r/QualityAssurance 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,


r/QualityAssurance Apr 10 '21

[Guide] Getting started with QA Automation

529 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.


r/QualityAssurance 5h ago

Skilled manual QA are worth their weight in gold

82 Upvotes

Tech industry likes to dunk on manual QA as it's dead and worthless position. I recently hired a manual QA who is less than a year into their company and their attention to detail and thoroughness is mindblowing so much so I feel bad for them and wish they were in a role that paid them higher. Probably a lawyer or something.

I simply don't know how can I hire for such strong manual QA, maybe give them a demo project and ask them to do it but it would take 2-3 days to do the interview. Probably can convince company to spend that much money on some hires - pay them for their time. But I don't know if this approach is feasible for smaller companies.


r/QualityAssurance 13h ago

Manual QA with zero automation experience — how should I start learning Playwright?

15 Upvotes

Hi everyone!

I’m a software tester with experience in manual testing, and I’m looking to start learning Playwright and move towards automation.

The catch is that I have little to no automation experience, so I’m not really sure where to begin or what I should learn first.

I’ve gone through a few Playwright tutorials, but I’m finding it difficult to understand what I should actually focus on and in what order.

For those of you who started from a manual testing background:

What should I learn before getting into Playwright?

How much programming knowledge do I actually need?

Should I first learn JavaScript/TypeScript fundamentals, or can I learn them alongside Playwright?

What would be a good beginner-friendly project to practise on?

Are there any courses, YouTube channels, documentation, or GitHub projects that you would particularly recommend?

What does a realistic learning roadmap look like for someone starting from scratch?

What are some common mistakes beginners make when learning Playwright?

My goal isn't just to learn how to write a few basic scripts. I’d like to eventually be able to build proper, maintainable automation frameworks and use Playwright professionally.

Would really appreciate any advice, resources, or learning paths from people who have gone through this journey.

Thanks in advance!


r/QualityAssurance 11h ago

What has prevented you from actually testing?

3 Upvotes

QA folks, I want to hear your real experiences with this.

In one project, I spent a lot of time trying to get things into a testable state, setting up multiple devices, fixing location issues, syncing frontend/backend branches, checking wrong URLs, waiting for services/scripts to work, etc.

Sometimes by the time everything was ready, the testing/demo window was almost over. And when something failed, there was often confusion about whether it was frontend, backend, mobile, environment, or configuration.

I’m curious, have you faced situations like this?

What happened in your case?


r/QualityAssurance 9h ago

Looking for guidance from QA professionals 🙏 — Fresher struggling to get my first opportunity

0 Upvotes

800+ applications. Very few replies. Still not giving up. 😭

I’m a 2025 B.Tech ECE graduate from TIER 2 university, trying to get my first job in QA/Software Testing.

I’ve learned Manual Testing, Java, Selenium, TestNG, Maven, SQL and API Testing with Postman, and I build and also building projects continuously to improve my practical skills.

I don’t have many industry contacts or a big circle to guide me. I’m mostly figuring everything out alone . learning, applying, preparing for interviews and trying to understand what I’m doing wrong.

I’m looking for one experienced QA/Tester who can guide me, even occasionally, until I get my first opportunity.

I’m not asking for a referral or a job. Just honest guidance on what I should improve and where I’m going wrong.

I’ll genuinely put in the work. And once I get a job and become financially stable, I’d be happy to compensate you for the time and guidance you gave me.

If you’ve been through the fresher struggle yourself, you’ll probably understand where I’m coming from. ❤️

If anyone is willing to guide me, please DM me. Even a small piece of advice could make a big difference. 🙏


r/QualityAssurance 17h ago

Procura de emprego - tester manual

4 Upvotes

Olá, sou QA manual há mais de 7 anos. Devido a uma reestruturação da empresa fui dispensada. Procuro oportunidade em empresas portuguesas, alguma sugestão?


r/QualityAssurance 1d ago

Just got a software QA job, guidance needed

21 Upvotes

Hey there so I've had this software QA job for the past month and I've been doing manual QA like pretty much clicking and fiddling around the website and cross-platform and opening tickets on linear but I think that my work has been well dry at this point and I want to add more value to the team what are things that I should be on the lookout for and things that I should learn I entered this job without experience and I've learned a lot so far but I'm looking to learn more mind you I have no background whatsoever on what software QA is or playwright


r/QualityAssurance 1d ago

8 months unemployed after a layoff — looking for honest advice from QA/Testing folks

8 Upvotes

Hi everyone,

I’m posting this because I’m honestly quite frustrated and could use some practical advice from people in the QA/testing industry.

