QA (Quality Assurance): The work of making sure software meets the expected quality, through testing, reviews and improving how the team works. QA is also the name of the testing team or role.
Example
Your feature moves to QA, where a tester checks it against the acceptance criteria.
Why QA (Quality Assurance) matters for IT interns
"Send it to QA" is a phrase you will hear often. QA is a partner in quality, not just a gate at the end.
Where you will hear it
You will hear this term in testing and quality discussions, from test planning to bug reports. If someone uses it and you are not sure what they mean in your project, it is completely fine to ask; every team uses terms a little differently.
Related terms
- Functional Testing: Testing that each feature does what the requirements say it should.
- Manual Testing: Testing software by hand — using it like a real user and checking the results — without automation scripts.
- Priority (in bug tracking): How soon a bug should be fixed, based on business needs.
- Regression Testing: Re-testing existing features after a change to make sure nothing that used to work is now broken.
- Severity: How badly a bug affects the system or its users.
- Smoke Testing: A quick set of basic checks on a new build to confirm the most important functions work before deeper testing…
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Frequently asked questions
What is QA (Quality Assurance)?
The work of making sure software meets the expected quality, through testing, reviews and improving how the team works. QA is also the name of the testing team or role.
What is an example of QA (Quality Assurance)?
Your feature moves to QA, where a tester checks it against the acceptance criteria.
Why does QA (Quality Assurance) matter for IT interns?
"Send it to QA" is a phrase you will hear often. QA is a partner in quality, not just a gate at the end.
Explore more internship terms
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About the author
Dhaivat has 16+ years of experience in the IT industry, working on AI and cloud technologies, project delivery, and engineering leadership. He has interviewed and mentored many interns, wrote The Lost Intern, and runs the non-commercial Career Impact Initiative, mentoring students for free.