Scientists and mathematicians were tinkering with the idea of creating computer programs that could be stored somewhere and used more than once, way before the term ‘software’ was even coined, in 1958 by a gentleman called John Wilder Turkey. Pioneering mathematician Ada Lovelace is often credited as the inventor of computer programming due to her work on Charles Babbage’s Analytical Engine – the world’s first robust mechanical computer.
Enough history for one day! But what we’re getting at is that throughout the evolution of modern computers, programming has become a more complex and time and manpower consuming exercise. It now involves programming geeks, remote teams coordinating across continents, QA testers, and, of course, dizzyingly powerful computers. The sheer scale of the task of developing a working prototype for, say, a text-to-video AI tool is unnerving.
No wonder, the smart folks in the computer programming business have come up with methodologies and mindsets to break up complex software development processes into smaller and more easily achievable goals, like milestones on a highway, if you will. They have also developed smart ways to enable quicker collaboration, reduce development time, facilitate automation and integration, and do other cool stuff. When you take all that cool stuff and try to describe it in programming parlance, you get what’s called Agile Methodology and DevOps services, or simply put, DevOps.
Here’s a quick overview of each concept for those who still find Agile and DevOps to be alien talk:
While Agile is more of a methodology to build software fast, DevOps is like a set of good practices that bridges the Development and Operations phases of a software’s lifecycle.
Agile focuses on speed. Apps are built through a collection of short bursts of hardcore programming called ‘sprints’. DevOps, on the other hand, focuses on automating software delivery and infrastructural changes.
DevOps really focuses on Continuous Integration and Deployment or CI/CD.
Both Agile and DevOPs bridges silos – remote teams of developers, QA testers, IT guys, etc.
1. How to Bell the Cat a.k.a. How to Choose the Perfect QA Tester for Your Business
Please note: You can ignore this part if you are a programming geek, for it has been written for mere mortals trying to launch a SaaS in the congested app space.
Before you can go ahead and hire a QA tester, you need to understand what that guy does in the first place.
1.1. What’s the Role of a QA Tester in Agile + DevOps?
Back in the day, when software had yet to become “Apps” and was only run on meekly powered computers, the QA tester was someone who prodded the final body of code for bugs and pitfalls. These days, a QA tester is more a Quality Assurer than a bug hunter. Here’s a short list of what they do:
As Part of an Agile Team:
- Join sprint planning to understand features and spot edge cases early
- Turn user stories into test cases
- Perform manual testing and exploratory testing during each sprint
- Build and run automated tests using tools like Selenium, Cypress, or Playwright
- Give fast feedback during daily stand-ups and sprint reviews
- Help define acceptance criteria with the team
- Ensure new features don’t break old ones through regression testing
As Part of a DevOps Team:
- Contribute to CI/CD pipelines (e.g., Jenkins, GitHub Actions, GitLab CI)
- Set up automated test scripts to run on every code push
- Test in production-like environments using Docker or cloud platforms
- Use monitoring tools (like Datadog, New Relic) to detect live issues
- Practice shift-left testing: testing early in the dev cycle
- Support shift-right testing: monitoring after release, testing in production if needed
- Collaborate with DevOps engineers to ensure test coverage, performance testing, and security checks are built into the release process
We agree, some of this might sound like techno jargon if you aren’t already initiated into the world of app development. Let us know which bits you’d love to understand more in the comment section.
1.2. Define What You Really Want from Your QA Tester
Ask yourself:
- Are we focusing on manual testing, automated testing, or both?
- Which frameworks/tools do we use (Selenium, Cypress, Appium, JUnit)?
- Is performance or security testing critical?
- Will the tester work alongside remote teams across time zones?
- How tightly are they integrated into DevOps services (e.g., Jenkins, GitHub Actions, Docker)?
Once you have that clarity, build your job description accordingly and post it on job boards. Or, you can get in touch with us with your requirements and leave labor-intensive tasks like resume sorting, conducting interviews, etc., to us.
2. Skills to Look For in a QA Tester
Tech skills:
- Experience with automated testing frameworks (like Selenium, TestNG, Playwright)
- Familiarity with CI/CD tools (Jenkins, CircleCI, GitLab CI)
- Working knowledge of DevOps services (AWS, Azure, containers, pipelines)
- Understanding of APIs and microservices testing
- Scripting (Python, JavaScript, Bash)
Soft skills:
- Communication
- Critical Thinking
- Ownership
- Adaptability
Security awareness and performance tuning experience are a bonus.
3. Remote Readiness is a Must
Enough has been written about the dominance of the remote and hybrid work models in the current professional ecosystem. So, we’ll leave that part out. What we will emphasize, though, is a QA tester’s ability to collaborate with remote teams.
Test your QA tester’s remote readiness with:
- Familiarity with remote collaboration tools (Slack, Jira, MS Teams, Basecamp)
- Ability to document clearly and test asynchronously
- Discipline to self-manage in distributed sprints
- Time zone flexibility, especially for daily stand-ups or critical deployments
4. Vet for Real World Agile Experience
Anyone can say they’ve “worked in Agile.” But have they lived it?
Ask these questions during interviews:
- How do you write test cases for user stories in a sprint?
- How do you prioritize bugs when release deadlines are tight?
- Have you participated in daily stand-ups and sprint retrospectives?
- What role do you play in a sprint planning session?
- How do you communicate with developers when test cases fail?
5. Test DevOps Readiness
A bona fide QA tester will ask the following questions when introduced to a new process:
- How is test automation integrated into your pipeline?
- What’s the rollback plan if something fails in production?
- Are we testing on production-like environments?
- Do we use blue/green deployments or feature flags?
- A QA tester who talks this talk is the right fit for your job role.
6. Test Skills with Real World Scenarios
Instead of generic coding challenges or multiple-choice quizzes, give your potential hire a test scenario that mirrors your actual product flow.
Example tasks:
- Create test cases for a new feature in your app
- Spot edge cases in a mocked-up user story
- Write a small automated test using your stack
- Describe how they’d integrate tests into your CI/CD pipeline
Pro Tip: Make it a collaborative test. Ask the QA tester to pair with a developer or join a stand-up during the trial period. You’ll learn a lot about their communication and collaboration skills.
7. Look for Long-term Thinking Abilities
A very efficient way to judge a QA tester’s long-term vision is to ask these questions:
- How do you approach regression testing over time?
- What metrics do you track to measure quality?
- How do you ensure quality across multiple releases or environments?
- How do you stay updated on new testing tools?
They’ll reveal more about your potential hire’s long-term goals than anything else, even coding prowess.
Summing it up
If your head’s spinning at this moment, catch your breath and go through the entire blog once more – this time more slowly. Hiring a QA tester for DevOps services isn’t a walk in the park. It takes serious skills and experience on the part of a founder to truly judge if a potential hire in the said domain is worth their salt. But you can always make your life easier and conserve energy for other, more important tasks, like steering your business through the white waters of Planet Business. How? Just drop us a line and mention that you need a QA tester. It’s that easy!