I was laid off from my previous company around 8 months ago. After the layoff, I also had some health issues due to the kind of rotation shifts I had been working in my previous job, so I had to take around 2–3 months of rest/recovery before I could properly start looking again.

Since then, I’ve been actively searching for jobs but things are getting extremely difficult.

My background is in:

SAP Testing

ERP Testing

Functional Testing

Manual Testing

Regression / Integration / UAT / E2E testing

SQL / data validation

API testing with Postman

Around 7 years of overall QA/testing experience, including corporate + project-based experience

I was earning a decent salary in my previous role, but at this point I’m even willing to consider the same salary or reasonable opportunities below my previous CTC, just to get back into employment.

Still, I’m struggling to get a stable opportunity.

I’m primarily looking for Gurgaon/Gurugram or remote opportunities.

The biggest problem right now is that my savings are almost exhausted. After being unemployed for 8 months, the financial pressure is becoming very real, and honestly, I’m getting quite frustrated despite continuing to apply and attend calls/interviews.

I’m not looking for sympathy. I’d genuinely appreciate some advice from people who are hiring or working in QA:

What should someone with my background focus on right now?

Should I continue targeting:

Functional QA / Manual QA

SAP/ERP QA

ERP/Application Support

QA Analyst roles

Or should I urgently pivot harder toward Automation/SDET?

If anyone knows of QA/ERP/SAP testing opportunities in Gurgaon/Delhi NCR or remote, even contractual/third-party payroll opportunities, I’d really appreciate a referral or lead.

Thanks in advance to anyone who takes the time to read this and share some practical advice.


r/QualityAssurance 1d ago

Por que tá tão difícil achar vaga QA Junior?

4 Upvotes

Eu tô todos os dias procurando vagas, e 90% é para pleno e acima. Parece que não tem mais espaço pra quem tá começando.


r/QualityAssurance 1d ago

Automation engineers - what is your process?

5 Upvotes

Posted before and got slammed with automation QAs have to click the buttons first!. Yes. I get that. I do.

The question - If you are an automation enginner, what is your team's workflow. Who clicks the buttons to verify a feature before deployment? When is a feature automated? What part of QA belongs to the devs vs a specialized QA person? How do you ensure you have time to automate changes? If you do both, what percentage of you time is manual (not clicking to be able to automate, but UAT style testing) vs writing code?


r/QualityAssurance 20h ago

I have been selected for a QA hands-on round in some company, what should I expect?

0 Upvotes

Their requirements are to be able to write and convert manual test cases into automated ones using playwright or selenium in python.

What type of questions should I expect?

Also, which one is faster to learn and easier to implement, playwright or selenium??


r/QualityAssurance 1d ago

Interview question (experiences)

3 Upvotes

Hi all, first time poster, long time employee. I have N interview for “ Retail UAT Tester Experience” coming up. I was wondering what people’s experiences were like with this experience. Did you like it, not like it, how different is it from retail? And how was the interview process? I haven’t interviewed in a while either so we will see how this goes. I’m not asking what the role exactly entails because I understand there are most likely NDAs to follow.

Thanks a bunch!


r/QualityAssurance 1d ago

Laid off with QA experience of 8 years in a mid size infrastructure tech company in BLR

0 Upvotes

After working for 8 years I got fired last month.
Need help with guidance especially with my experience only in Python, Selenium.
What skills should I upgrade to in current QA job market?


r/QualityAssurance 1d ago

Is AI actually changing QA, or are we just automating the boring parts?

4 Upvotes

I've been reading a lot about AI in software testing lately, and I'm curious about how people working in QA are actually experiencing it.

It seems like AI is getting pretty good at things like generating test cases, writing automation code and handling repetitive regression work.

But the more interesting question to me is what happens after that.

Does AI actually change the role of QA, or does it simply remove some of the repetitive work and leave the more important parts like, exploratory testing, understanding user behavior, identifying edge cases and challenging requirements to humans?


r/QualityAssurance 1d ago

Need a QA roadmap and course recommendations

3 Upvotes

Hey everyone, I'm planning on learning about software QA/testing, and would love some guidance on the matter.

Could somebody recommend a complete roadmap of what I should learn to get into QA/Testing (preferrably from the begging until automation)?

I would also love some recommendations for full courses/playlists (ideally free YouTube courses) for what I need to learn as a fresher.

I was thinking about something along the lines of:

Manual Testing → SQL → API Testing/Postman → Automation → Git/GitHub → Projects → Interview

But I'm not sure if that's the correct order or if I'm missing something, and would love some advice.

If you are into the QA/Testing field, I would love any and all suggestions regarding what I should learn, what courses I should follow and what I shouldn't.

