Let’s assume you’re considering a job as a quality analyst. It is possible an opportunity has presented itself, or maybe you’re planning on applying for the position. Whatever the reason may be, here we’ll have a closer look at the role of a quality analyst. We will also have a look at some lesser considered facts of extreme importance, the type of personality you should possess to be successful in quality.
For this you’ll need to understand the realities of the job and the life of a quality analyst in actuality. Additionally, you will also get to learn about the responsibilities that are placed on the shoulders of quality analysts. It’s always good to understand as much as you can about the job field you’re planning to pursue. Success is not only a matter of climbing the ladder, it’s also a matter of being happy later on with the career choice you made.
In reality what does a quality analyst do?
Let’s have a look at the day to day responsibilities of a quality analyst, because this could be what you will be doing if you choose to become a quality analyst. So what does a quality analyst do? A quality analyst needs to be constantly focused on the task assigned to them. The entire purpose of quality is to test systems thoroughly. The objective is not to barely meet consumer/user demands, the objective is to surpass consumer demands. The role of your employer will be to do so, your job will be to assist your employer in achieving his/her objectives.
To sum it up, a quality analyst job description is to ensure that mistakes/bugs in the system are found and fixed. Alongside that, it is also the job of the analyst to catalogue a number of details pertaining to the bugs. The objective of the creator of the system is to provide his/her user with a system/software that functions flawlessly. The entire commercial success and failure of any/all software depends on ‘user acceptance’. User acceptance only comes with trust, if the software/system fails, the trust is lost. As a quality analyst, you will need to understand such facts and realities about your job, and its importance/contribution to the overall business.
As you can see in the above paragraph, the responsibilities of a quality analyst are quite serious for an organization/business. It makes a difference to the end experience of the user/consumer, and it’s a matter of ‘consumer trust’. To truly understand the literal meaning of a quality analyst roles and responsibilities is that you have a very serious responsibility on your hands. You cannot afford to make mistakes, because mistakes will be very expensive for your employer/organization. To be successful in your job, you will need to understand this rarely discussed fundamental of quality assurance.
What are the technical quality analyst roles and responsibilities?
To be a quality analyst you will need to do the following as a part of your regular day to day job. These are some of typical tasks that you will be assigned, as follows;
- Updating and drafting/creating quality procedures and policies and establishing best practices and proven methods to ensure quality.
- Calibrating with operations teams/departments regarding updated/latest quality requirements.
- Ensuring that client quality requirements are met fully/flawlessly.
- Ensuring that all quality norms are strictly followed to the letter T, by the operations/organization all the time.
- Testing software rigorously to ensure flawless functionality and meet/exceed consumer/user expectations.
- Identifying flaws in software’s, highlighting it to operations for remedy.
- Cataloguing various details related to day to day operations for analysis later on.
- Compiling data related to specific details of various departments and analyzing it.
Customer satisfaction depends on quality services/products delivered. Strict and air tight quality procedures are essential to meeting customer demands. Additionally, every organization has its own quality specific norms and best practices. In brief, the above points cover a QA analyst job description.
What are quality analyst skills?
To be good as a quality analyst, a person needs to have the right skill set. The right skill set is a combination of education, industry knowledge/quality knowledge, personality and experience. The personality type of a quality analyst plays an important role in his/her career as a quality analyst. Patience is the key that a quality analyst must possess. Without patience, a quality analyst will not be suitable for his/her job, despite his/her education and knowledge.
A quality analyst who develops a reputation as one of the best in his/her field is one who has natural patience as a personality type. To check systems/software meticulously is not a task for the impatient, and it’s all about finding defects/bugs and errors that are not easy to find. It’s a job that requires patience, and a person with a natural tendency toward patience will be better at the job.
The environment that a quality analyst works in will be a tense/serious environment, because there is no room for errors. A keen sense of focus will need to be maintained on the tasks at hand, and experienced quality analysts are experienced at such focus.
What education do you require to be a quality analyst?
Quality analyst is an industry specific type of job that requires skills more than mainstream education. The industry specific knowledge and skills that you will acquire are more important. A basic graduation will suffice for your mainstream education, or a Master’s degree. However, what does make a difference to your career will be, if you can obtain some valid certification pertaining to quality assurance available online. Such courses should teach you about quality assurance, and provide you with relevant knowledge, skills and certifications. They are generally short i.e. micro courses, such as; quality inspection, quality auditing and quality testing to name a few.
Such certifications/education on your resume will greatly assist you in getting a job as a QA with an organization quicker. Specific mainstream courses/subjects do not exist for jobs such as quality. However, there are a range of professional certification courses which anyone interested in pursuing a career in quality can/will greatly benefit from. Following this a person can apply for a job as a quality analyst to any organization/business house. Once working as a QA, then your experience will also contribute to your value as a quality analyst for your employer.
Conclusion
Since quality is a good career choice for those who are cut out for the job/profession, it makes sense to consider it as a career. The educational requirements are not extreme, and the job requires a specific type of skill set/personality type. As a career path, a job as a quality analyst is a job with less human interaction and requires keen focus on systems/software. It is a high focus job, because there is no room for error.