# Do you describe yourself as a Quality Engineer? **URL:** \ **Category:** Discussions\ **Tags:** career-growth, polls, quality-engineering\ **Created:** [6 January 2025 10:20 UTC](https://club.ministryoftesting.com/t/do-you-describe-yourself-as-a-quality-engineer/81970 "2025-01-06T10:20:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![rosie](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/club.ministryoftesting.com/rosie/32/7719_2.png) [@rosie](https://club.ministryoftesting.com/u/rosie)\ **Post date:** [6 January 2025 10:20 UTC](https://club.ministryoftesting.com/t/do-you-describe-yourself-as-a-quality-engineer/81970/1 "2025-01-06T10:20:26Z")
Quality Engineering as a topic seems to be on the rise, [we’re exploring it later this month](https://www.ministryoftesting.com/events/the-testing-planet-episode-eight). We’d love to know, do you describe yourself as a Quality Engineer? _Poll ([view on site](https://club.ministryoftesting.com/t/do-you-describe-yourself-as-a-quality-engineer/81970/1))_ ⭐ Bonus points for any added community commentary. ---
**Author:** ![milos](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/club.ministryoftesting.com/milos/32/8070_2.png) [@milos](https://club.ministryoftesting.com/u/milos)\ **Post date:** [6 January 2025 11:05 UTC](https://club.ministryoftesting.com/t/do-you-describe-yourself-as-a-quality-engineer/81970/2 "2025-01-06T11:05:01Z")
I think it’s a good name for modern testing. Current testing trends require quite a bit of engineering work, and “assurance” in QA was always vague and often misinterpreted. ---
**Author:** ![ajwilson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e47c2d/32.png) [@ajwilson](https://club.ministryoftesting.com/u/ajwilson)\ **Post date:** [6 January 2025 12:10 UTC](https://club.ministryoftesting.com/t/do-you-describe-yourself-as-a-quality-engineer/81970/3 "2025-01-06T12:10:57Z")
As a hiring manager and coach of Quality Engineers (QE’s) I need to see the candidates understand that within Quality Engineering, testing is about the information, risks and questions you uncover and the quality comes from doing something about it. I look for knowledge and experience of a proactive, data-driven approach that goes beyond ‘traditional’ testing when needed. That they can focus and have experience on building quality into the software development lifecycle (SDLC) from the very beginning. This involves coaching or collaborating closely with developers, product owners, and other stakeholders to understand user needs, define quality attributes, and implement strategies to prevent defects rather than just finding them later. They become strategic partners, using their expertise to guide development decisions, improve processes, and empower the delivery of high-quality software that meets user expectations and business objectives. They know when to work alone and get stuff done or collaborate within or across teams experience dependent. Yes in 2025+ QE’S can be expected to leverage technologies like AI and machine learning to automate repetitive tasks, analyse vast amounts of data, and predict potential issues (shifting right) But I also need to see they acknowledge that AI/ML is just **one tool** in our vast tool box and the not the ‘big ticket’ being looked for as a skill. There is more to our craft than AI. Great topic! ---
**Author:** ![demivm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@demivm](https://club.ministryoftesting.com/u/demivm)\ **Post date:** [6 January 2025 12:23 UTC](https://club.ministryoftesting.com/t/do-you-describe-yourself-as-a-quality-engineer/81970/4 "2025-01-06T12:23:48Z")
Something else: not yet! The software teams where I work aren’t all that used to testers yet. I spend the first year on my team getting them used to and appreciative of testers. Now i’m growing my role in the team, working towards a quality engineer role. ---
**Author:** ![davidwardlaw](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/club.ministryoftesting.com/davidwardlaw/32/14297_2.png) [@davidwardlaw](https://club.ministryoftesting.com/u/davidwardlaw)\ **Post date:** [6 January 2025 17:03 UTC](https://club.ministryoftesting.com/t/do-you-describe-yourself-as-a-quality-engineer/81970/6 "2025-01-06T17:03:52Z")
My job title is quality lead but it is more a quality coach role. There are no tester roles as the developers do all of the testing. My role is to help teams throughout the SDLC think about quality so that they produce high quality features. I struggle with ‘Quality Engineer’ as a job title as to me an engineer is a technical person and not all quality engineers are technical. But that’s just my bias’s impacting my thinking 😁 ---
**Author:** ![cakehurstryan](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/club.ministryoftesting.com/cakehurstryan/32/12934_2.png) [@cakehurstryan](https://club.ministryoftesting.com/u/cakehurstryan)\ **Post date:** [7 January 2025 11:43 UTC](https://club.ministryoftesting.com/t/do-you-describe-yourself-as-a-quality-engineer/81970/7 "2025-01-07T11:43:13Z")
> [@davidwardlaw](#): > > not all quality engineers are technical There’s lots of way to be technical without writing code. Sometimes we think of technical skills as limited to the ones we tend to associate with developers, but there’s a whole bunch of testing technical skills we can show. I’ve been happy with the term Quality Engineer, even as someone who doesn’t code, because of the other technical skills I bring to the table 😄 > **[14 Ways testers can be technical without writing code](https://cakehurstryan.com/2024/05/09/14-ways-testers-can-be-technical-without-writing-code/)** > > We can sometimes forget that technical skills in testing isn’t just about automation. In this post I’m going to highlight some of the testers can develop technical skills beyond coding.… ---
