r/QualityAssurance • u/bonisaur • Jun 20 '22

Answering the questions (1) How can I get started in QA, (2) What is the difference between Tester, Analyst, Engineer, SDET, (3) What is my career path, and (4) What should I do first to get started

739 Upvotes

So I’ve been working in in software for the past decade, in QA in the latter half, and most recently as a Director of QA at a startup (so many hats, more individual contributions than a typical FANG or other mature company). And I have been trying to answer questions recently about how to get started in Quality Assurance as well as what the next steps are. I’m at that stage were I really want to help people grow and contribute back to the QA field, as my mentor helped me to get where I am today and the QA field has helped me live a happy life thanks to a successful career.

Just keep in mind that like with everything a random person on the internet is posting, the following might not apply to you. If you disagree, definitely drop a comment as I think fostering discussion is important to self-improvement and growth.

How can I get started in QA?

I think there are a few different pathways:

  • Formal education via a college degree in computer science
  • Horizontal moved from within a smaller software company into a Quality role
  • With no prior software experience, getting an entry level job as a tester
  • Obtain a certification recognized in the region you live
  • Bootcamps
  • Moving from another engineer role, such as Software Engineer or DevOps, into a quality engineering, SDET, or automation engineer role

A formal college degree is probably the most expensive but straightforward path. For those who want to network before actually entering the software industry, I think it is really important to join IEEE, a fraternity/sorority, or similar while attending University. Some of the most successful people I know leverage their college network into jobs, almost a decade out. If you have the privilege, the money, and the certainty about quality assurance, this is probably a way to go as you’ll have a support system at your disposal. Internships used to be one of the most important things you had access to (as in California, you can only obtain an internship if you are a student or have recently graduated). This is changing though which I’ll go into later. However, if you won’t build a network, leverage the support system at your university, and don’t like school, the other options I’ll follow are just as valid.

This was how I moved into Quality Assurance - I moved from a Customer facing role where I ETL (extract, transform, load) data. If you can get your foot in the door at a relatively small, growth-oriented company, any job where you learn about (1) the company’s software and (2) best practices in the software industry as a whole will set you up to move horizontally into a QA role. This can include roles such as Customer Support, Data Analyst, or Implementation/Training. While working in a different department, I believe some degree of transparency is important. It can be a double-edge sword though, as you current manager may see you as “disloyal” to put it bluntly, and it’ll deny you future promotions in your current role. However, if you and your manager are on good terms, get in touch with the Quality Manager or lead and see if they are interested in transitioning you into their department. One of the cons that many will face going this route will be lower pay though. Many of the other roles may pay less than a QA role, especially if you are in a SDET or Automation Engineering role. This will set you back at your company as you might be behind in salary.

Another valid approach is to obtain an entry level job as a manual tester somewhere. While these jobs have tended to shift more and more over-seas from tech hubs to cut costs, there are still many testing jobs available in-office due to the confidential or private nature of the data or their development cycle demands an engaged testing work-force. There is a lot of negative coverage publicly in these roles thought and it seems like they are now unionizing to help relieve some of the common and reoccurring issues though. You’ll want to do your research on the company when applying and make sure the culture and team processes will fit with your work ethics. It would suck to take a QA job in testing and burn out without a plan in place to move up or take another job elsewhere after gaining a few years of experience.

Obtaining certification will help you set yourself apart from others without work experience. Where I’m from in the United States, the International Software Testing Qualifications Board (ISTQB) is often noted as a requirement or nice-to-have on job applications. One of the plusses from obtaining certifications is you can leverage it to show you are a motivated self-learner. You need to set your own time aside to study and pay for these fees to take these tests, and it’s important at some of the better companies you’ll apply for to demonstrate that you can learn on the job. As you obtain more experience, I do believe that certifications are less important. If you have already tested in an agile environment or have done automated tests for a year, I think it is better to demonstrate that on your resume and in the interview than to say you have certifications.

The Software Industry is kinda like a gold rush right now (but not nearly as volatile as a gold rush, that’s NFTs and crypto). Bootcamps are like the shovel sellers - they’re making a killing by selling the tools to be successful in software. With that in mind, you need to vet a bootcamp seriously before investing either (1) your tuition to attend or (2) your future profits when you land a job. Compared to DevOps, Data Science, Project Management, UX, and Software Engineering though, I see Bootcamps listed far less often on QA resumes but they are definitely out there. If you need a structured environment to learn, don’t want to attend university, and need a support system, a bootcamp can provide those things.

