DevOps Software Quality - Are Researchers and Practitioners in Sync?

Software development practices have evolved to meet users’ changing digital needs. The transition in software development practices has had a cascading effect on software testing practices, which are vital to determining quality in any software product. The purpose of this research was to identify similarities and dissimilarities between software testing competencies used in the industry and those in the research area in academia and then to compare the findings in the research area with practices used in the industry. This study's motivation was to identify the software testing competencies researched in academia to support the software testing practitioners in a fast-paced DevOps environment. The goal was to enable testing practitioners in the industry to improve the quality of software products and DevOps implementation with support from academia. This was a mixed-methods study executed in three phases, answering three research questions. Phase I consisted of content analysis using a structured review, to identify software testing competencies studied by researchers. In Phase II, I conducted an online survey through a questionnaire to collect data from IT professionals regarding the use of these competencies in the industry. Nine categories consisting of 25 competencies were identified in Phase I and prioritized by 56 IT professionals using a survey questionnaire in Phase II. In Phase III, I used analysis from Phase I and Phase II to create a joint display table to identify similarities and dissimilarities in research findings and industry needs. The study confirmed the importance of automation competencies, the evolution of competencies to support technology, and the wide adoption of continuous competencies across all methodologies to improve software testing efficiency. Finally, the study highlighted the change in the role of a software tester due to changes in the software industry