Let’s compare Dev Testing and QA Testing
Teams of any size are continually adopting modern testing methods and approaches to ensure that the products they create meet the quality standards. While QA testing is important to ensure that products meet the required quality standards, developers can also help reduce the number of defects and bugs by testing their code. Both QA and Dev testing are crucial for developing and deploying high-quality products. While they may be similar in many aspects, it is important for organizations to understand the differences so that they can make the best testing decisions. Continue reading to find out the main differences between QA and Dev testing.
What is Dev Testing?
Developers perform a series test on the code they are creating, instead of relying on QA specialists to do so. Dev testing is a well-organized process that ensures any code released to production passes rigorous testing and reviews. This helps to ensure that the product and any modifications meet the quality standards and minimizes release issues, customer defects and downtime.
What is QA Testing?
A team of qualified testers performs QA testing to ensure that the software is high-quality. QA testing is a continuous testing of code for bugs and reporting them back to developers. This ensures that bugs are corrected in time so that the product reaches customers as per their expectations. While QA teams are closely associated with developers and provide feedback on code quality, they also have the ability to change gears, adapt test suites to current trends and provide documentation for customers and training.
What are the Key Differences Between QA Testing and Dev Testing?
Both Dev testing as well as QA testing are important to ensure that the software is developed to the highest quality standards. However, there are many differences between them. Let’s take a look at the main differences between QA and Dev testing.
| Dev Testing | QA Testing | |
|---|---|---|
| Scope | To eliminate all defects early in life | To meet a set quality standards |
| Aim | Limit the number of bugs to a predetermined level | Verify that code has been exposed to extensive tests |
| Responsibilities | Developers | A group of qualified testers |
| Lifecycle Stage | During development | After development |
| Collaboration | Requires close collaboration between different developers | Cross-functional collaboration is required between developers and testers |
| Type testing | Testing white box units | Regression, usability and performance testing, black box security. |
| Benefits | Coders and teams can work together to develop and release code simultaneously | Teams can get high-quality software. |
Choose the right option for your organization
Many developers ignore Dev testing despite its benefits. They feel it takes away time that could be spent creating new code or features. It is too difficult to create simple unit tests, which can not only slow down development but also limit their productivity. A section of developers works on one part of an application’s code but doesn’t understand the rest. This makes it difficult for them to avoid testing. They prefer to outsource all testing work to the QA staff who have the tools, expertise, and motivation to ensure that the code is bug-free.
Instead of focusing on Dev testing vs. QA, teams should find the right balance between Dev- and QA testing. This will save time and ensure reliable software. Developer teams are best able to judge whether code is working as expected because they are familiar with the code that they have just created. After they have completed a basic set test, they can share their code with the QA team. They can then inspect it for any bugs or issues. This is the basis of software development that meets customers’ evolving needs and keeps up with market and business trends.