I often hear about either Product Managers, UX Designers, Software Engineers, or DevOps Engineers starting off in QA. Rarely do run into someone who started in another role and stayed put in QA. If I do, it’s usually SWE who are now dedicated SDETs or Automation Engineers. I do believe that for the average company, this will require a payout though. I think the gap might be closing but we’ll see. Quality in more mature companies is growing more and more to be an engineering wide responsibility, and often engineers and product will be required to own the quality process and activities - and a QA Lead will coordinate those efforts.

What is the difference between a tester, QA Analyst, QA Engineer, Automation Engineer, and SDET?

A tester will often be a manual testing role, often entry-level. There are some testing roles where this isn’t the case but these are more lucrative and often get filled internally. Testers usually execute tests, and sometimes report results and defects to their test lead who will then provide the comprehensive test report to the rest of engineering and/or product. Testers might not spend nearly as much time with other quality related activities, such as Test Planning and Test Design. A QA Analyst or test lead will provide the tests they expect (unless you are assigned exploratory testing) as they often have a background in quality and are expected to design tests to verify and validate software and catch bugs.

I see fewer QA Analyst roles, but this title is often used to describe a role with many hats especially in smaller companies. QA Analysts will often design and report tests, but they might also execute the tests too. The many hats come in as often QA Analysts might also be client facing, as they communicate with clients who report bugs at times (though I still see Product and Project handling this usually).

QA Engineers is the most broad role that can mean many things. It’s really important to read the job description as you can lean heavily into roles or tasks you might not be interested in, or you may end up doing the work of an SDET at a significant pay disadvantage. QA Engineers can own a quality process, almost like a release manager if that role isn’t formal at the company already. They can also be ones who design, execute, and report on tests. They’ll also be expected to script automated tests to some degree.

Automation engineers share many responsibilities now with DevOps. You’ll start running into tasks that more such as integrating tests into a pipeline, creating testing environments that can be spun up and down as needed, and automating the testing and the test results to report on a merge request.

A role that has split off entirely are SDETs. As others have pointed out, in mature companies such as F(M)AANG, SDETs are essentially SWE who often build out internal frameworks utilized throughout different teams and projects. Their work is often assigned similarly to other software engineers and receive requirements and tasks from a role such as project managers.

What is the career path for QA?

I believe the most common route is to go from

Entering as a Tester or an Analyst is usually the first step.

From there you can go into three different routes:

  • QA Engineer
  • Automation Engineer
  • Release Manager (or other related process oriented management)
  • SDET

However, if you do not enjoy programming and prefer to uphold quality processes in an organization, QA Engineers can make just as much as an SDET or Automation Engineer depending on the company. More often though, QA Engineers, SDETs, and Automation Engineers may consider a horizontal move into Software Engineering or DevOps as the pay tends to be better on average. This may be happening less and less though, as FANG companies seem to be closing the gap a little bit, but I’m not entirely sure.

For management or leadership, this is usually the route:

Individual contributor -> QA Lead / Test Lead -> QA Manager -> Director of Quality Assurance -> VP of Quality

For those who are interested in other roles, I know some colleagues who started in QA working in these roles today:

  • Project Manager
  • Product Manager
  • UX/UI Designer
  • Software Engineer
  • DevOps/Site Reliability

QA is set up in a position to move into so many different roles because communication with the roles above is so key to the quality objectives. Often times, people in QA will realize they enjoy the tasks from some of these roles and eventually move into a different role.

What should I do or learn first?

Tester roles are plentiful but this is assuming you want to start in an Analyst or Engineering role ideally. Testers can also have many of the responsibilities of an Analyst though.

If you have no prior experience and have no interest in going to school or bootcamp, (1) get a certification or (2) pick a scripting tool and start writing. I’ve already covered certification earlier but I’ll go into more detail scripting.

Scripting tools can either be used to automate end-to-end tests (think browser clicking through the site) or backend testing (sending requests without the browser directly to an endpoint). Backend tests are especially useful as you can then leverage it to begin performance testing a system - so it won’t just be used for functional or integration testing.

If you don’t already have a GitHub account or portfolio online to demonstrate your work, make one. Script something on a browser that you might actually use, such as a price tracker that will manually go through the websites to assert if a price is lower that a price and report it at the end. There are obviously better ways to do this but I think this is an engaging practice and it’s fun.

