[Ask Katalon Anything Apr ‘25] QA careers in the AI-First Landscape

Announcements & Updates Events & Activities
1

Ask Katalon Anything 1200x630 (1)
Ask Katalon Anything 1200x630 (1)1800×945 224 KB

Hello everyone! :wave:

We are excited to introduce a special edition of Ask Katalon Anything (AKA), where we dive deep into the latest insights and trends from the State of Quality Report 2025. This report is based on feedback from over 1,500 QA professionals, and we’ve gathered some fascinating trends, challenges, and best practices in the QA space.

For this edition, we’re thrilled to have Lucio, our VP of Product Marketing at Katalon and the author of the State of Quality Report, join us to answer all your burning questions. Whether you want to learn about emerging industry trends, how QA professionals are adapting to new technologies, or how to leverage the report’s findings to improve your own practices, Lucio will be here to provide expert insights.

Here’s what you can ask:

  • Industry Trends: What are the biggest shifts in QA practices based on insights from 1,500+ professionals?
  • QA Best Practices: What are 3 main takeaways from the report and where I can have more insights and connect with QA experts?
  • Emerging Technologies: What technologies are shaping the future of QA, and how can they be integrated into your testing workflows?

Timeframe :alarm_clock:

Start date: April 17, 2025
End date: April 22, 2025 11:59 PM

Guidelines :spiral_notepad:

  • Ask one question at a time using the Reply button at the bottom of this thread.
  • Add an indicator at the top of your question to specify the topic, such as [State of Quality Report] for questions about the report’s insights.
  • Please take a moment to read through the thread to ensure your question hasn’t already been asked.
  • Lucio will respond to your question regularly during the AKA period.

And don’t miss out on the Quality Horizon Summit on April 24, 2025, where you’ll meet Lucio again and explore trends in more depth with other 12 top industry experts!

Register here to secure your spot.

We can’t wait to hear your thoughts and questions! Don’t forget to enjoy the conversation and have fun! :wink:

3 Likes
2

You can start asking questions!!!

1 Like
3

Hi @lucio, can you share a bit about yourself and tell the community your work with the State of Quality Report?

4

Hey Vu, sure! thanks for the question.

Hello everyone, I’m Lucio, VP of Product Marketing here at Katalon. I’ve been with the company for about four years now, and one of the things I enjoy most is helping the testing community grow by making QA more accessible, scalable, and impactful through the work we do.

This year, I had the chance to co-author the State of Software Quality Report alongside our CMO, Derek Weeks. From day one, we had a lot of conversations about the kind of story we wanted to tell. We didn’t want it to just be another data-heavy PDF. We wanted it to be genuinely useful for QA professionals, something that reflects where the industry is going, what challenges teams are facing, and what high-performing teams are doing differently.

Once we shaped the narrative, we built out the survey questions to support it. From survey design to insight development to writing, It was a ton of work, but seeing the final report resonate with so many folks in the community has made it totally worth it.

If you’ve had a chance to check it out and have questions or feedback, I’d love to hear it.

2 Likes
5

Thanks @lucio, this brings me to ask you a follow up question haha

Why is this report particularly newsworthy for the QA community? What are the three key takeaways participants can expect?

6

Hey @lucio @derek.weeks

Why was the simple size of this survey reduced to 1500 compared to 4000 last year for the SOQR?

Any specific reason for this?

7

Hello,

With AI increasingly shaping the future of testing, what new skills (beyond just coding and automation) do you think testers should start developing today to stay truly relevant in an AI-driven tech landscape? Also, how important will creativity and problem-solving become compared to pure technical know-how?

8

Hey Monty! great question. While last year’s report included ~5,000 responses, this year we intentionally focused on a more targeted group of qualified participants. We prioritized quality over quantity to ensure the insights came from professionals who are directly involved in software quality and testing, with a strong balance across roles, industries, and regions. This tighter focus gave us the ability to dive deeper into the trends that matter most and deliver data that’s both reliable and relevant for decision-makers.

1 Like
9

Does this mean that the last years SOQR (2024) is/was less reliable compared to this one SOQR (2025) ? :thinking:

10

Good question. One of the things that I wanted to do with this year’s report was go beyond basic surface statistics, so we designed the report with that approach in mind. Our goal was to really dig into the challenges and shifts happening in QA right now.

What makes this year’s SOQR newsworthy is how clearly it reflects the reality of modern QA, all the way from from AI adoption to organizational maturity, to what separates high-performing teams from the rest.

Three particular takeaways readers can expect:

  1. The maturity gap is widening. While some teams are modernizing fast, others are stuck in firefighting mode, and it’s often tied to how they structure their teams and prioritize automation.
  2. AI is here, but not evenly adopted. Most teams see the value, but skill gaps, tool fatigue, and fear of job displacement are slowing progress.
  3. QA’s business impact is still undervalued. Teams that connect QA to strategic outcomes like time to market, customer experience, and cost savings are seeing bigger wins.
2 Likes
11

Not at all, both reports are reliable, just different by design.

2 Likes
12

Thanks @lucio!!! Since you mentioned AI, I will ask (probably on behalf of lots of QA professionals): what do you see as the biggest concern for QA professionals in the age of AI dominance?

13

Solid question. I’ll start with the second part.

This is something we explored in detail in Chapter 1 of the report, where the data showed that problem-solving and analytical skills are considered one of the top drivers of success in QA in 2025. This was backed and called out by 42% of participants.

In Chapter 2, we took it further and found that analytical thinking is valued 1.3 x more by happy QA professionals compared to those who feel less satisfied in their roles. So it’s not just a business asset, it’s a morale booster too.

In short, organizations that invest in developing strategic thinkers aren’t just improving outcomes. They’re also building more motivated, engaged teams.

Now, about those AI skills.

I’ll answer this assuming that core skills like automation, programming, API and web testing are already familiar territory for most testers reading this.

With that said, the two areas I’d encourage everyone to focus on are prompt engineering and data literacy.

Prompt engineering matters because AI tools are only as good as the questions you feed them. The quality of the output improves significantly when you know how to structure a clear, specific, and strategic prompt.

Data literacy is just as critical. Testing is increasingly driven by real user behavior, telemetry, and analytics. Being comfortable with data, reading it, questioning it, and using it to guide testing decisions is a huge value-add. It helps you move from reactive testing to more proactive, informed quality strategies.

These two skills are less about knowing the tech and more about knowing how to think with it, and that’s where testers will really start to differentiate themselves.

2 Likes
14

AI dominance! I love that. :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

First, let me clarify. AI is not here to take your job. It is here to make you better at what you do. It helps teams do more with less, whether that is time, resources, or repetitive effort.

In Chapter 3 of the report, “The Role of AI in Transforming Software Testing,” we asked participants how concerned they were about AI replacing their roles. Interestingly, 20 percent of AI users said they were concerned, compared to 11 percent of non-AI users.

That difference makes sense. The more exposure people have to AI, the more they realize how quickly it is evolving. That can feel unsettling. But often, the concern is more about uncertainty than actual risk.

The best way forward is to focus on how you can work with AI rather than feel threatened by it. Testers who build skills in data analysis, better usage of AI, and strategic thinking will not only stay relevant. They will become even more valuable.

So while change can be a challenge, it is also the biggest opportunity for testers to step into a more strategic role in the future of quality.

1 Like
15

Could we by any chance get the percentage of the sample size (1500) geographical wise ? Like 10% QA for this report were taken from Asia , 70% from North America , 10% from south america etc.

I am just curious to know how was the sampling done for this.