Smoke testing and sanity testing - Quick and simple differences
Despite of hundreds of web articles on Smoke and sanity testing, many people still have confusion between these terms and keep on asking to me. Here is a simple and understandable difference that can clear your confusion between smoke testing and sanity testing.
Here are the differences you can see:
SMOKE TESTING:
1.Smoke testing originated in the hardware testing practice of turning on a new piece of hardware for the first time and considering it a success if it does not catch fire and smoke. In software industry, smoke testing is a shallow and wide approach whereby all areas of the application without getting into too deep, is tested.
2.A smoke test is scripted, either using a written set of tests or an automated test
3.A Smoke test is designed to touch every part of the application in a cursory way. It’s shallow and wide.
4. Smoke testing is conducted to ensure whether the most crucial functions of a program are working, but not bothering with finer details. (Such as build verification).
5. Smoke testing is normal health check up to a build of an application before taking it to testing in depth.

SANITY TESTING:
1.A sanity test is a narrow regression test that focuses on one or a few areas of functionality. Sanity testing is usually narrow and deep.
2.A sanity test is usually unscripted.
3.A Sanity test is used to determine a small section of the application is still working after a minor change.
4. Sanity testing is a cursory testing, it is performed whenever a cursory testing is sufficient to prove the application is functioning according to specifications. This level of testing is a subset of regression testing.
5. Sanity testing is to verify whether requirements are met or not, checking all features breadth-first.
Hope these points will help you to clearly understand the Smoke and sanity tests and will help to remove any confusion.

Software Testing Certifications

Software Testing Certifications

As a test engineer or QA engineer it is very important to have at least one of the Software testing certifications. This will help to broaden the software testing knowledge, also helpful for testing employees to get the promotion in their respective field in large MNC’s.
Here I am listing some important software testing certifications:See the description to know why should one go for the respective certification.
CQA-Certified Quality Analyst: For Professional level of competence in the principles and practices of quality assurance in the IT profession.
CSTE-Certified Software Test Engineer:Intended to establish standards for initial qualification and provide direction for the testing function through an aggressive educational program.
CSTP- Certified Software Test Professional:To teach individuals from different disciplines sound and effective testing techniques and methods and to certify them as Software Testing Professionals.
CQE- Quality Engineer Certificate:CQE is designed for those who understand the principles of product and service quality evaluation and control.
Quality Manager Certification:For those who understand quality principles and standards in relation to organization and human resource management
CSQE- Certified Software Quality Engineer:CSQE is designed for those who have a comprehensive understanding of software quality development and implementation; have a thorough understanding of software inspection and testing, verification, and validation; and can implement software development and maintenance processes and methods
CQIA- Quality Improvement Associate Certificate:CQIA is designed to assess basic knowledge of quality tools and their uses by individuals who are involved in quality improvement projects, but do not necessarily come from traditional quality areas.
To apply for any of the certification or to know more in detail about any certification you can refer following links:
ASQ American society for quality Certified Software Quality Engineer (CSQE)

American society for quality Quality Improvement Associate

SSBB Six sigma black belt certification

ISEBQualification in software testing

ISTQB Certified tester International software quality institute

Mercury tools certificationsCSQA Certified software quality analyst

CSQA Certified software quality analyst

http://www.softwarecertifications.org/

Rational certifications

Segue tools certifications

Test Engineer Payscale

QA, Test engineer’s Payscale
Friends,If you are working as a Test engineer or a QA engineer then this might be shocking for you, Specifically my Indian friends.See the salary chart.
This is the salary for Test/QA engineers by their experience. This salary structure is for those who does the job of design, implement, execute and debug information technology test cases and scripts, Automate test cases, Find bugs, defects, and regressions, Verify fixes, Validate and document completion of testing and development.