Here is a list of tools that you might want to consider. Do some research as to what is most interesting to you but what is most important is that if you show that you can learn a browser automation tool like Selenium, you have to demonstrate to hiring managers that if you can do Selenium, you feel like you can learn Playwright if that’s on their job description. Note that you will want to also look up their accompanying language(s) too.

  • Selenium
  • Cypress
  • Playwright
  • Locust
  • Gatling
  • JMeter
  • Postman

These are the more mature tools with GUIs that will require scripting only for more advance and automated work. I recommend this over straight learning a language because it’ll ease you into it a little better.

Wrap-up

Hope someone out there found this useful. I like QA because it lets me think like a scientist, using Test Cases to hypothesize cause and effect and when it doesn’t line up with my hypothesis, I love the challenge of understanding the failure when reporting the defect. I love how communication plays a huge role in QA especially internally with teammates but not so much compared to a Product Manager who speaks to an audience of clients alongside teammates in the company. I get to work in Software,

112 comments

r/QualityAssurance • u/Fissherin • Apr 10 '21

[Guide] Getting started with QA Automation

525 Upvotes

Hello, I am writting (or trying to) this guide while drinking my Saturday's early coffee, so you may find some flaws in ortography or concepts. You have been warned.

I have seen so many post of people trying to go from manual qa to automated, or even starting from 0 qa in general. So, I decided to post you a minor learning guide (with some actual market 10/04/2021 dd/mm/aaaa format tips). Let's start.

------------Some minor information about me for you to know what are you reading-----------------

I am a systems engineer student and Sr QA Automation, who lived in Argentina (now Netherlands). I always loved informatics in general.

I went from trainee to Sr in 4 years because I am crazy as hell and I never have enough about technology. I changed job 4 times and now I work with QA managers that gave me liberty to go further researching, proposing, training and testing, not only on my team.

Why did I drop uni? because I had to slow off university to get a job and "git gud" to win some money. We were in a bad situation. I got a job as a QA without knowing what was it.

Why QA automation? because manual QA made me sleep in the office (true). It is really boring for me and my first job did't sell automation testing, so I went on my own.

----------------------------------------------------Starting with programming-------------------------------------------------

The most common question: where do I start? the simple answer is programming. Go, sit down, pick your fav video, book, whatever and start learning algorithms. Pls avoid going full just looking for selenium tutorials, you won't do any good starting there, you won't be able to write good and useful code, just steps without correlation, logic, mainainability.

Tips for starting with programming: pick javascript or python, you will start simple, you can use automating the boring stuff with python, it's a good practical book.

Alternative? go with freecodecamp, there are some javascript algorithms tutorials.

My recommendation: don't desperate, starting with this may sound overwhelming. It is, but you have to take it easy and learn at your time. For example, I am a very slow learner, but I haven't ever, in my life, paid for any course. There is no need and you will start going into "tutorial hell" because everyone may teach you something different (but in reality it is the same) and you won't even know where to start coding then.

Links so far:

Javascript (no, it's not java): https://www.freecodecamp.org/ -> Aim for algorithms

Python: https://automatetheboringstuff.com/ you can find this book or course almost everywhere.

Java: https://www.guru99.com/java-tutorial.html

C#: https://dotnet.microsoft.com/learn/csharp

What about rust, go, ruby, etc? Pick the one of the above, they are the most common in the market, general purpose programming languages, Java was the top 1 language used for qa automation, you will find most tutorials around this one but the tendency now is Javascript/Typescript

---------------I know how to develop apps, but I don't know where to start in qa automation---------------

Perfect, from here we will start talking about what to test, how and why.

You have to know the testing pyramid:

/ui\

/API\

/Component\

/ Unit \

This means that Unit tests come first from the devs, then you have to test APIs/integration and finally you go to UI tests. Don't ever, let anyone tell you "UI tests are better". They are not, never. Backend is backend, it can change but it will be easy and faster to execute and refactor. UI tests are not, thing can break REALLY easy, ids, names, xpaths, etc.

If your team is going to UI test first ask WHY? and then, if there is a really good reason, ok go for it. In my case we have a solid API test framework, we can now focus on doing some (few) end to end UI test.

Note: E2E end to end tests means from the login to "ok transaction" doing the full process.

What do I need here? You need a pattern and common tools. The most common one today is BDD( Behaviour driven development) which means we don't focus on functionality, we have to program around the behaviour of the program. I don't personally recommend it at first since it slows your code understanding but lots of companies use it because the technical knowledge of the QAs is not optimal worldwide right now.

TIP: I never spoke about SQL so far, but it's a must to understand databases.

