Infocomm TechnologyISCO 2519
Software tester
Software testers perform software tests. They may also plan and design them. They may also debug and repair software although this mainly corresponds to designers and developers. They ensure that applications function properly before delivering them to internal and external clients.
Check yourself in a minute: software tester
Rate 5 of the 10 essential skills of this occupation (European ESCO data). No account needed.
execute software tests
address problems critically
perform software unit testing
replicate customer software issues
report test findings
About software tester
As a software tester, you will be responsible for ensuring that applications function correctly, securely, and reliably before they reach end users. Your work involves planning and designing test strategies, executing various types of tests across different system levels, documenting findings, and collaborating with developers to resolve identified issues. You will work with test automation tools, create test cases, analyze software behavior, replicate customer issues, and provide detailed reports that guide quality improvement efforts. The role demands both technical knowledge and attention to detail, as your work directly impacts user satisfaction and application reliability. In Poland's expanding software development industry, quality assurance professionals are in high demand across fintech, e-commerce, automotive, and enterprise software sectors, with strong career growth opportunities.
Key Work Functions
Core areas of responsibility for a software tester.
1
Test planning and strategy development
- Develop comprehensive test plans and strategies aligned with project objectives
- Define testing scope, test levels (unit, integration, system, acceptance), and testing approaches
- Identify test resources, tools, and timelines required for quality assurance activities
- Establish testing criteria and metrics to measure software quality
2
Test case design and execution
- Create detailed test cases based on software requirements and functional specifications
- Execute software tests manually and using automation tools across multiple scenarios
- Perform unit testing, integration testing, system testing, and user acceptance testing (UAT)
- Document test execution results and track test case status throughout testing phases
3
Bug identification and documentation
- Identify software anomalies, defects, and bugs during testing activities
- Replicate customer-reported issues to understand problem root causes
- Create detailed bug reports with reproduction steps, expected results, and actual results
- Track bugs through resolution lifecycle and verify fixes in subsequent builds
4
Test automation and tools management
- Design and develop automated test scripts using test automation frameworks and tools
- Maintain test automation infrastructure, test data, and automated test suites
- Execute regression tests and performance tests using appropriate tools and methodologies
- Analyze test automation metrics and optimize test execution efficiency
5
Software quality analysis and reporting
- Analyze software quality metrics and generate comprehensive quality reports
- Report test findings, progress, and metrics to development teams and stakeholders
- Assess software architecture models and evaluate testing implications
- Provide recommendations for quality improvements and risk mitigation
6
Collaboration and critical problem solving
- Address technical and logical problems critically and systematically
- Collaborate with developers, product managers, and business analysts on quality issues
- Provide software testing documentation and knowledge base for team reference
- Participate in continuous improvement initiatives and quality assurance process optimization
European Skills Framework
Skills and knowledge areas required for this occupation based on European classification.
Essential (10)
software architecture modelssoftware architecture modelsThe set of structures and models needed to understand or describe the software system, including the software elements, the relations between them and the properties of both elements and relations.levels of software testinglevels of software testingThe levels of testing in the software development process, such as unit testing, integration testing, system testing and acceptance testing.software metricssoftware metricsThe metrics that measure a characteristic of the software system in order to determine the development of the software and evaluate it.execute software testsexecute software testsPerform tests to ensure that a software product will perform flawlessly under the specified customer requirements and identify software defects (bugs) and malfunctions, using specialised software tool...provide software testing documentationprovide software testing documentationDescribe software testing procedures to technical team and analysis of test outcomes to users and clients in order to inform them about state and efficiency of software.address problems criticallyaddress problems criticallyIdentify the strengths and weaknesses of various abstract, rational concepts, such as issues, opinions, and approaches related to a specific problematic situation in order to formulate solutions and a...perform software unit testingperform software unit testingTest single units of source code to determine whether or not they are suitable for use by creating short code fragments.replicate customer software issuesreplicate customer software issuesUse specialised tools to replicate and analyse the conditions that caused the set of software states or outputs reported by the customer in order to provide adequate solutions.report test findingsreport test findingsReport test results with a focus on findings and recommendations, differentiating results by levels of severity. Include relevant information from the test plan and outline the test methodologies, usi...software anomaliessoftware anomaliesThe deviations of what is standard and exceptional events during software system performance, identification of incidents that can alter the flow and the process of system execution.
