Evolution of Quality Assurance Roles and Automation at Google

In Google's early days a small group of engineers built, tested, and released software, but as the user base and product scale grew, engineers specialized into distinct roles: Test Engineers (TEs) for testing new products and system integration, Release Engineers (REs) for deploying code to production, and Site Reliability Engineers (SREs) for 24/7 system and data‑center management.

Initially, the team relied heavily on manual testing. When automation was introduced, the focus was on front‑end UI automation, which worked while Google was still small. As the company grew, lengthy manual test cycles hindered product iteration, and late‑stage bug fixes became costly.

To address this, Google shifted testing upstream, aiming to catch issues earlier in the development process. Two new testing roles emerged: Test Engineers (TEs) with deep product knowledge and testing expertise, and Test Development Engineers (SETs) who built the frameworks and tools needed for automation.

The separation of these roles had a significant impact: automated testing became more efficient and precise, and the number of projects establishing testing standards surged, improving code and feature coverage.

TEs now focus on high‑level business knowledge, guiding automation and integration, while SETs collaborate with TEs and other engineers to create extensive automation tools, accelerating product releases.

SETs also expanded their scope beyond testing, developing tools to streamline code writing and review, automate release verification, monitor production logs in real time, and measure developer productivity, thereby enhancing overall engineering productivity.

Recognizing the broadened responsibilities, SETs renamed their role to SETI (Software Engineer, Tools and Infrastructure). Today, SETIs and TEs continue to work closely to eliminate obstacles from feature development to product release, inviting others interested in building next‑generation tools and infrastructure to join Google.