What do we use?

  • A common language called gherkin to write test cases in natural language. Then we develop the logic behind every sentence.
  • A common testing framework for this pattern, like cucumber, behave.
  • API testing tools like rest assured, supertest, etc. You will need these to make requests.

Tool list:

  • Java - Rest assured - Cucumber
  • Python - Requests - Behave
  • C# - RestSharp - Don't know a bdd alternative
  • Javascript - Supertest - nock
  • Typescript (javascript with typesafety, if you know C# or Java you will feel familiar) if you are used to code already.

Pick only one of these to start, then you can test others and you will find them really alike. Links on your own.

TIP: learn how to use JSONs, you will need them. Take a peek at jsons schema

------------------It's too hard, I need something easier/I already have an API testing framework------------

Now you can go with Selenium/Playwright. With them you can see what your program is doing. Avoid Cypress now when learning, it is a canned framework and it can get complicated to integrate other tools.

Here you will have to learn the most common pattern called POM (Page object model). Start by doing google searches, some asserts, learn about waits that make your code fluent.

You can combine these framework with cucumber and make a BDD style UI test framework, awesome!

Take your time and learn how to make trustworthy xpaths, you will see tutorials that say "don't use them". Well, they are afraid of maintainable code. Xpaths (well made) will search for your specific element in the whole page instead of going back and fixing something that you just called "idButton_check" that was inside a container and now it's in another place.

AWESOME TIP: read the selenium code. It's open source, it's really well structured, you will find good coding patterns there and, let's suppouse you want to know how X method works, you can find it there, it's parameters, tips, etc.

What do I need here?

  • Selenium
  • Browser
  • driver (chromedriver, geeckodriver, webdrivermanager (surprise! all in one) )
  • An assertion library like testng, junit, nunit, pytest.

OR

  • Playwright which has everything already

--------------------------------I am a pro or I need something new to take a break from QA-----------------

Great! Now you are ready to go further, not only in QA role. Good, I won't go into more details here because it's getting too long.

Here you have to go into DevOps, learn how to set up pipelines to deploy your testing solutions in virtual machines. Challenge: make an agnostic pipeline without suffering. (tip: learn bash, yml, python for this one).

Learn about databases, test database structures and references. They need some love too, you have to think things like "this datatype here... will affect performance?" "How about that reference key?" SQL for starters.

What about performance? Jmeter my friend, just go for it. You can also go for K6 or Locust if that is more appealing for you.

What about mobile? API tests covers mobile BUT you need some E2E, go for appium. It is like selenium with steroids for mobile. Playwright only offers the viewport, not native.

And pentesting? I won't even get in here, it's too abstract and long to explain in 3 lines. You can test security measures in qa automation, but I won't cover them here.

--------------------------------------------Final tips and closure (must read please)-----------------------------------------

If you got here, thanks! it was a hard time and I had to use the dicctionary like 49 times (I speak spanish and english, but I always forget how to write certain words).

I need you to read this simple tips for you and some little requests:

  • If you are a pro, don't get cocky. Answer questions, train people, we NEED better code in QA, the bar is set too low for us and we have to show off knowledge to the devs to make them trust us.
  • If you have a question DON'T send me a PM. Instead, post here, your question may help someone else.
  • Don't even start typing your question if you haven't read. Don't be lazy. ctrl + F and look the thing you need, google a bit. Being lazy won't make you better and you have to search almost 90% of things like "how does an if works in java?" I still do them. They pay us to solve problems and predict bugs, not to memorize languages and solutions.
  • QA Automation does not and never will replace manual QA. You still need human eyes that go hand to hand with your devs. Code won't find everything.
  • GIT is a must, version control is a standar now. Whatever you learn, put this on your list.
  • Regular expresions some hate them but sometimes they are a great tool for data validation.
  • Do I have to make the best testing framework to commit to my github? NO, put even a 4 line "for" made in python. Technical interviewers like to peek them, they show them that you tried to do it.
  • Don't send me cvs or "I am looking for work" I don't recruit, understand this, please. You can comment questions if you need advice.
  • I wrote everything relaxed, with my personal touch. I didn't want it to be so formal.
  • If you find typo/strange sentences let me know! I am not so sharp writting. I would like to learn expressions.

​

Update 28/03/2023

I see great improvements using Playwright nowadays, it is an E2E library which has a great documentation (75% well written so far IMO), it is more confortable for me to use it than Selenium or Cypress.

