NEW DELHI, INDIA: Software testers have traditionally thought off by their more 'advantaged' developer community as some ones who don't get involved in high-end and challenging work, and hence don't deserve the attention and recognition that they themselves command.

However, Ramanna, strongly feels that software testers are no less cerebral to software developers when it comes to their contribution to the software development life-cycle activity. The notion  "Testing is inferior to development, says Ramana,  is pure myth and needs to be corrected.

"Software testing is as important as any other software development lifecycle activity. As a test engineer, you play an important role in ensuring that the final software application or product meets the desired quality standards, and the success or failure of the application or product largely depends on its quality", says Ramana

Ramanna, with over 13 years of work experience that includes 11 plus years in software testing is part of Virtusa's software testing practice and heads the Solution Accelerators group. He is CSQA certified and specializes in test management, test strategy, test automation frameworks & test process improvement & solution accelerators.

"Overcome the myth that testing is inferior to development. Software testing offers  a test engineer opportunity for creativity and excellence. One needs to be confident and passionate about his or her role as a software test engineer for success and recognition," says Ramana.    

In an interaction with CIOL, Ramana talks in length about the skills that a software tester needs to incorporate, so he can seamlessly move to the next level in software testing.

"With the lines between development and testing blurring, a test engineer is no longer considered as
someone good at clicking a button on the application's user interface. There are many more activities and skills expected from a test engineer", Ramanna adds.

"In short, strive to enhance your skills in programming, databases and basic configuration of web / application servers,", he comments.

Ramanna also talks about Virtusa expertise in Software testing domain, services that Virtusa offers in the space of software testing and company's dedicated software testing practice.

He also during the course of interview talks about talks about the latest approaches for cost-effective software testing and latest methodologies and frameworks in the software testing practice domain. He also sheds light on global market for software testing and correlates some of these trends with Indian software testing market

CIOL: Virtusa prides itself as bringing in a holistic new approach for cost-effective software testing. What different process, methodology and technologies does Virtusa bring to the table

LRV: Virtusa has been a leading provider of SQA services to Global 2000 enterprises across diverse industry verticals. We believe that software testing as an activity is most effective and beneficial when it moves away from being reactive towards being proactive. While competent test engineers with good domain knowledge are definitely a key ingredient to effective testing, Virtusa adopts a more holistic approach as part of our software testing service offering.