for then only one will be able to test from their shoes.

We as QA people need to understand the customer’s program objectives also, that is most important. Only then will be able to align to their expectations and understand why they are making these changes and appreciate the impact/uplift they’re looking out from modern technologies.

The change in skill requirements are: In addition to knowing about technology, to be able test to meet customer program objectives. Many times in the product world, people wouldn’t have seen how people are really using it, are we aligned to them? Testers now have to have good tech/dev skills, and also have business analysis skills too.