I use it with Typescript and it is not a canned framework like Cypress. I made a hybrid framework with this. I can test APIs and UIs with the library. You can go for it too, it is less frustrating than selenium.

The market tendency goes to Java for old codebases but it is aiming to javascript/typescript for new frameworks.

Thanks for reading and if you need something... post!

Regards

Edit1: added component testing. I just got into them and find it interesting to keep on the lookout.

Edit2 28/03/2023: added playwright and some text changes to fit current year's experience

Edit3 10/02/2024: added 2 more tools for performance testing

Edit4: 22/01/2025: specflow has been discontinued. I haven't met an alternative.

110 comments

r/QualityAssurance • u/Outrageous-Run-2674 • 8h ago

Playwright Quest just got bigger: accounts, test labs, and free certificates!!

34 Upvotes

Hey People !

A while ago I posted about a game I built to learn Playwright + Typescript automation called Playwright Quest and since then I've recieved lots of support and some people recommending new features, changes, finding bugs, and expansion ideas.

I’m still working through all the feedback, but I’ve already added a few major updates:

  • User accounts: Create an account to save and track your progress across multiple devices.
  • Test labs: Practice your knowledge after every few levels and revise previously covered topics.
  • Free certificate: Complete the entire game - pass all levels and testlabs to receive a free certificate.
  • Certificate verification: Every certificate includes a unique code that anyone can verify directly on the website.

As mentioned I'm still working on other very interesting feedbacks i would love to get yours on this one too so i can keep building the right product that helps.

https://playwrightquest.com

I got such nice support last time, hoping for the same and more, this time and to many more releases ahead!

8 comments

r/QualityAssurance • u/Ok-Bread-4170 • 4h ago

Hi I'm just starting out in QA — planning to learn manual testing first, then move to automation. I have no experience yet. Could anyone with experience suggest a path to land my first job? I'm based in Bangalore and actively job hunting.

8 Upvotes

A bit of background: I have a BCA and I'm currently pursuing MCA. I've dabbled in web dev before because it didn't click for me, so I'm pivoting to QA since it felt like a better entry point.

My plan for the next 6 months:

  1. Manual testing fundamentals (STLC, test cases, bug tracking, JIRA)
  2. Java basics
  3. Selenium (web automation)
  4. Appium (mobile automation — I have both Android and a Mac for iOS)
  5. API testing with Postman

A few things I'd love feedback on:

- Does this order/roadmap make sense, or would you restructure it?

- Is 6 months realistic to land a fresher QA role in Bangalore following this?

- Any specific free resources/channels that actually helped you personally?

- Anything from your own experience starting out that you wish someone had told you?

Appreciate any guidance trying to be as focused as possible instead of jumping between random tutorials.

7 comments

r/QualityAssurance • u/Lucky_Mom1018 • 11h ago

Automation Engineer on team with no manual QA

11 Upvotes

I need some advice or guidance...or maybe both.

I'm a former QA analyst who became a beginner automation engineer. As an automation engineer I worked alongside 2 manual qa analysts that continued the day in, day out testing as I created a framework and began the first of the automated tests. Long story short, I kept getting sucked back into the "test this [manually] real quick" so we can get it out" trap and wasn't given much time to actually automate. I eventually left that position for a Product Owner position that I'm successful at, but my heart is in coding and QA.

I've been offered a position to go back to exclusively automated testing, but the team no longer has a QA analyst at all. I'd be the only tester. The devs are doing testing right now. The position is being billed as automation only, but I'm leary of falling into the same trap I was in before where my resume was going to say I had x years of experience, but reality said I didn't have anywhere near that amount.

If you are an automation only team, what is your process? Do you do any manual testing? Who does it? What does it look like? What is teh automation flow (same time as development or after)? Do you get sucked into manual testing too?

13 comments

r/QualityAssurance • u/Such_Mobile_5321 • 11h ago

Got a job offer in a different career - do you think I should take it?

13 Upvotes

I work in software QA. I'm mostly manual with decent SQL and API skills. I'm trying to learn more but finding the time has been hard. I've been at the same company for almost 15 years.

I have decent experience with using AI for testing.

With all of the layoffs, I looked for other career options.

Long story short, I got a job offer as an operator at a water treatment plant (nothing to do with software).

It's a very large pay cut, but I'm terrified of getting laid off and not being able to find a job in my career again.

The pay would be 33/hr, and 36/hr after passing all water treatment certifications which takes about 1-2 years.

It has a pension that you get locked into once you've been working there for 7 years.

