Domain Skills in Software Testing — Are They Essential?

One of the main arguments that motivate people to start a career in the tech sphere is the perspectives it offers. Digitalization and automation are steady, and that guarantees a stable job market in the future.

On the other hand, the tech industry becomes more competitive. The more areas you are proficient in, the better your chances of finding the desired job and for career growth are. Companies often look for specialists that have some specific niche expertise to enhance their teams. It happens to extend the range of QA services and keep the resources relevant.

But how do domain skills benefit a company? And are they essential for every QA specialist to acquire? In this post, I’ll shed some light on the concept of domain knowledge and answer some of the common questions.

How Does Domain Knowledge Work?

It is usual to distinguish three categories of skills in quality assurance — testing skills, technical expertise, and domain knowledge. Testing skills are the backbone of the qualification. A QA specialist has to be familiar with basic concepts and practices — like types of testing, test planning, writing test cases, etc. Technical expertise encompasses a deeper understanding of specific tools and frameworks, knowledge of programming languages, etc. Domain knowledge, in its turn, provides industry insights.

As the definition goes, domain knowledge is knowledge of a specific discipline or field in contrast to general knowledge. It helps a professional to respond to uncommon software specifications, industry-specific requirements, workflows, and technology.

In practice, the success of a software product depends a lot on how well a QA team can relate to it. To make sure that a product solves user pains, you need to understand those pains. In a perfect case, QA engineers who work on a project are end-users or have analyzed enough of the similar tools to estimate the value this new product brings, as well as its pros and cons compared to the rest of the solutions.

Let’s say you get an LMS to test. It’s the first product of this category you have to check. You aren’t into online courses, so you aren’t an experienced LMS user either. Of course, any person in such a situation will start with the basics. You know what usability means and what business-critical features are. Still, a domain expert is much more likely to detect bugs that are not obvious but typical to this kind of software.

Why Is Domain Knowledge Important?

Humans have limitations regarding the spheres they can be experts in. If you have a good understanding of how banking apps work, you aren’t necessarily as good with healthcare apps. And that is okay. Solid knowledge in one domain often compensates for superficial knowledge in many other domains.

Benefits of Domain Knowledge from a QA Engineer’s Perspective

First of all, a person won’t be denied an entry-level job because they don’t have solid domain knowledge. It may be a bonus and a highlight for building one’s career in the future. It can help deal with your daily tasks. Here are some reasons why.

• The complexity of vertical software applications and end-user requirements increase. Domain knowledge implies understanding the architecture of a niche product from the very beginning.
• Previous experience comes with valuable insights for evident bugs, a background for test-driven development, and scenarios for exploratory testing.
• A QA engineer has other examples of similar software solutions to compare a product with and thus decide what areas need enhancement.
• With time, it becomes easier to create precise test scenarios, prioritize defects, select tools, etc.
• Domain knowledge helps to become more productive during testing and acquire field-specific skills other team members may lack.

Benefits of Domain Knowledge from a Company’s Perspective

Okay, a QA engineer becomes more qualified and in-demand on the market. But should a company invest in employee’s education so that they acquire domain knowledge in a particular area? Should a company look for professionals with industry-specific expertise? Well, yes: in many cases, domain knowledge is a benefit for a company, too. Here’s why.

• A QA specialist needs less time to get familiar with a product and prepare relevant test cases for it. Thus, the time of testing is reduced.
• Since a person understands architecture, logic, and requirements quite well, they spend less time on defect analysis and can provide solutions quickly, increasing team productivity.
• A testing specialist gets a better understanding of end-user needs and can suggest improvements for strategic areas that will make an application more competitive.
• A QA engineer more easily accommodates changes or new requirements introduced in the middle of the development cycle.
• Having domain knowledge means understanding technical terms in the domain, as well as business requirements and processes. A person with such a skillset can make communication between teams more efficient, as well as educate the rest of the team.

When Is Domain Knowledge Essential?

Companies that create products for sectors with serious industry regulations are the first to require domain knowledge when they look for a software testing company. Simply put, businesses with increased liability and high cost of a mistake prefer to hire specialists with a background in a corresponding domain.

Companies working in the following fields prefer to hire specialists with relevant experience and domain knowledge.

• Healthcare. Often, there are several combined applications for professionals, patients, providers, etc. It is essential to follow a specific flow and closely check compliance with the regulations.
• Pharmaceuticals. A slight change in numbers may result in critical mistakes. The focus should be on data accuracy and relevance, as well as compliance.
• Banking. Security is the subject of the biggest concern. A QA specialist should understand how elements of the system are integrated and carefully change all the verification and validation features.
• Retail. Both e-commerce and brick-and-mortar solutions require niche-specific expertise since both deal with payment, inventory, bill generation, etc.
• Insurance. Again, it will be easier for a QA engineer to test software for this niche if they know specific terms, legal requirements, and peculiarities of software systems used in the industry.

You can rightly say that industries like tourism, education, hospitality, gaming, transport, and manufacturing also benefit if QA specialists working are people with domain knowledge in that particular field.

How to Deepen Domain Knowledge?

If you only start building domain knowledge, assign particular people to similar projects. If a person in your team already has experience in testing banking software, assign similar tasks for them. On the one hand, this person will be faster to detect issues. On the other hand, they will learn even more about banking apps.

Another effective strategy is internal education. More experienced QA specialists can share knowledge and experience with newcomers and junior QA engineers. Keeping detailed documentation will also be helpful.

If we are talking about more fundamental steps, company management can consider online tutorials, webinars, hiring consultants for professional training, and industry partnerships. For long-term projects with on-going QA analysis, a company can also consider hiring a professional with required expertise on top of staff training.

Is Domain Knowledge Significant for Test Automation?

Some believe that domain skills are more important for manual QA engineers. However, it adds value to automated testing, too. Good domain knowledge will help to reduce the number of automation scripts, to detect strategic areas and specific features that require increased attention.

In general, advantages are pretty much the same for manual and automated software testing professionals. Domain knowledge makes it easier for QA automation engineers to break a project down into smaller parts for optimal test coverage. It also helps QA engineers to understand business logic and business goals so they can prioritize features for testing correctly.

So it would be incorrect to say that domain knowledge is more important for a particular specialist or particular type of testing.

To Sum Up

Domain knowledge is often a bonus for QA specialists seeking new opportunities and companies looking for new clients. Nevertheless, it doesn’t mean that you should necessarily focus on one single field and become an expert in it, forgetting about everything else. If you are a QA engineer, choose several areas you are interested in and focus on those. If you are a decision-maker, hire a person with particular domain knowledge when it is urgent. In other cases, take care of building the required competencies inside the team.