Test Engineer

Definition

As illustrated in the preceding figure, Test Engineer is part of the following inheritance hierarchy:

The typical role-specific responsibilities of a Test Engineer are to:

Test engineers typically inherit the general role responsibilities from the role process component.

To fulfill these responsibilities, test engineers typically should have the following expertise, training, and experience:

Deep knowledge of the item under test (e.g., class, build, or application) including:
- Requirements (for blackbox testing).
- Architecture(s) (for integration testing).
- Design (for whitebox testing).
- Implementations (for whitebox testing).
Deep knowledge of testing tasks.
Deep knowledge of testing techniques at the following levels:
- Model Testing
- Unit Testing of software and/or hardware
- Commercial Component Testing
- Integration Testing
- System Testing
- Launch Testing
Deep knowledge of relevant testing tools.
Programming (to produce test scripts).
Excellent verbal and written communications skills that can be used to communicate test plans and results.
Basic knowledge of the customer's overall business enterprise and the relevant application domain(s).
Able to collaborate well with developers.

Test engineers typically perform the following role-specific tasks in an iterative, incremental, parallel, and time-boxed manner:

Test engineers typically inherit common role tasks from the role process component.

Test engineers typically perform these tasks as members of the following teams:

As members of these teams, test engineers typically produce all or part of the following work products:

Testers are called test engineers to emphasize the fact that testing is an engineering activity.
This role typically inherits the common team guidelines from the roles process component.