Software QA Tester (Volunteer Opportunity)

About Outcome School

Outcome School is a mission-driven, free tech school that helps underrepresented communities build real, employable skills through hands-on, project-based learning. We build products, not just resumes.

Role Summary

As a Volunteer Software QA Tester, you’ll help improve the quality of student-built and internal products by testing features, documenting issues, and collaborating with developers, mentors, and product leads. You’ll ensure our apps work reliably across devices and that users have a smooth experience.

Volunteer Commitment (Flexible)

• Time: 3–8 hours/week (flexible)
• Duration: 8–12 weeks preferred (longer welcome)
• Location: Remote / Online
• Schedule: Asynchronous with optional weekly check-in

Key Responsibilities

Manual Testing & Quality Checks

• Test web/mobile app features against requirements and acceptance criteria
• Perform smoke, regression, and exploratory testing before releases
• Validate bug fixes and retest resolved issues

Bug Reporting & Documentation

• Log clear, actionable bugs (steps to reproduce, expected vs actual, screenshots/video, environment details)
• Help maintain QA checklists and test cases for recurring workflows
• Track defects and status using tools like Jira/Trello/Notion/GitHub Issues

Collaboration

• Work closely with developers to clarify expected behavior and edge cases
• Participate in review sessions (demo days / sprint reviews) to provide QA feedback
• Suggest improvements to usability, accessibility, and overall user experience

Process Improvement

• Help introduce lightweight QA processes (release checklist, definition of done, test plans)
• Contribute to test strategy for new features (risk-based testing, priority flows)

What You’ll Test (Examples)

• Student capstone products (dashboards, marketplaces, booking apps, etc.)
• Outcome School internal tools (application flows, onboarding, learning portals)
• Core features like login/auth, forms, payments (if applicable), file uploads, notifications, and dashboards

Qualifications (Nice-to-Have, Not Required)

• Basic understanding of software testing concepts (bugs, regression, edge cases)
• Familiarity with web apps and browser dev tools
• Comfortable writing clear documentation and communicating issues
• Bonus: experience with Postman, API testing, SQL basics, Cypress/Playwright, or accessibility testing

We welcome beginners who are detail-oriented and eager to learn QA through real projects.

Tools You May Use

• Google Chrome DevTools
• Postman (API testing)
• Jira/Trello/Notion/GitHub Issues
• Test case templates + checklists
• Optional: Cypress / Playwright (automation exposure)

What You’ll Gain

• Real-world QA experience on real products
• Portfolio-ready QA artifacts (test plans, bug reports, checklists)
• Collaboration experience in an agile, product-based environment
• A strong reference and community impact through volunteering