Understanding the Software Release Process: CI/CD for QA Engineers and SDETs

If you’re a beginner QA automation engineer or SDET (or want to become one), understanding how code goes from a developer’s laptop to production is a key skill to grow beyond just “writing tests”.

In this guide, I’ll walk step by step through the software release process:

• What a CI/CD pipeline is

• What happens during the build–deploy–test cycle

• Where QA fits into each stage

By the end, you’ll have a clear picture of how releases work and how this knowledge helps you design better, more reliable automated tests.

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🟢 There are many ways teams release software, but most of them are just variations of two main approaches

➤ 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐑𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞:

Developer writes code → someone manually builds the app → someone manually deploys it → someone manually runs tests.

Slow, error-prone, and hard to repeat the same way every time.

➤ 𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐑𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞:

Developer pushes code → Jenkins/GitHub Actions automatically builds → Automatically deploys to QA → Automatically triggers your test suite.

Fast. Consistent. Reliable.

Companies automate these repetitive tasks so they can release software faster with fewer bugs. Understanding this pipeline is essential if you want to move beyond writing basic test scripts and be treated as a real QA Automation Engineer / SDET.

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🟢 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐄𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐆𝐄𝐒 𝐎𝐅 𝐒𝐎𝐅𝐓𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐄 𝐑𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐄

Every software release follows the same pattern.

Tools like Jenkins, GitHub Actions, and GitLab CI/CD automate these stages so releases happen in minutes, not hours:

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𝟏. 𝐁𝐔𝐈𝐋𝐃 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐆𝐄 📦 (𝐓𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐂𝐨𝐝𝐞 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐒𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐃𝐞𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐲𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞)

Raw code can't just run on a server. It needs to be built into an artifact - a packaged, executable version of your application.

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐞:

⟩ Dependencies get installed - External libraries and frameworks your code needs (npm install, pip install, Maven dependencies)

⟩ Code gets compiled and packaged - Source code becomes executable format:

• .jar for Java apps

• .apk for Android

• .exe for Windows

• dist/ folder for web projects

⟩ Unit and integration tests run - Developers' low-level tests check basic functionality before moving forward

If this stage fails, nothing else happens. Your end-to-end tests never run. The deployment never happens.

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𝟐. 𝐃𝐄𝐏𝐋𝐎𝐘 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐆𝐄 🚀 (𝐏𝐮𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐀𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐒𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐈𝐭 𝐂𝐚𝐧 𝐑𝐮𝐧)

The artifact is built.

Now it needs to be deployed to an environment where people (or automated tests) can actually use it.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐞𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐞𝐞:

⟩ Dev - Developers test their own code changes here

⟩ QA - Main place where your automated tests run

⟩ Staging - Production-like environment for final checks before release

⟩ Production - Live environment where real users access the software

Deployment typically means replacing old Docker containers or server instances with new ones containing the latest artifact.

┆Your tests run AFTER a deployment. If they fail, make sure to check the history of the previous test runs to see if they were passing PRIOR to that deployment.

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𝟑. 𝐓𝐄𝐒𝐓 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐆𝐄 ✅ (𝐕𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐟𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐀𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐬)

This is your domain as a QA automation engineer.

⟩ 𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐓𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠:

Your test scripts simulate real user behavior: clicking buttons, filling forms, making API requests.

These catch regression bugs where new code breaks existing functionality.

CI/CD tools trigger your test suite automatically after deployment. Tests run on remote machines, virtual environments, or cloud instances. The tools collect results, generate reports, and display detailed logs through a dashboard.

⟩ 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐓𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠:

QA teams manually verify UI appearance and functionality, especially for edge cases that are difficult or impractical to automate.

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🟢 Understanding the software release process isn't optional. Anyone can write a test script that runs on their laptop.

𝐀 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐐𝐀 𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐄𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐒𝐃𝐄𝐓:

⊹ Knows how code moves from developer laptop to production

⊹ Can read build logs and diagnose pipeline failures

⊹ Understands why tests might not execute (build failed? deployment failed? environment issue?)

⊹ Can configure tests to run in CI/CD, not just locally

🎯 So, where to start ?

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Go look at your company's CI/CD pipeline. Ask someone to walk you through it.

Understand what happens when code gets pushed. Learn to read the build logs.

That knowledge will immediately make you more valuable and move you closer to mid-level QA Automation / SDET roles.

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𝐏.𝐒. 🚩 𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧’𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐭 𝐲𝐞𝐭, 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐩 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐑𝐄𝐄 𝟑-𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 “𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐐𝐀 → 𝐒𝐃𝐄𝐓” 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐩, 𝐚 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐢-𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐝𝐦𝐚𝐩 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐦𝐢𝐝-𝐥𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥 𝐒𝐃𝐄𝐓 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰𝐬.

Click Here to Start: https://www.skool.com/qa-automation-career-hub/classroom/078530b1

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