ICT usability testers ensure compliance with requirements and strive for optimal usability within the software engineering cycle phases (analysis, design, implementation, and deployment). They also work closely with users (analysts) to research for and document user profiles, analyse tasks, workflows, and user scenarios.
ISCO skill level is defined as a function of the complexity and range of tasks and duties to be performed in an occupation. It is measured on a scale from 1 to 4, with 1 the lowest level and 4 the highest, by considering:
the nature of the work performed in an occupation in relation to the characteristic tasks and duties
the level of formal education required for competent performance of the tasks and duties involved and
the amount of informal on-the-job training and/or previous experience in a related occupation required for competent performance of these tasks and duties.
These occupations require some skills and knowledge of ICT usability tester. They also require other skills and knowledge, but at a higher ISCO skill level, meaning these occupations are accessible from a position of ICT usability tester with a significant experience and/or extensive training.
This knowledge should be acquired through learning to fulfill the role of ICT usability tester.
Behavioural science: The investigation and analysis of subject behaviour through regulated and lifelike observations and disciplined scientific experiments. Levels of software testing: The levels of testing in the software development process, such as unit testing, integration testing, system testing and acceptance testing. Human-computer interaction: The study of the behaviour and interaction between digital devices and human beings. Application usability: The process through which the learnability, efficiency, usefulness and ease of use of a software application can be defined and measured.
These skills are necessary for the role of ICT usability tester.
Use experience map: Examine all the interactions and touchpoints people have with a product, brand or service. Determine key variables such as duration and frequency of every touchpoint. Test for emotional patterns: Discern patterns in the emotions of individuals by using various tests in order to understand the causes of these emotions. Assess users’ interaction with ict applications: Evaluate how users interact with ICT applications in order to analyse their behaviour, draw conclusions (for instance about their motives, expectations and goals) and improve applications’ functionalities. Report test findings: Report test results with a focus on findings and recommendations, differentiating results by levels of severity. Include relevant information from the test plan and outline the test methodologies, using metrics, tables, and visual methods to clarify where needed. Provide software testing documentation: Describe software testing procedures to the technical team and the analysis of test outcomes to users and clients in order to inform them about the state and efficiency of software. Test for behavioural patterns: Discern patterns in the behaviour of individuals by using various tests in order to understand the causes of their behaviour. Conduct research interview: Use professional researching and interviewing methods and techniques to gather relevant data, facts or information, to gain new insights and to fully comprehend the message of the interviewee. Execute software tests: Perform tests to ensure that a software product will perform flawlessly under the specified customer requirements, using specialised software tools. Apply software testing techniques and tools in order to identify software defects (bugs) and malfunctions. Execute ict user research activities: Perform research tasks such as recruitment of participants, scheduling of tasks, collecting of empirical data, data analysis and production of materials in order to assess the interaction of users with an ICT system, program or application. Address problems critically: Identify the strengths and weaknesses of various abstract, rational concepts, such as issues, opinions, and approaches related to a specific problematic situation in order to formulate solutions and alternative methods of tackling the situation. Measure software usability: Check the convenience of the software product for the end user. Identify user problems and make adjustments to improve usability practice. Collect input data on how users evaluate software products. Replicate customer software issues: Use specialised tools to replicate and analyse the conditions that caused the set of software states or outputs reported by the customer in order to provide adequate solutions. Create website wireframe: Develop an image or set of images that display the functional elements of a website or page, typically used for planning a website’s functionality and structure.
This knowledge is sometimes, but not always, required for the role of ICT usability tester. However, mastering this knowledge allows you to have more opportunities for career development.
Agile project management: The agile project management approach is a methodology for planning, managing and overseeing of ICT resources in order to meet specific goals and using project management ICT tools. Mdx: The computer language MDX is a query language for retrieval of information from a database and of documents containing the needed information. It is developed by the software company Microsoft. Cognitive psychology: The human mental processes such as attention, memory, language use, perception, problem solving, creativity and thinking. Visual presentation techniques: The visual representation and interaction techniques, such as histograms, scatter plots, surface plots, tree maps and parallel coordinate plots, that can be used to present abstract numerical and non-numerical data, in order to reinforce the human understanding of this information. Javascript: The techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in JavaScript. Xquery: The computer language XQuery is a query language for retrieval of information from a database and of documents containing the needed information. It is developed by the international standards organisation World Wide Web Consortium. Php: The techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in PHP. Sparql: The computer language SPARQL is a query language for retrieval of information from a database and of documents containing the needed information. It is developed by the international standards organisation World Wide Web Consortium. Ict debugging tools: The ICT tools used to test and debug programs and software code, such as GNU Debugger (GDB), Intel Debugger (IDB), Microsoft Visual Studio Debugger, Valgrind and WinDbg. Web programming: The programming paradigm that is based on combining markup (which adds context and structure to text) and other web programming code, such as AJAX, javascript and PHP, in order to carry out appropriate actions and visualise the content. Tools for ict test automation: The specialised software to execute or control tests and compare predicted testing outputs with actual testing results such as Selenium, QTP and LoadRunner Resource description framework query language: The query languages such as SPARQL which are used to retrieve and manipulate data stored in Resource Description Framework format (RDF). Query languages: The field of standardised computer languages for retrieval of information from a database and of documents containing the needed information. Ldap: The computer language LDAP is a query language for retrieval of information from a database and of documents containing the needed information. Ajax: The techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in AJAX. Ict project management methodologies: The methodologies or models for planning, managing and overseeing of ICT resources in order to meet specific goals, such methodologies are Waterfall, Incremental, V-Model, Scrum or Agile and using project management ICT tools. Unstructured data: The information that is not arranged in a pre-defined manner or does not have a pre-defined data model and is difficult to understand and find patterns in without using techniques such as data mining. Linq: The computer language LINQ is a query language for retrieval of information from a database and of documents containing the needed information. It is developed by the software company Microsoft. Process-based management: The process-based management approach is a methodology for planning, managing and overseeing of ICT resources in order to meet specific goals and using project management ICT tools. Lean project management: The lean project management approach is a methodology for planning, managing and overseeing of ICT resources in order to meet specific goals and using project management ICT tools. N1ql: The computer language N1QL is a query language for retrieval of information from a database and of documents containing the needed information. It is developed by the software company Couchbase.
These skills and competences are sometimes, but not always, required for the role of ICT usability tester. However, mastering these skills and competences allows you to have more opportunities for career development.
Use markup languages: Utilise computer languages that are syntactically distinguishable from the text to add annotations to a document, specify layout and process types of documents such as HTML. Manage schedule of tasks: Maintain an overview of all the incoming tasks in order to prioritise the tasks, plan their execution, and integrate new tasks as they present themselves. Debug software: Repair computer code by analysing testing results, locating the defects causing the software to output an incorrect or unexpected result and removing these faults. Use scripting programming: Utilise specialised ICT tools to create computer code that is interpreted by the corresponding run-time environments in order to extend applications and automate common computer operations. Use programming languages which support this method such as Unix Shell scripts, JavaScript, Python and Ruby. Develop automated software tests: Create software test sets in an automated manner, using specialised languages or tools, that can be performed by testing tools in order to save resources, gain efficiency and effectiveness in test execution. Develop ict test suite: Create a series of test cases to check software behaviour versus specifications. These test cases are then to be used during subsequent testing. Conduct ict code review: Examine and review systematically computer source code to identify errors in any stage of development and to improve the overall software quality. Design user interface: Create software or device components which enable interaction between humans and systems or machines, using appropriate techniques, languages and tools so as to streamline interaction while using the system or machine.
