sers of online stores are demanding - they want to buy quickly and conveniently, and their appetite in these areas is growing all the time. Meanwhile, in order for online shopping to run smoothly, the work of a person on the position of Quality Assurance Specialist, who will take care of quality and correct operation of the sales platform, is essential. Read what the daily work of a QA Specialist looks like in an industry that never sleeps!
The job of Quality Assurance Specialist is crucial
In Strix we implement e-commerce systems on proven platforms such as Magento and Shopware. Our portfolio includes projects for well-known brands such as Castorama, Lancerto or Modivo. We work for clients from many market sectors (home & improvement, fashion, pharmacy, FMCG and others), which makes our work diverse and interesting. Due to the pace of e-commerce development in Poland and around the world, we never complain about boredom. Our projects are "alive", we create new functions and modules of the system, which need to be tested and take care of their quality. Therefore, the presence of people on the position of Quality Assurance Specialist in teams creating e-commerce systems is crucial.
"How an online store works depends largely on my daily work. I care about the quality of each new feature. For example, when introducing promotions to the store, my role is to participate in the planning of the tests and to check whether the promotion is present at each stage, whether it has been charged correctly and how the whole ordering process works. Thanks to these actions, the customer can buy the promotional set without any problems. Every detail counts, therefore QA specialist must be involved in the process of creating e-commerce system as early as possible - Ewa Micherda, QA Specialist in Strix
Step into your customer's shoes
Working as a QA in e-commerce requires the ability to assume the role of a user, while at the same time the person in this position must understand the business goals of customers and not be afraid to ask questions. QA Specialist takes a wider responsibility for quality, his participation in the work is not limited to just testing, because he participates in the process of creating a store from beginning to end, providing the team with knowledge and experience.
"Working in e-commerce is very forward-thinking. Everyone is buying online today, companies have to solicit consumers, so our clients come to us with new ideas. For the ordinary user, the most important thing is to go quickly to the shopping cart in the store and make a purchase. Behind this seemingly simple action is a complex mechanism, and the efficiency of its operation is thanks to, among others, testers and QA specialists. It is a great satisfaction for me that through my work I can ensure the quality of online shopping". - Monika Dziedzina, QA Specialist in Strix
Focus on new technologies
Working for large clients means that our projects are developed and QA specialists have to keep up with changes on the market. Thanks to this they are up to date with what is happening in e-commerce, both in terms of business and in terms of using new technologies. An example here are microservices or headless - a relatively new approach to developing e-commerce systems, which is gaining popularity every year.
"Testing e-commerce solutions is not fundamentally different from testing other web applications, but it creates great opportunities for growth. E-commerce is constantly innovating, so people working in this industry have a chance to develop in different directions, work with the latest technologies or learn the most modern approaches to building system architecture. Architecture is also important for testers and people responsible for the quality of software produced, e.g. with the headless approach we put a lot of emphasis on API tests" - Joanna Smereka, QA Team Leader
QA specialist's working day
Our QA specialists are mainly concerned with validating functionality from both the backend and frontend. We work in teams that consist of backend developers, frontend developers and project managers. A standard work day starts with Daily meetings, during which we talk about what we did the day before, what our plans are, if we have any problems with tasks. We get updates from the client or talk about problems with a particular functionality.
"Thanks to my work in e-commerce I know the operation of online stores from behind the scenes. When during my online shopping I come across mistakes, I have the satisfaction that in our projects we managed to avoid such slip-ups. Because, as you know, our projects are the best :) - Robert Rosoniec, QA Specialist in Strix
Toolbox
We mainly carry out functional, regression and exploratory tests, etc. We also check whether stores display correctly on different devices and systems (cross-browser / cross-platform compatibility testing) - for this purpose, we use both physical devices and simulators provided by services such as BrowserStack, or tools available in Mac OS X. This is especially important in projects where we have adopted a mobile first approach. For API testing we mainly use Postman, although Insomnia also works well. In some projects we use scriptless / low code automation tools like Ghost Inspector, which speed up and streamline the process of creating and maintaining automated tests, as well as help automate areas that were previously reserved for manual testing, such as visual validation. We work with front-end developers to automate E2E (Cypress + Gherkin) tests. Finally, we help clients with UAT (User Acceptance Testing).
QA Specialist Development
In QA team at Strix we focus on development. Once a month we have meetings, during which we present new tools or discuss issues that bother us. We try to develop in topics that are useful in everyday work. We address both technical issues and those related to soft skills, e.g. we learn how to convince people to our ideas. We care about multi-track development, because the role of QA requires a wide spectrum of skills. We need to be specialists in technology and testing, but we also need to be good team players. We also take advantage of external trainings and certifications, such as ISTQB® and Adobe (Adobe Commerce Business Practitioner).
Work with us
If you like our work style, we welcome you on board! We are looking for new people for the position of Senior Quality Engineer and Software Tester.