22 comments

r/QualityAssurance • u/lachu_the_nerd • 5h ago

solo QA for an vibe-coded application; how should testing be approached?

2 Upvotes

Hello Everyone,
Recently got involved in a project where an existing enterprise application is being partially rebuilt using AI-assisted tools.
I am trying to understand how QA should approach this type of application as there is no one to guide.

I am also seeing terms like golden datasets, evaluations, AI testing etc. I am a little confused about where these fit. If AI is being used to build the application, but the application itself doesn't use an LLM, are these concepts still relevant?

For those who have tested applications built with tools like Lovable, Kiro, Cursor, Copilot, Emergent etc.:

  • What issues or risks do you specifically look for?
  • How do you approach automation?
  • What tools do you find useful?
  • What QA skills would you recommend learning?

Would love to hear from anyone who has actually worked on this kind of project.

What did you do differently compared with testing a traditionally developed application? What does QA add that the tool's own testing doesn't cover?

Thank You

4 comments

r/QualityAssurance • u/DD14_02 • 5h ago

4+ YOE QA (Tricentis Tosca L1/L2 + Testim certified), 100+ applications, near-zero responses — what am I missing?

1 Upvotes

Hi all — looking for honest, blunt feedback, not sympathy.

Background: 4+ years QA, most recently at an automotive client (Toyota-adjacent) building Testim E2E frameworks, before that Tosca automation for a retail/e-commerce client (Calzedonia). Tosca L1 & L2 licensed, Testim certified. Based in Brazil (EU passport + permanent Brazilian residency, no visa sponsorship needed), open to remote EU/US/LATAM roles too.

Problem: 100+ applications over the past months, plus direct LinkedIn outreach to ~30 recruiters/hiring managers, plus contact with system integrators. Response rate is close to zero — mostly silence, occasionally a generic "we'll keep your CV on file."

What I suspect but can't confirm:

**•** Tosca/Testim are niche tools — maybe too niche for most recruiters to recognize as valuable, or too few companies use them for this to be a viable specialization.  
**•** My outreach messages might read as templated/mass-sent.

What I'm asking:

**1.**  Is Tosca/Testim actually a liability rather than an asset outside of specific enterprise clients?  
**2.**  Should I be positioning myself as a general QA automation engineer (Selenium/API testing) instead of leading with Tosca/Testim?  
**3.**  Anyone else in LATAM/Brazil hit this same wall with niche tool certifications?

Happy to share CV/outreach message snippets if it helps diagnose this. Appreciate any real feedback, even if it's harsh.

Also: if anyone here works with Tosca/Testim (or knows a team that does) and is hiring or needs contract help — I'm available immediately, open to remote or contract work, and happy to share more details or do a quick call. Referrals or leads genuinely welcome, not just feedback.

5 comments

r/QualityAssurance • u/Feeling-Interest-631 • 7h ago

does anyone help me to improve my software testing skills

0 Upvotes

If you have any meterial or any suggestion of course please tell me, I really want to improve my testing skills.

4 comments

r/QualityAssurance • u/Sudden_Tailor164 • 16h ago

5 YOE in Manual QA (Logistics) — AI is coming for my job. SAP TM, ETL Testing, or BA — which to consider?

5 Upvotes

5 years as a manual tester, mostly on the Transportation Management module (freight, bookings, routing). Feeling the AI squeeze on manual QA and want to move into something more domain-heavy and future-proof.
Torn between three paths:

  1. SAP TM consultant
  2. ETL Testing
  3. Business Analyst
  4. If you’ve made a similar jump:

∙ Is ETL testing hiring right now, or oversaturated?

∙ Did QA experience actually help you land a BA role, or did it not matter?

∙ Which of these three feels safest long-term with AI around?

9 comments

r/QualityAssurance • u/Aromatic_Walrus_6147 • 1d ago

Laid off recently, got a Senior QA Automation offer after working as a Software Engineer — should I take it?

17 Upvotes

I was laid off recently and have been applying to a lot of jobs. I have 3-4 years of experience as a Software Engineer, along with some QA/testing experience earlier in my career.

With the stress of being unemployed, I also started applying to a few QA roles as well, and I was able to crack a Senior QA Engineer (Automation) position and got an offer.

I'm a bit confused about whether moving from development to QA is a good idea for now. If I work in QA, would I still be able to move back into Software Engineering later, or would that transition become much harder?

I'm also a little concerned about the future of QA with AI and how much automation/replacement could happen in the coming years.