Optional (67) — show
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They are hardware, software and networks, as well as the ways in which these can be employed.JavaScriptJavaScriptThe techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in JavaScript.XQueryXQueryThe computer language XQuery is a query language for retrieval of information from a database and of documents containing the needed information. It is developed by the international standards organis...PerlPerlThe techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in Perl.Smalltalk (computer programming)Smalltalk (computer programming)The techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in Smalltalk.PHPPHPThe techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in PHP.Assembly (computer programming)Assembly (computer programming)The techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in Assembly.hardware componentshardware componentsThe essential components that make up a hardware system, such as liquid-crystal displays (LCD), camera sensors, microprocessors, memories, modems, batteries and their interconnections.C#C#The techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in C#.RRThe techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in R.GroovyGroovyThe techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in Groovy.ASP.NETASP.NETThe techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in ASP.NET.APLAPLThe techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in APL.SPARQLSPARQLThe computer language SPARQL is a query language for retrieval of information from a database and of documents containing the needed information. It is developed by the international standards organis...ICT debugging toolsICT debugging toolsThe ICT tools used to test and debug programs and software code, such as GNU Debugger (GDB), Intel Debugger (IDB), Microsoft Visual Studio Debugger, Valgrind and WinDbg.audit techniquesaudit techniquesThe techniques and methods that support a systematic and independent examination of data, policies, operations and performances using computer-assisted audit tools and techniques (CAATs) such as sprea...tools for ICT test automationtools for ICT test automationThe specialised software to execute or control tests and compare predicted testing outputs with actual testing results such as Selenium, QTP and LoadRunner.Microsoft Visual C++Microsoft Visual C++The computer program Visual C++ is a suite of software development tools for writing programs, such as compiler, debugger, code editor, code highlights, packaged in a unified user interface. It is dev...TypeScriptTypeScriptThe techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in TypeScript.CoffeeScriptCoffeeScriptThe techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in CoffeeScript.Objective-CObjective-CThe techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in Objective-C.ML (computer programming)ML (computer programming)The techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in ML.LDAPLDAPThe computer language LDAP is a query language for retrieval of information from a database and of documents containing the needed information.AJAXAJAXThe techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in AJAX.C++C++The techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in C++.trading softwaretrading softwareThe finance and trading integrated software solutions.SAP R3SAP R3The techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in SAP R3.Swift (computer programming)Swift (computer programming)The techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in Swift.ICT project management methodologiesICT project management methodologiesThe methodologies or models for planning, managing and overseeing of ICT resources in order to meet specific goals, such methodologies are Waterfall, Incremental, V-Model, Scrum or Agile and using pro...MATLABMATLABThe techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in MATLAB.application usabilityapplication usabilityThe process through which the learnability, efficiency, usefulness and ease of use of a software application can be defined and measured.unstructured dataunstructured dataThe information that is not arranged in a pre-defined manner or does not have a pre-defined data model and is difficult to understand and find patterns in without using techniques such as data mining.LINQLINQThe computer language LINQ is a query language for retrieval of information from a database and of documents containing the needed information. It is developed by the software company Microsoft.Python (computer programming)Python (computer programming)The techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in Python.Scratch (computer programming)Scratch (computer programming)The techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in Scratch.Process-based managementProcess-based managementThe process-based management approach is a methodology for planning, managing and overseeing of ICT resources in order to meet specific goals and using project management ICT tools.lean project managementlean project managementThe lean project management approach is a methodology for planning, managing and overseeing of ICT resources in order to meet specific goals and using project management ICT tools.COBOLCOBOLThe techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in COBOL.Pascal (computer programming)Pascal (computer programming)The techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in Pascal.ABAPABAPThe techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in ABAP.ICT performance analysis methodsICT performance analysis methodsThe methods used to analyse software, ICT system and network performance which provide guidance to root causes of issues within information systems. The methods can analyse resource bottlenecks, appli...N1QLN1QLThe computer language N1QL is a query language for retrieval of information from a database and of documents containing the needed information. It is developed by the software company Couchbase.ScalaScalaThe techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in Scala.manage schedule of tasksmanage schedule of tasksMaintain an overview of all the incoming tasks in order to prioritise the tasks, plan their execution, and integrate new tasks as they present themselves.debug softwaredebug softwareRepair computer code by analysing testing results, locating the defects causing the software to output an incorrect or unexpected result and remove these faults.plan software testingplan software testingCreate and supervise tests plans. Decide on allocation of resources, tools and techniques. Set testing criteria for balancing incurred risks in case of remaining defects, adapt budgets and plan additi...use scripting programminguse scripting programmingUtilise specialised ICT tools to create computer code that is interpreted by the corresponding run-time environments in order to extend applications and automate common computer operations. Use progra...develop automated software testsdevelop automated software testsCreate software test sets in an automated manner, using specialised languages or tools, that can be performed by testing tools in order to save resources, gain efficiency and effectiveness in test ex...develop ICT test suitedevelop ICT test suiteCreate a series of test cases to check software behaviour versus specifications. These test cases are then to be used during subsequent testing.measure software usabilitymeasure software usabilityCheck the convenience of the software product for the end user. Identify user problems and make adjustments to improve usability practice. Collect input data on how users evaluate software products.execute integration testingexecute integration testingPerform testing of system or software components grouped in multiple ways to evaluate their ability to interconnect, their interface and their ability to provide global functionality.perform software recovery testingperform software recovery testingExecute testing using specialised software tools to force failure of software in a variety of ways and checking how fast and better the software can recover against any type of crash or failure.software components librariessoftware components librariesThe software packages, modules, web services and resources that cover a set of related functions and the databases where these reusable components can be found.resource description framework query languageresource description framework query languageThe query languages such as SPARQL which are used to retrieve and manipulate data stored in Resource Description Framework format (RDF).VBScriptVBScriptThe techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in VBScript.
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Frequently asked questions
What does a software tester do?
Software testers perform software tests. They may also plan and design them. They may also debug and repair software although this mainly corresponds to designers and developers. They ensure that applications function properly before delivering them to internal and external clients.
What skills does a software tester need?
A software tester needs 10 essential skills, including software architecture models, levels of software testing, software metrics, execute software tests, provide software testing documentation.
Will AI replace software tester jobs?
The AI disruption score for software tester is 81/100 (very high risk). Skills most exposed to automation: LDAP, manage schedule of tasks, report test findings. Most resilient: Agile project management, computer programming, address problems critically.
AI Replacement Risk
81/ 100
Very High Risk
Low riskHigh risk
Skills most at risk from AI
Skills resilient to automation
This is the average for the whole occupation. The AI Career Shield test (about 10 minutes) shows the risk in your own work and what you can do about it.
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SectorInfocomm Technology
ISCO GroupInformation and communications technology professionals
Essential Skills10
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