Scope of manual testing and career transition options for manual testers

Introduction: Automation testing is the buzzword everyone is talking about in software industry. Most IT companies and clients are trying to automate their tests as much as possible to reduce the efforts in a longer run. With all the projected and actual benefits, many people think that manual testing is going to go away in near future. However, the reality is far away from this. Manual testing and manual testing jobs are necessary and going to stay.

Scope and Importance of Manual Testing:

Testing is a necessary evil. To get a quality product, we need testing of product- whether it is manual testing or automated Testing. It is very important to choose the right type of testing for the application under test which can fit in the parameters of Cost, Quality and Time. Manual testing is integral to overall test strategy as it gives us the user acceptance point of view which is the highest parameter of quality. Manual testing allows us to understand how user connects to the application or device at an emotional level (This is a huge factor for a burgeoning gaming apps market) hence liking or disliking the product.

Manual testing is necessary in many ways where automated testing has a slight disadvantage. There are many types of tests that require human ingenuity and are better tested off manually. For Example -

1. Usability Testing: Automated testing can work as much as intelligence given to the automated scripts. However, Automated Testing cannot decipher the overall usability of the product. Humans can have a reasonable and a holistic view to identify ease of use, user liking, color contrasts etc.
2. Exploratory Testing: In exploratory testing, person’s experience with the application and/or domain along with analytical skills play a role. Hence, manual testing is required. In an exploratory test, creative and intuitive user journeys are done and hence automation will not be able to help in such cases.
3. Flexibility: There is a slight advantage in terms of test flexibility when it comes to manual testing. Automated scripts run as per the pre-defined code and thus have fixed journeys. Any change in requirement or a thought to change the scenario will require modifying the code and hence take much more time. Manual testing enables testers to work on dynamic elements instinctively.
4. Complex use cases: It is much easier to test the complex use cases with manual testing. For example, if an application journey requires to navigate through web, windows application, database, mobile interface- it is easier to do it manually rather than to engage a large tool stack and automate.
5. Testing of scenarios which may be dependent on networks/external factors- Testing of scenarios like email, OTP verification are dependent on lot of external factors like internet speed and mobile network. Hence, they are better off tested manually.
6. Cost Factor: Automation is costly for a small project. Automation tools have license, set up and scripting costs which may make a cost equation imbalanced for a smaller project. A manual tester can give the same output for a much lesser cost. However, keep in mind that, the same is not true for larger engagements.

What lies in future for a manual testing/Manual Tester?

Many testers do not have programming and coding knowledge. This is a harsh reality. With test automations on the rise, it is easy to think that there is nothing in future job market for manual testers. However, this is not right. Manual testing is rather evolving as per changing landscape of automation.

• Manual testers have proficiencies in other areas which are very much in demand like Critical thinking, Analytical Skills, Domain knowledge etc. which no amount of automation can replace.
• Like good detectives, manual testers have the investigative know-how and years of experience to identify bugs and guess where bugs tend to be masked.
• Manual testers understand the flow of data from one system to other. They are aware of dependencies. This can help identify which are best tests to automate.
• Good testers know which data permutations are most likely to occur and which will provide more value hence cutting down maintenance costs and increasing ROI on automation.

Career transition options for manual testers (which are not coding)

There are multiple options which can enhance the career trajectory for a manual tester. Examples –

• Business Analyst- A tester with domain knowledge can transition to business analyst role and become an industry specialist.
• Product Manager- This is a good transition for a QA person. A product manager is someone who can resonate with the user needs. They review customer needs, analyze the product repeatedly to make the software product quality better.
• Agile Coach/Scrum Master – Since manual testers know the need of following processes, they tend to become good coaches too. Hence, scrum master or an Agile coach is an option to transition if you really resonate with Agile practices.
• Test Manager- With experience, a manual tester can become a Test manager who delves more into strategizing of testing, deciding which type of testing suits the needs best.
• Release manager- Testers have more holistic view of end-to-end development process. Hence, they tend to become better release managers
• Audit roles – Testers know the importance of following a process. Hence, they are super fit for software quality assurance/auditing roles. 
• Data Scientists – If you are good with data, statistics, and analytics. This role is for you. As a data scientist you will implement functions like data exploration, regression models etc.

Automation Tester Vs Manual Tester in Job Market:

There is no general rule whether an automation tester or a manual tester is of higher value to a project or a business. It depends on whether You can add value to your business- Be it as automation tester or as a manual tester.

Competition-wise, automation testers have less competition in job market hence they command more value making this a niche skill set. Market demand for an automation tester is also on the rise because more and more repetitive tasks tend to be automated to save time. Hence, automation testing skills has a very lucrative market.

Here, it is necessary to mention that a similar value can be achieved by a manual tester with gaining domain knowledge, critical thinking and learning agile and cloud skills.

Impact of AI and ML:

Artificial Intelligence, Machine learning, Robotic process automation (RPA) are emerging technologies which are projected to be used for testing purposes. It is projected that AI and ML will be integrated in software QA and automation processes for faster speeds and bug resolutions. There is fear that AI and ML will eradicate software testing jobs. This is not entirely true. Instead of treating evolving technologies as a threat and fearing it, testers should upskill and improvise the test efficiencies. As like automated testing, AI and ML will complement the manual testing. Many areas are going to be exclusive to manual testing. Example usability testing, emotional connect with the product etc.

Conclusion: Automated testing and manual testing complement each other. However, there is no substitute for human ingenuity and thus no substitute for manual testing and manual testing jobs. Manual testing is very reliable when skills required are analytical reasoning, inference drawing and usability assessment. Automation and AI are here to help, and they should not be feared. Rather, they should be taken as opportunities to learn, upskill and integrate technology in testing jobs.