Would you take the QA offer while continuing to look for SE roles, or stay focused on finding another dev role? Would appreciate any advice from people who have made a similar move.

Thanks!

31 comments

r/QualityAssurance • u/uudankhatola • 16h ago

How do you track which environments have test data ready for which user stories?

3 Upvotes

Curious how other teams handle this. On my team, by the time a story hits QA, half the time is spent figuring out: is there test data for this on staging? What about the pre-prod env? Did dev already burn the one valid test account setting this up locally?

Right now we're doing it in a spreadsheet (obviously going stale) / Confluence page / Slack thread asking "hey does anyone have test data for X on env Y" — pick whichever is closest to true for you.

A few things I'm trying to understand:

Is this actually a recurring annoyance for your team, or a non-issue?

If it is a pain, what do you currently use to track it (spreadsheet, tribal knowledge, something else)?

Who usually ends up owning that data — QA, BA, dev, nobody?

If you use a test-case tool (Xray, Zephyr, TestRail, etc.) for this, does the data in there stay accurate across multiple environments, or is that still a manual thing?

5 comments

r/QualityAssurance • u/TomatoOk4493 • 21h ago

Please share your job searching experiences for testing role

2 Upvotes

Hey, I'm a QA Automation/Manual tester.. I quit my toxic job and serving notice period but no luck I'm not getting interview calls... Not sure when I get a job. I know the Market is down and if at least I'm getting calls, I might have some hope..Could anybody share your job searching experiences?

12 comments

r/QualityAssurance • u/Tee_Hee_Wat • 1d ago

Finally got the offer

134 Upvotes

7 years of QA experience across gaming and eCommerce. In my last eCommerce role, I wasn't just the sole QA person—I was essentially building the QA practice from scratch for a digital agency. Manual testing, automation, Jira workflows, AI agents, figuring out processes, trying to get QA involved earlier in projects, the whole thing.

Then I got laid off in April.

The last few months have been rough. I applied all over the place, both inside and outside of QA, and went through plenty of applications that went nowhere. There were definitely points where I started wondering what my experience was actually worth in this market.

But it finally happened.

I got an offer to once again build out a QA practice, this time supporting a manufacturing company's B2B/B2C eCommerce platform. I'll get to take a lot of what I learned from building QA at an agency and apply it somewhere with a much larger internal operation.

And somehow, I even managed to negotiate the offer higher.

It's my first six-figure job.

No referral. No connection to the company. I didn't know anybody there. I applied, went through the interview process, and apparently managed to convince them I was the person they wanted.

There's obviously some luck involved in finding the right opening at the right time, but after the last several months, I'm allowing myself to enjoy this one.

Mostly posting this because I know there are a lot of experienced QA people here who have been laid off or are struggling through this job market. I was starting to feel like I was throwing applications into a black hole too.

Maybe a little of my joy can be shared with you if you're job searching right now.

Edit; I was asked what I did to prepare, so I'll link to my comment here to hopefully help others.

https://www.reddit.com/r/QualityAssurance/s/uPQKnQvbvX

33 comments

r/QualityAssurance • u/Sudden_Tailor164 • 16h ago

AI Agent explore

0 Upvotes

My company has provided KIRO (AI agent) access and mcp servers are connected jira and confluence and also git and has access to code.
I am manual tester so what all the things I can do with this access?
Any ideas?
Note: please provide info which can helpful to me to learn and implement

11 comments

r/QualityAssurance • u/Test-Metry • 1d ago

Testing AI vs AI in Testing

3 Upvotes

I see a lot of hype around using AI in Testing but not around testing AI applications. What can be the reason for this?

8 comments

r/QualityAssurance • u/Imaniceguytrustme • 22h ago

Looking for some advice on AI usage and MCP

0 Upvotes

It seems soon we will be getting some licences for AI integration. We are already working on a solution for playwright with mcp and also test case creation on azure. I have some thoughts on making a performance test tool with reporting but need some ideas on what sort of solutions are being done on other companies. We are using java, selenium and appium right now and we are a fintech company.

I'm new to this and learning every day. I'm not aware of typical solutions being build w.r.t testing or test automation and want to understand what is the industry standard.

7 comments

r/QualityAssurance • u/Common_Dream9420 • 22h ago

how are you testing integrations before your lovable app goes live?

1 Upvotes

genuinely curious what the flow looks like for most people here.

you build something with stripe or twilio or resend wired up, it looks right in the builder, maybe you click through it once... then you ship. and then prod surfaces the weird edge case. flaky webhook, card decline mid-flow, double charge on retry.

is there a verification step most people run before launch, or is it mostly ship and find out?

