ICSE 2026
Sun 12 - Sat 18 April 2026 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Wed 15 Apr 2026 14:45 - 15:00 at Oceania IV - Human and Social Aspects 3 Chair(s): Igor Steinmacher

Software Quality Assurance (SQA) Engineers play a critical role in evaluating products throughout the software development lifecycle to ensure that the outcomes of each phase and the final product possess the desired quality standards. In general, a great SQA engineer requires a different set of abilities from development engineers to effectively oversee the entire product development process. While recent empirical studies have explored the attributes of software engineers and managers, the quality assurance role is overlooked. As software quality gains increasing priority in the development cycles, both employers seeking skilled professionals and new graduates aspiring to excel in Software Quality Assurance (SQA) roles face a critical question: What makes a great SQA Engineer? To address this gap, we conducted 25 semi-structured interviews and surveyed 363 SQA engineers from diverse companies worldwide. We use the data collected from these activities to derive a comprehensive set of attributes for great SQA Engineers, categorized into five key areas: personal, social, technical, management, and decision-making attributes. Among these, curiosity, effective communication, and critical thinking emerged as defining characteristics of great SQA engineers. These findings offer valuable insights for future research with SQA practitioners, contextual considerations, and practical implications for research and practice.

Wed 15 Apr

Displayed time zone: Brasilia, Distrito Federal, Brazil change

14:00 - 15:30
Human and Social Aspects 3Journal-first Papers at Oceania IV
Chair(s): Igor Steinmacher RESHAPE LAB, Northern Arizona University, USA
14:00
15m
Talk
Exploring Empathy in Software Engineering: Insights from a Grey Literature Analysis of Practitioners' Perspectives
Journal-first Papers
Lidiany Cerqueira BRAVAS in Tech, João Pedro Silva Bastos UEFS, Danilo Neves IFS, Glauco Carneiro UFS, Rodrigo Spinola Virginia Commonwealth University, Sávio Freire Federal Institute of Ceará, José Amancio UEFS, Manoel Mendonça Federal University of Bahia
14:15
15m
Talk
A comparative study on reward models for user interface adaptation with reinforcement learning
Journal-first Papers
Daniel Gaspar Figueiredo Universitat Politècnica de València, Spain, Marta Fernández-Diego Universitat Politècnica de València, Silvia Abrahão Universitat Politècnica de València, Emilio Insfran Universitat Politècnica de València, Spain
14:30
15m
Talk
Self-monitoring of Developers' Emotions: the Case of Agile Retrospective Meetings
Journal-first Papers
Daniela Grassi University of Bari, Filippo Lanubile University of Bari, Nicole Novielli University of Bari, Luigi Quaranta University of Bari, Italy, Alexander Serebrenik Eindhoven University of Technology
Link to publication DOI
14:45
15m
Talk
What Makes a Great Software Quality Assurance Engineer?
Journal-first Papers
Roselane Silva Farias Institute of Computing (IC), Federal University of Bahia (UFBA), Salvador, Brazil, Iftekhar Ahmed University of California at Irvine, Eduardo Almeida Federal University of Bahia (UFBA)
15:00
15m
Talk
Women’s Participation in Student Software Development Teams: A Cross-Sectional Study on Role Distribution
Journal-first Papers
Claudia Maria Cutrupi Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Letizia Jaccheri Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Sofia Papavlasopoulou Norwegian University of Science and Technology
Link to publication DOI
15:15
15m
Talk
Negativity in Self-Admitted Technical Debt: How Sentiment Influences Prioritization
Journal-first Papers
Nathan Cassee University of Victoria, Neil Ernst University of Victoria, Nicole Novielli University of Bari, Alexander Serebrenik Eindhoven University of Technology
Link to publication DOI