Torchora
Back to Home

Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for a Manual Tester

💰 $55,000 - $85,000

Quality AssuranceTechnologySoftware DevelopmentInformation Technology

🎯 Role Definition

As a Manual Tester, you are the ultimate guardian of our software quality and the champion for our end-users. You will be meticulously examining our applications from a user's perspective to identify any issues, usability problems, or deviations from expected behavior. This role involves a deep, hands-on approach to quality assurance, requiring a keen eye for detail and a methodical mindset. You will work in close collaboration with developers, product managers, and other stakeholders within an agile framework to ensure our products are robust, reliable, and meet the highest standards of excellence before they reach our customers. Your critical feedback and thorough testing are vital to the success and reputation of our products.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Technical Support Specialist
  • Junior Business Analyst
  • Recent Computer Science / IT Graduate
  • Customer Service Representative (with technical aptitude)

Advancement To:

  • Senior QA Analyst / Senior Manual Tester
  • QA Lead / Test Lead
  • QA Automation Engineer (with upskilling)
  • Test Manager

Lateral Moves:

  • Business Analyst
  • Technical Writer
  • Scrum Master
  • Product Owner

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Thoroughly analyze user stories, specifications, and technical requirements to develop comprehensive, well-structured, and detailed test plans and test cases.
  • Execute a wide variety of manual testing types, including functional, integration, system, smoke, sanity, and end-to-end regression testing.
  • Perform meticulous exploratory testing to proactively discover defects, edge cases, and usability issues that are not covered by existing test cases.
  • Meticulously identify, record, document, and track bugs and defects throughout their lifecycle using bug-tracking systems like JIRA or Azure DevOps.
  • Write clear, concise, and comprehensive bug reports that provide developers with all the necessary information to reproduce and fix the issue.
  • Validate that software meets both functional and non-functional requirements, ensuring a high-quality, intuitive user experience across all platforms.
  • Perform extensive cross-browser and cross-platform testing to ensure consistent application performance and appearance on various web browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Safari) and operating systems (Windows, macOS).
  • Conduct manual testing on mobile applications across different devices and operating systems (iOS and Android) to verify functionality, responsiveness, and performance.
  • Collaborate closely with the development team to troubleshoot and verify bug fixes, ensuring that issues are fully resolved and have not introduced new problems.
  • Participate actively in Agile/Scrum ceremonies, including sprint planning, daily stand-ups, and sprint retrospectives, to provide a QA perspective.
  • Create and maintain detailed testing documentation, including test plans, test cases, and final test summary reports for each release cycle.
  • Execute User Acceptance Testing (UAT) scripts and support business stakeholders during the UAT phase to confirm the software meets business needs.
  • Manually test APIs using tools like Postman or Swagger to verify that requests and responses are handled correctly and meet API specifications.
  • Estimate, prioritize, and plan testing activities for upcoming sprints and releases in coordination with the project team.
  • Provide timely and meaningful feedback to product managers and designers on user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) aspects of the application.
  • Set up and manage test environments, including configuring systems and preparing test data required for executing test scenarios.
  • Triage incoming bug reports from production, working to reproduce them and providing detailed analysis for the development team.
  • Ensure that all software releases meet stringent quality standards and are delivered on schedule.
  • Act as the voice of the customer within the development team, advocating for quality and usability throughout the software development lifecycle (SDLC).
  • Continuously review and analyze system specifications and requirements to provide early feedback and prevent potential defects.

Secondary Functions

  • Assist the customer support team in troubleshooting and reproducing complex customer-reported issues.
  • Contribute to the continuous improvement of the team's QA processes, strategies, and best practices.
  • Help create and maintain internal technical documentation, knowledge bases, and user guides.
  • Provide qualitative feedback on new features and product ideas during the design and conception phases.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • Test Management Tools: Proficiency in tools like TestRail, Zephyr, or Quality Center (ALM) for creating and managing test cases and plans.
  • Bug Tracking Systems: Expertise in using JIRA, Azure DevOps (ADO), or similar tools for defect lifecycle management.
  • SDLC Methodologies: Strong understanding of Agile, Scrum, and Kanban frameworks and the role of QA within them.
  • Test Plan & Case Design: Proven ability to write clear, concise, and comprehensive test plans and test cases from requirements.
  • API Testing Tools: Hands-on experience with manual API testing using tools such as Postman, SoapUI, or Swagger UI.
  • SQL / Database Knowledge: Basic to intermediate ability to write SQL queries to validate data integrity and set up test data.
  • Cross-Browser Testing: Experience with tools like BrowserStack or Sauce Labs, and manual verification across different browsers.
  • Mobile Device Testing: Familiarity with testing on both iOS and Android platforms, including the use of emulators and physical devices.
  • Web Technologies: Foundational knowledge of HTML, CSS, and browser developer tools to aid in troubleshooting front-end issues.
  • Version Control Systems: Basic understanding of Git or other version control systems to check out code and understand changes.

Soft Skills

  • Meticulous Attention to Detail: An exceptional ability to spot even minor inconsistencies, errors, and deviations.
  • Critical Thinking & Problem-Solving: The skill to analyze complex systems, anticipate potential issues, and troubleshoot effectively.
  • Excellent Communication: Strong verbal and written communication skills to clearly articulate defects and collaborate with team members.
  • Curiosity & Inquisitiveness: A natural desire to explore, question, and understand how things work and how they might break.
  • Time Management & Organization: Ability to manage multiple tasks, prioritize work effectively, and meet tight deadlines.
  • Collaboration & Teamwork: A cooperative mindset with the ability to work productively with developers, PMs, and other stakeholders.
  • Patience & Persistence: The tenacity to track down elusive bugs and see issues through to resolution.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • High School Diploma or equivalent with significant relevant work experience.

Preferred Education:

  • Bachelor's degree in a related field or a certificate from a recognized software testing bootcamp.

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Computer Science
  • Information Technology
  • Engineering
  • Business Information Systems

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range: 2-5 years of direct experience in a manual software testing or quality assurance role.

Preferred: Experience working within an Agile/Scrum development team and a proven track record of testing complex web or mobile applications.

Explore More Careers