Embrace freelancer certification to improve software testing

Kassidy Kelley , Managing Editor

December 29th, 2022

With today’s accelerated development schedules, your team will likely rely on high-quality testers to help create great user experiences and improve software testing outcomes. Many companies have turned to on-demand freelance testers to ramp up in-house teams for better, more thorough QA coverage. Here’s the catch; this strategy only works if the testers you employ have the right skills for the job.

Outsourcing to offshore, cheaper, less-experienced testers is problematic. With the time and money you put into developing quality software and apps, you can’t afford to gamble on low-quality testers. While you may save a few dollars upfront, you may also pay more in the long run when your users continuously encounter missed bugs. Or you add a new location, O/S, or device capability that testers can’t test.

Companies are now developing internal certification frameworks and working with freelancers certified in capability-specific test areas. So, how do you ensure that you work with qualified, skilled, and high-caliber testers? Pay attention to how the teams are crafted.

Internal certification and capability-specific tester certifications

No testers should have to pay for a class or certification. However, QA leaders must create internal test standards to ensure they accept only the highest caliber of testers. This includes ensuring candidates have the required domain expertise, testing comprehension skills, and familiarity with operating systems.

How do we ensure our testers are top-tier and can improve software testing goals? Testers must be highly skilled in QA best practices, testing methodologies, product goals, industry domains, and app environments. Our testers are rigorously vetted, and only 3% of applicants are accepted into our crowdsourced testing pool.

After being screened and accepted into our pre-signup pool, Testlio’s freelance tester applicants must earn at least one capability-specific certification before being accepted into the network, like our internal Functional Regression Testing Certification (FRTC). The candidates need to follow the test cases we provided in our platform and test a mobile app that was specially built for the certification. Once in the network, testers can also earn additional capability-specific certifications to enhance their skills.

Testlio certifications take place within the Testlio environment to prepare testers for diverse testing experiences. They get simulated real-world experience during the certification process, so you can rest assured they have the necessary skills. And it works. Testlio ranks #1 Crowdtesting tool by G2 and has the highest NPS score of 92 (vs. the category average of 59).

Better testers lead to expanded testing opportunities

Certified testers improve software testing strategies by expanding into beta testing, exploratory testing, automation, and testing management. More innovative exploratory testing will uncover more errors in less time to improve QA — but only if testers are experienced and have the skills to know what to look for. It takes a combination of technical knowledge and intuition gained through practical functional testing experience to explore applications from the broader end-user perspective.

Similarly, skilled testers excel at usability testing on real devices in real-world environments and localization testing to help ensure apps meet local and regional expectations and work in the wild.

When you engage certified testers, they are up to date on the latest strategies and best practices. When you outsource or augment your team with freelance testers, you also get a fresh perspective that can help eliminate unconscious bias in the testing process.

Several studies show that seven out of ten IT and software development projects fail to meet their objectives. Suitable testers can help you beat the odds. However, you must work with testers you trust to ensure and improve QA. You also need a robust testing platform that facilitates test automation and manual testing throughout the software development lifecycle.

If you are an experienced tester looking for freelance testing opportunities, apply to be a tester at Testlio.

Test automation requires high-caliber testers and QA experts

As organizations adopt test automation, the need for experienced testers and quality engineers to manage test cases and improve software testing increases. QA has become an essential part of the SDLC pipeline. This is especially important as teams continue to shift and integrate testing earlier in the CI/CD cycle. With the right team and processes, shifting left allows testing and problem-solving more quickly and can accelerate time to value. Once established, this then becomes a fundamental part of the CI/CD process.

Software developers working with QA and QE teams that have passed tester certification will complete more story points, release fewer issues into production, and fix a higher percentage of issues. Testers must now be aware of their place among teams to contribute to that continuous improvement to meet and improve engineering KPIs.

Testlio offers a global network of more than 10,000 vetted QA and QE freelancers, expert services, and an integrated platform to facilitate large-scale strategic software testing. Request a demo today if you want to accelerate your development cycle with certified testers.