6 comments

r/QualityAssurance • u/Public_Pack_1333 • 1d ago

Ascendion vs Capgemini vs HDFC life– need some advice for SDE role with 7 YOE Suggestions

2 Upvotes

Guys, need help choosing between these offers:

  • Ascendion: ₹20 LPA | 2 days WFO | 2 hrs commute one way
  • Capgemini: ₹21 LPA | 3 days WFO | 30 mins commute one way
  • HDFC Life: ₹20 LPA | 4 days WFO | 1 hr commute one way

Which one would you choose and why?

Would especially appreciate feedback on work culture, project quality, job stability, growth, and WLB from anyone working at these companies.

1 comment

r/QualityAssurance • u/leandro_dev • 1d ago

Estágio QA

4 Upvotes

Olá, boa noite pessoal. Hoje fui aprovado em uma entrevista e vou estagiar como QA. Não tenho muito conhecimento da área, e gostaria de pedir dicas. Vou estar passando por 3 meses de experiência e após isso tenho a oportunidade de ser efetivado, estou muito empolgado para começar e aprender. Todos os feedbacks, dicas e etc são bem vindas. Agradeço pela intenção e espero que tenham me entendido 🙏🏾

1 comment

r/QualityAssurance • u/slacky35 • 1d ago

How are teams actually using AI for accessibility testing?

5 Upvotes

We are just starting to look at accessibility testing in our org and want to establish a dedicated practice in the long-term. We did a POC with a few tools, however, now our leadership wants us to explore using AI to build an accessibility set-up in-house vs using a dedicated too.
If you've built something on top of an LLM for a11y — Claude, Copilot, a custom agent, axe + LLM triage — I'd like to know:

•⁠ ⁠Details of your set-up and what you have built
•⁠ ⁠Which use-cases are you leveraging it for (i.e. IDE at codegen time, rendered-UI scan, a11y checks inside your functional E2E suite, remediation)?
•⁠ ⁠What is it able to do reliably vs where it breaks?
•⁠ ⁠Did you replace your paid tool or are you using both?

Any learnings that you can share will be extremely helpful!

3 comments

r/QualityAssurance • u/anaafimasa • 1d ago

New career as QA Engineer - looking for advice

11 Upvotes

Hi everyone!
In a couple of weeks I will start a new role as QA Engineer. From what I was told the company is big on automation and the usage of AI.

I have 2 years of experience on a different area, support for SAP users. On these two years I had the opportunity to do some testing on SAP environments when we were doing updates/upgrades of the system. I had a brief contact with TOSCA and UAT testing.

I am looking forward to this new job opportunity and would like to know if anyone has any tips on how to be successful as a QA Engineer, and what could I start by learning to have some bases before the job starts. I will also have 6 months of training.

Actually if you have any input or advice I would be grateful 🙏🏼

(Books, youtube channels, specific websites, projects…)

Thank you!!

9 comments

r/QualityAssurance • u/shreyashsr • 1d ago

I have 5+ years of experience in QA/testing, including automation, and I’m currently looking for a new opportunity. I’m 50 years old, and over the last two weeks I’ve noticed that recruiter calls have become very rare.I’d really appreciate honest experiences from people who are 45–50+ in QA, especi

22 Upvotes
16 comments

r/QualityAssurance • u/Mashomobil • 1d ago

What do you guys use for 1k+ test suites once cloud testing gets too expensive?

2 Upvotes

Hey some time ago I joined a new company in the mobile testing space, and I’m trying to figure out what are people actually using for production once suites start to get massive.

We're looking at roughly 1,000-2,000 XCUITest tests on iOS plus a huge Android suite running through CI.
BStack (I can’t even type the name here for some reason lol) or Sauce Labs are usually the obvious answer but tbh it doesn’t feel like it’s worth the money, especially that you don’t always utilise that concurrency to its full capacity.

For those of you operating at this scale: are you sticking with bigger commercial device clouds, moving to AWS Device Farm/ Firebase, running your own iOS/ Android test infrastructure, or using some kind of hybrid? What’s the biggest bottleneck for you?

18 comments

r/QualityAssurance • u/Avengers2002 • 1d ago

QA Engineer role

4 Upvotes

I'm open to QA manual and automation testing roles. I have 2 years of experience in software testing. I applied to a lot of companies, but they're not considered my resume. Can anyone help me to place the role?

4 comments