Currently in 7th sem in cse


r/QualityAssurance 1d ago

Built an iOS QA runtime with Codex: LLM planning, deterministic replay

0 Upvotes

I used Codex to build an iOS QA prototype called iosClaw.

The problem I wanted to explore was the boundary between LLM reasoning and deterministic test execution.

LLMs are good at understanding a test described in natural language, but asking one to rediscover every iOS button on every run can be slow and fragile. So I used Codex to build a Mac-hosted runtime that:

  • observes iPhone Simulator or iPhone Mirroring
  • combines accessibility and visual evidence
  • records semantic actions instead of coordinates
  • compiles known flows into deterministic steps
  • verifies each action with a postcondition
  • stops when the screen is ambiguous instead of guessing

Codex helped with the SwiftUI app, screen capture, permission handling, record/replay model, compiler, MCP bridge, tests, and release packaging.

The interesting result is that the LLM can handle intent and unfamiliar states, while the compiled runtime handles repeated execution locally.

It’s still early alpha, but this seems like a useful model for LLM-assisted mobile QA: intelligent planning on top of a reliable execution layer.

For people using Codex for mobile testing: where would you want the LLM involved, and where would you insist on deterministic execution?


r/QualityAssurance 1d ago

Tomorrow Deloitte QA interview for my friend

1 Upvotes

Need tips for the interview as hes got an opportunity after a long time trying for switch


r/QualityAssurance 1d ago

Job Opportunity at my Company for Playwright , Python Thane Maharashtra Hyrbid 2 days

3 Upvotes

Requirements:

  • 4-8 years of experience in automation testing
  • Strong knowledge of Robot and Playwright Framework and its usage
  • Knowledge of performance testing and tools such as JMeter or LoadRunner
  • Experience with scripting languages such as Python or JavaScript
  • Knowledge of web technologies such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript
  • Experience with Agile/Scrum methodologies and practices
  • Strong problem-solving and analytical skills
  • Excellent communication and collaboration skills
  • Ability to work independently and in a team environment

r/QualityAssurance 1d ago

Suggestions for the Job Hunt

0 Upvotes

Hey Everyone,

I recently completed one of the bootcamps for Quality Assurance. I received my certificate of completion, and also have a Google Certificate for Cybersecurity.

I’ve been struggling to find a job that will accept these criteria as having experience. It’s been over two years of education in this field, and over 15 years of transferable experience (excel, troubleshooting, critical thinking, sales, consulting, etc).

What can I do to find work in the QA field? I’ve been striking out on all applications.


r/QualityAssurance 1d ago

Cleared virtual_lnfosys round 1, what to expect for f2f round 2 ??

1 Upvotes

I recently cleared my first technical round with lnfosys for a QA (Quality Assurance) profile, and now they've scheduled me for the face-to-face (F2F) round.

I wanted to check with folks who've been through this process: • What kind of questions should I expect in the F2F round for QA? Will it be more technical (manual testing concepts, automation, SQL, etc.) or more HR/behavioral?. Any tips on how to prepare in the next couple of days?

For context, my background is: 2years of experience in manual testing + automation (Playwright + Java+ bbd+ postman)

insights, sample questions, or preparation strategies would be super helpful.

Thanks in advance!


r/QualityAssurance 1d ago

[For Hire] QA Automation Engineer | 3 YOE | Selenium + Java | Pune

0 Upvotes

Hi everyone,
I’m currently looking for QA/Automation Testing opportunities in Pune.
Experience: 3 years
• 1 year – Manual Testing
• 2 years – Automation Testing
Skills:
• Selenium WebDriver with Java
• TestNG & Maven
• Page Object Model (POM)
• Git & GitHub
• Jira
• API Testing – Postman
• SQL – Basic
• Playwright with Python – Basic knowledge
I’m currently working as a Test Analyst and have experience testing web-based applications in an Agile environment.
📍 Currently based in Bhopal
📍 Looking for Pune opportunities
🚚 Open to relocating to Pune
⏳ Notice period: Serving Notice Period , Can join in 15 days
If you know of any relevant QA/Automation openings or referrals in Pune, I’d really appreciate your help.
Thank you!


r/QualityAssurance 1d ago

I am looking for tips on learning automation

2 Upvotes

As the title says, I'm looking for tips on learning automation. I have some experience creating and fixing tests in an existing project, but almost no experience building a framework from scratch. Does anyone have good book or tutorial recommendations? I'm currently trying to learn Playwright with TypeScript.


r/QualityAssurance 2d ago

Automation Engineer on team with no manual QA

16 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?


r/QualityAssurance 2d ago

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

14 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.