**Author:** ![davidwardlaw](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/club.ministryoftesting.com/davidwardlaw/32/14297_2.png) [@davidwardlaw](https://club.ministryoftesting.com/u/davidwardlaw)\ **Post date:** [7 January 2025 15:15 UTC](https://club.ministryoftesting.com/t/do-you-describe-yourself-as-a-quality-engineer/81970/8 "2025-01-07T15:15:32Z")
Thanks Callum, I will read your blog post on the topic 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ipstefan](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/club.ministryoftesting.com/ipstefan/32/8279_2.png) [@ipstefan](https://club.ministryoftesting.com/u/ipstefan)\ **Post date:** [7 January 2025 15:31 UTC](https://club.ministryoftesting.com/t/do-you-describe-yourself-as-a-quality-engineer/81970/9 "2025-01-07T15:31:15Z")
I wonder, is the term so broadly used that anyone who does a bit more than testing or automation considers themselves as a ‘Quality Engineer’? Or is testing/automation in testing not required anymore so we reinvent our roles and try to add any type of value we can to a team or product. Also something to think about is the difference between Quality Engineering and Engineering Quality which might or might not mean the same (GitLab example): > **[Engineering Quality Roles](https://handbook.gitlab.com/job-families/engineering/quality/)** > > Learn more about GitLab and what makes us tick. ---
**Author:** ![janet\_gregory](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/club.ministryoftesting.com/janet_gregory/32/4820_2.png) [@janet\_gregory](https://club.ministryoftesting.com/u/janet_gregory)\ **Post date:** [10 January 2025 16:40 UTC](https://club.ministryoftesting.com/t/do-you-describe-yourself-as-a-quality-engineer/81970/10 "2025-01-10T16:40:40Z")
In Canada, we cannot call ourselves engineers, unless we truly have the required education and designation. ---
**Author:** ![jmosley5](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/club.ministryoftesting.com/jmosley5/32/14324_2.png) [@jmosley5](https://club.ministryoftesting.com/u/jmosley5)\ **Post date:** [10 January 2025 21:12 UTC](https://club.ministryoftesting.com/t/do-you-describe-yourself-as-a-quality-engineer/81970/11 "2025-01-10T21:12:40Z")
For me, it really depends on my audience. My favorite title is “Risk Assessment” though this really doesn’t exist in the industry outside of Viktor Slavchev’s talk [“‘Worst’ Practices of Software Testing”](https://www.ministryoftesting.com/testbash-talks/6be349cd?s_id=15233023). If I’m talking with my mom or someone not in tech, I’ll specifically say that I’m in Quality Assurance because most people would have an idea of what I do, without too much context. Speaking to those in the industry, I say QA Engineer because that is my actual title. But, I really love the simple title “Tester”. I think no matter what title you have there will be misperceptions about it. You can’t avoid that. But, finding a title the makes sense to the people around me is good enough for me. ---
**Author:** ![ujjwal.singh](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/club.ministryoftesting.com/ujjwal.singh/32/13861_2.png) [@ujjwal.singh](https://club.ministryoftesting.com/u/ujjwal.singh)\ **Post date:** [11 January 2025 14:53 UTC](https://club.ministryoftesting.com/t/do-you-describe-yourself-as-a-quality-engineer/81970/12 "2025-01-11T14:53:08Z")
I’m good with being referred to as software tester instead of quality engineer or quality analyst because that depicts the true nature of my job which is testing the software either through functional or automation or API testing. Obviously, there are many other tasks that I do as a part of my job but something that is primary and will always be the most important thing in my job is testing the s/w. Earlier I used to mention myself as a quality analyst but as time passed I realized that it would be better with the title “Software Tester”, also I came across James Bach’s article in which he focused on preferring “Software Tester” over “QA’s” so that article also has somewhere impacted my thoughts, especially for the job title. ---
**Author:** ![sebastian\_solidwork](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/club.ministryoftesting.com/sebastian_solidwork/32/11076_2.png) [@sebastian\_solidwork](https://club.ministryoftesting.com/u/sebastian_solidwork)\ **Post date:** [13 January 2025 08:33 UTC](https://club.ministryoftesting.com/t/do-you-describe-yourself-as-a-quality-engineer/81970/13 "2025-01-13T08:33:00Z")
As I still don’t really get what QE should be, especial its claimed superiority I perceive by others, I’m not sure if I would fall into that category. Do I wear multiple hats in my job, do stuff which is not directly tied to my role? Yes. Do I consider myself mainly being a tester? Yes. ---
**Author:** ![rosie](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/club.ministryoftesting.com/rosie/32/7719_2.png) [@rosie](https://club.ministryoftesting.com/u/rosie)\ **Post date:** [13 January 2025 10:45 UTC](https://club.ministryoftesting.com/t/do-you-describe-yourself-as-a-quality-engineer/81970/14 "2025-01-13T10:45:01Z")
Oh, this is an interesting fact that I had not considered. ---
**Author:** ![ipstefan](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/club.ministryoftesting.com/ipstefan/32/8279_2.png) [@ipstefan](https://club.ministryoftesting.com/u/ipstefan)\ **Post date:** [13 January 2025 11:27 UTC](https://club.ministryoftesting.com/t/do-you-describe-yourself-as-a-quality-engineer/81970/15 "2025-01-13T11:27:01Z")
> [@ajwilson](#): > > within Quality Engineering, testing is about the information, risks and questions you uncover and the quality comes from doing something about it I like this brief description, as it’s how I’ve seen this as well but didn’t have the words for it. I’d like to add to this quote: ‘building quality into the software development lifecycle (SDLC) from the very beginning.’ — even before the SDLC and after something is already live/in production (PDLC) One can use logs, analytics, databases, interviews, support tickets, queries/questions of clients, and other similar information to keep trying to find ways to improve the product.