Does software testers need to know programming?

 

The goal of software tester is to test an application with an intend to find a bug.The software tester needs to understand an application from end user perspective.

Is Programming knowledge really mandatory?

Well it depends on the the type of testing that is to be performed on an application based on the client requirement.

If the application requires manual testing then no programming knowledge is required. The manual tester needs to have good understanding of business needs,good communication skills,good knowledge of testing techniques,good troubleshooting skills.

If the application demands automation testing then programming skills are mandatory.The automation tester should be able to write the test scripts to test the functionality of an application.

If automation testing is performed on UFT  tool then VBScript knowledge is required to test an application.

If automation testing is performed on Open source tool such as Selenium one needs to know basic concepts of OOP(Object Oriented Programming),Scripting knowledge and better understanding of languages like Java,Python etc.