DevOps, software testing and quality engineering
DevOps joins software development and IT operations so that changes reach users quickly, safely and repeatably. Arke Technologies, in Johannesburg, sets up DevOps pipelines, automated software testing and quality assurance for South African organisations, public bodies and schools, on Azure DevOps, AWS or Google Cloud.
What is DevOps? Meaning and practices
DevOps is a way of working in which the people who build software and the people who run it share one process, one set of tools and one goal: reliable change. The DevOps meaning is in the name, development plus operations, but the practice is specific.
- Version control for code, database migrations, infrastructure and configuration.
- Continuous integration (CI): every change is built and tested automatically.
- Continuous delivery (CD): tested changes reach production through an approved pipeline with a rollback.
- Infrastructure as code: cloud services defined in files and reviewed like code.
- Monitoring and blameless reviews: production feedback, and fixing the process rather than blaming a person.
So what does a DevOps engineer do? A DevOps engineer builds and runs the path from a developer's change to production: pipelines, environments, secrets, monitoring and release automation. In many mid-sized organisations that is one person, so we document every pipeline to outlive any one engineer.
Agile software development: methodology, manifesto and Scrum
Agile software development builds software in short cycles, shows it to users often and adjusts as the team learns. By definition, the agile software development methodology puts working software and collaboration ahead of heavy up-front plans. The Manifesto for Agile Software Development (2001) sets out four values, backed by twelve principles: individuals and interactions over processes and tools, working software over comprehensive documentation, customer collaboration over contract negotiation, and responding to change over following a plan.
Agile software development and Scrum usually go together. Scrum runs the agile software development process in sprints of one month or less: a product owner orders the backlog, the team commits to a sprint goal, and each sprint ends with a review and a retrospective. Kanban, the other common agile software development model, runs work as a continuous flow.
| Question | Waterfall | Agile |
|---|---|---|
| Plan | Fixed up front | Refined every sprint |
| Delivery | One release at the end | Working software every sprint |
| Change | Formal change request | Expected, and ordered in the backlog |
| When risk surfaces | Late, in testing | Early, at each review |
For public-sector and enterprise buyers who must buy against a fixed scope, agile software development vs waterfall need not be a choice: the contract fixes outcomes, milestones and budget, the backlog inside it is agile, and scope changes go through change control.
Quality assurance in software testing
Quality assurance (QA) is the discipline that prevents defects: standards, reviews, a definition of done and a process that makes quality repeatable. Testing, strictly quality control, finds defects in a particular build. So what is QA in software testing? It is the frame around the tests: deciding what to test, how thoroughly, with which data, and what evidence a release must produce before it ships. Quality engineering goes a step further and builds those checks into the pipeline, so every change is tested automatically.
Test strategy, test plans and test cases
A software testing strategy sets the approach for a whole product: which testing types apply, what is automated and who signs off. A test plan in software testing applies it to one release, and test planning in software testing starts with the requirements. Our test plan template for software testing covers:
Scope: what is and is not being tested.- Approach: the testing types and techniques, and what is automated.
- Environments and test data: masked or synthetic data, never live personal information.
- Entry and exit criteria: when testing starts and what "done" means.
- Roles, schedule and sign-off.
- Risks and defects: how defects are logged, prioritised, fixed and retested.
Test cases in software testing are the individual checks inside the plan. A test case in software testing names a precondition, the steps, the data and the expected result, so anyone who runs it gets the same answer. Two test cases in software testing as examples:
| ID | Test case | Steps | Expected result |
|---|---|---|---|
| TC-014 | Invoice total with VAT | Create an invoice with two lines of R1,000 ex VAT | Total shows R2,300 incl. VAT |
| TC-015 | Access control | A learner account opens a staff-only report link | Access refused, and the attempt logged |
Software testing automation and tools
Software testing automation runs repeatable checks by machine on every change. Test automation in software testing follows the testing pyramid: many fast unit tests, fewer integration tests and a few end-to-end tests. Automated software testing tools are chosen to suit the stack. Common choices:
- Unit and integration: the test runner native to the language, such as Jest or Vitest for TypeScript and pytest for Python.
- Browser end-to-end: Selenium, the long-established standard, or Playwright and Cypress for newer web applications. Software testing with Selenium still suits large cross-browser suites.
- Load testing software: Apache JMeter or k6, to simulate concurrent users and data volumes.
- Security: static code analysis and dynamic scanning against OWASP guidance.
Software testing automation tools do not replace people. Exploratory testing, usability and UAT need human judgement, and an automated suite is only as good as the test cases in it.
DevOps and software testing certifications
DevOps certifications show that an engineer knows a platform's tooling; they do not replace a working pipeline. The main ones:
- AWS certification for DevOps: AWS Certified DevOps Engineer – Professional.
- Microsoft DevOps certification: Microsoft Certified: DevOps Engineer Expert, through exam AZ-400.
- Software testing certification: the ISTQB Certified Tester scheme, from Foundation Level upwards.
A DevOps certificate counts alongside delivered work, not instead of it. We hire for experience, education and certifications, in step with the contracts we sign. If your tender asks for named, certified staff, the proposal names them.
Governance, compliance, procurement and continuity
- Governance and reporting. Every change is traceable from request to code, test evidence, approval and release. You receive a monthly quality report, and ongoing support runs under an SLA with a monthly service review, change control and escalation paths written into the agreement.
- Compliance. Auditors test change management as an IT general control; a pipeline that records every approval produces that evidence for PFMA and MFMA audit and King IV Principle 12 reporting. Test data is masked for POPIA, under ISO/IEC 27001-aligned secure development controls.
- Procurement. Level 1 B-BBEE contributor (sworn affidavit available on request), which gives buyers 135% procurement recognition. Company documents, CSD supplier number and tax compliance status are available on request, and we complete SBD forms when a bid requires them. See company facts.
- Continuity. Pipelines, scripts, test suites and documentation live in your repositories and cloud accounts. You own your data, credentials and documentation, and nothing depends on our access once we hand over.