Both of those disciplines will likely see continued demand.
Rather than moving laterally into a new profession, software QA testers will likely increase their value by gaining skills in both app security and development. Testers and developers who can talk about security are much more prized than those who have little security expertise, said Martin Knobloch, global application security strategist at Micro Focus.
“A lot of app sec professionals think they are heroes because they can break stuff, but there are a lot of people who don’t know how to talk to the developers. The most important skills for security people—and testers—is to be able to communicate business risk, so security specialists with a development background [and vice versa] are really valuable.”
—Martin Knobloch
- Automation is key for agile development
Among technical skills, testers who know automation, security, and machine learning are increasingly valuable, said David Foote, principal and co-founder of Foote Partners, a technology analyst firm.
In its research, the firm found that the skills with the highest pay premium include DevSecOps, natural language processing, risk assessment, and security architecture. Yet automation is the one common component of almost every job and is especially important for an software QA tester or engineer in the modern DevOps software development lifecycle.
“It is difficult to find some area that does not have automation as a component. Just like you cannot bring a knife to a gun fight, you cannot win the security fight against attackers without automation.”
—David Foote
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