Software engineers are valued for their expertise in operating new technologies. As more and more companies turn to digital solutions, the demand for trained software engineers will continue to expand. Nowadays, the challenge for business owners and company managers is ensuring the quality of a final project. In an organization that produces software, the quality of that software is essential for determining the revenue of the company, the priority of its projects, and its management strategies.
That’s why software engineers should know about these three main metrics for defining software quality.
1. Measuring Reliability for Those in Software Engineering Careers
Reliability refers to the level of risk associated with a software product. By measuring reliability, those in software engineering careers can prevent severe malfunctions in the software, and assess its ability to deal with minor failures. As more and more companies turn to software systems to assist their work, the competition for user satisfaction is growing. If failures in the software do occur, they can have a damaging effect on the level of user satisfaction. That’s why it’s important to analyze any defects in the software and estimate how long the system can last without crashing.
There are a number of ways in which software engineers can measure the reliability of software. Load testing examines how the software performs under high loads, while regression testing determines how many new defects occur during changes in the software. Both tests ensure that the software runs smoothly and can withstand expected growth.
2. Keeping an Eye on Performance Metrics
Every software program is designed with a different function in mind. Certain metrics are used to measure whether the software performs its own particular function as expected. Performance is a particularly important feature of software quality when large amounts of data need to be processed at high speeds. In that case, any delay in the response time could cause significant setbacks.
Nowadays, however, all kinds of users are expecting high-performance levels, with web and mobile applications becoming increasingly popular. Software is considered to be of higher quality if it meets those expectations and delivers fast service to users. Load and stress testing can be used to determine a system’s performance under a certain load, as well as its maximum capacity.
3. Looking After Security Protection
With the expansion of technology comes the new danger of cyberattacks. When it comes to software quality, security metrics determine how easily hackers can infiltrate the software, disrupt its function, or access confidential user information. When measuring software quality, it’s important to measure how the software responds to different security threats. Graduates of a software engineering program will be interested to discover that the number and level of security breaches in a system are a good indicator of its security quality.
Security is a vital metric when analyzing software quality, as an increasing number of users rely on digital systems to record sensitive information relating to their private life or business. Measuring the number of vulnerabilities in software applications and the time to resolution will help assess the quality of the software. Graduates of CBC’s software engineering program may choose to specialize in user requirements, quality of the software product, reliability, safety, or long-term maintenance.
Are you ready to earn your software engineering diploma?
Contact the Canadian Business College to learn more about our program!