Testers are very important for the overall success of a software development company. They identify bugs, errors, and vulnerabilities and play a significant role in improving the user experience. On the pages of the blog Skillfactory.ru. eXpress QA engineer Viktor Mikhalchenko explains the difference between QA testing and QC and what testers are responsible for in these areas in the company.
In order for a new application or website to work correctly before they are made available to the general user, the product undergoes a mandatory testing stage, the essence of which is to find and fix bugs. This is done by testers, but QA and QC testing are also distinguished separately.
What is QA testing
Quality Assurance, or QA – testing that begins simultaneously with the preparation of the technical task. This is work on the quality of the product at all stages of its development – from planning to market entry and meeting with the user. QA is responsible for everything that can affect the quality of the product: staff training, process audit, risk management. QA can make suggestions for improving the software, because during the testing process, many ideas always arise on how to improve the product.
QC in testing
QC (Quality Control) is the quality control of an already created product. Unlike QA specialists, QC joins the project only at the final stage of development. The main tasks are: to check the product's compliance with the technical specifications, find and fix errors, check performance, test the user interface, and conduct security testing. After QC checks, the software should be completely ready for delivery to the customer and entry into the wider market.
Difference between QA and QC
Both QA and QC are important stages of new software development. The main difference between them is that QA is continuous work on the quality of the product at all stages of its creation, and QC-test is the final testing before entering the market.
“The positions of QA and QC are so close that they are practically not separated in vacancies or organizational structures of companies now, I would even contrast QA and testers more strongly. They can all be compared to a nesting doll. A QA engineer gets involved in the work already at the design stage, organizing the development of an IT product. Then the area of responsibility of the Quality Control specialist begins (usually this is the same specialist), namely checking the compliance of the product with the specified quality standards. At the end, the finished product is checked by testers. In our team, there is a division into QA engineers and testers. The latter are involved already at the stage of product implementation at the client. Our messenger has calls and video conferencing, and now, when there is a separate recording function in testing, colleagues essentially perform QC tasks,” says Viktor Mikhalchenko about the experience of QA engineers and testers at eXpress.
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