Software Development Engineer in Test, aka SDET. Itās a role that demands both development skills and testing skills, with a focus on test automation.
Test Engineer is another title that might also be a Tester with a focus on automation, although not always. Same for QA Engineer.
Engineer in this context often, but not always, implies the use of code as part of the role.
So what is a Quality Engineer, and why is it different from other roles that imply skills in testing, quality assurance and development?
Sometimes, not much. Some companies use these names fairly interchangeably, and often the same people with the same range of skills could excel is each of these roles. More over, depending on the company, team, and even the individual, each role can look quite different in reality.
Some key characteristics you might find as part of Quality Engineer as a role, or quality engineering as a concept, is the focus on the bigger picture, strategy, education and coaching, process improvements and technical leadership. Any of the above roles can have elements od technical leadership, but Iād expect I to be less unexpected, and more explicit for a QE. Iād expect a QE to have a broader remit, over a wider portion of the SDLC.
OK, Iāve used a lot of qualifiers there, because there is nuance. And note, many could rightfully argue that Quality Engineering is not a role, but a way of working, much like DevOps. Much like DevOps spawns Dev Ops Engineers, Quality Engineering spawns QEs, because depending on organisational and team maturity and capacity, you absolutely need, or can hugely benefit from, a specialist.
I also donāt assume all Quality Engineers will have worked as Testers or QAs, I think some of them maybe come from an Ops, DevOps, Dev, Infra, or varied background. Just like many developers and testers themselves come from diverse backgrounds and prior experience.
What are your thoughts? Iād love to know.
Oh and if this topic interests you, checkout the Testing Planet Episode 8 on Quality Engineering.