A day in the life of a Test Analyst at Grayce

Grayce Test Analyst, Adam Hilliard walks us through a typical day in his role and what to expect when working in a test environment.

As a Grayce Analyst, I am working with my client in a Testing role. So what I do in a day is based on where we are in the release cycle. What testing environments are available. If there are any urgent defects that need retesting. And if I need to liaise with my key stakeholders that day.

For those who aren’t familiar with the term, Testing is the process businesses go through to make sure that a product, program or application meets the business and technical requirements it needs to.

Stakeholders are vitally important to the smooth running of test cycles. We have a team meeting every day, that includes members throughout the project lifecycle. In this stand-up, each team member covers what they achieved yesterday, what their plan is for the day and share information on any blockers that might impede their progress.

Creating test scripts and scenarios

If we are early in the life cycle, or blocked due to lack of environments or where deployment is ongoing, I will create test scenarios and test scripts based on requirements that have been handed over to the test team by the Business Analysts. We use these when tests are executed and are useful tools so that any other member of the team can pick up and execute.

I work with Business Analysts and Designers to gain their report requirements to feed in to our team. It’s a great opportunity to clarify reporting requirements before testing so we can streamline the process and hopefully avoid encountering blockers. I also work to understand the data I need to execute test scripts, which involves engaging with the correct upstream team that creates the data. Whether it’s from setting up a new merchant on the system to a specific type of payments transaction.

Execution and reporting

Once I’ve sourced the data, I can execute the test scripts, which could be scripts I have created or scripts another team member has produced. If we see any failures then I raise a defect, noting all the relevant information to send to the Design or Development teams so they can provide a fix before the next release. Sometimes I validate defects that other team members have raised, so we get accurate real time information.

It’s a key part of my role to prepare the team report which is circulated to key stakeholders in the test team and the project team. I collate updates from other members of the team so I can report on the scripts we’ve created, share progress on script execution and log if any major defects have been raised or passed. This is a daily task for me and rounds off my day.

Skills you need to succeed

My day is always varied! I am able to draw on a range of skills to support my client, from communication and stakeholder management to data analysis and everything in between. You need to have a keen eye for detail, have an interest in solving problems and be ready to adapt as the testing cycle progresses.

Working on client site in a global payments company, at the cutting edge of technology is a great opportunity for me to get real experience and support my career goals.

Find out more about the Grayce Development Programme