I’m new here and excited to join the community! I’ve recently started exploring tech more and more and have taken an interest in it. I’m generally looking for a career change, going from an Educator to working in tech. I’ve set my focus for Quality Assurance Engineering (long term goal). I’ve seen a lot of posts saying that QA is still in demand, but that it’s also difficult to land jobs. What are your thoughts on this; is it a lucrative field or would I be stuck in the job-searching pit?
First off, mad respect for making a career pivot. Transitioning from education to tech? That’s not just a job change - that’s a whole skill set transformation, and trust me, your teaching background is going to be a MASSIVE asset in QA.
Real Talk on QA Career Landscape:
The job market for QA is kinda like a rollercoaster right now - challenging but definitely not impossible. Here’s the unfiltered scoop:
Pros:
Tech companies ALWAYS need quality champions
Your education background gives you killer communication and analytical skills
Entry-level opportunities are emerging, especially with automation skills
Remote work options are pretty sweet in this field
Challenges:
Competition is real, especially for junior roles
You’ll need to invest in some serious upskilling
Certifications That Matter
ISTQB Foundation Level
Any cloud platform testing cert
Automation-specific certifications
Build Your Portfolio
GitHub projects
Personal testing blogs
Open-source contribution
Manual testing case studies
Pro Tip: Your teaching background is GOLD. QA is basically educational problem-solving - you’re literally breaking down complex systems and explaining how they work. That’s teaching in a nutshell!
Networking Hack: LinkedIn, Reddit’s r/QualityAssurance, and local tech meetups are your new best friends.
Want the honest truth? It’ll take effort, persistence, and continuous learning. But if you’re passionate and strategic, you’ll absolutely crush it.
Rooting for you! Drop a comment if you want more specific guidance.
What do you think the job entitles? What do you think you’ll enjoy doing in this role? Do you expect a be better pay? Less stress? What motivates you to want this?
What does this mean? Where have you seen posts? Have you checked in your area with a couple of recruiters how the profession is going? Are you aware of the actual demands? The title is very subjective for many companies and the tasks can include many from other roles which you might not like or expect.
Difficulty to land a job relies on the fact that there are many senior testers that want to switch jobs, many coming from poorer regions who’d be happy with a lower salary, many specialists in various demanded technologies, lots of networking where jobs are filled in the day the job ad goes on the job sites.
So you need to come up with something that stands out.
This is the biggest community of testers worldwide as far as I know. Jobs advertised/available:
A career switch into a tech role, whether that be a Quality role or any other, is entirely possible. However, depending on where you are in the world, it may be much harder in the current market. There is generally good demand still, but the expectations are high and there are people struggling to find new roles after redundancy etc.
As to whether it is lucrative, that depends on your skill, your expectations, and where in the world you are. In the UK where I am a quick search on LinkedIn shows me roles looking for people with experience starting at ÂŁ30,000 (and I have seen lower previously). As you progress though, a salary of ÂŁ80,000+ is possible, though it takes time and expertise to get there. If you progress down a management route, and develop sufficiently technically, then its entirely possible, although less common, to eventually become a CTO with salary and package to match.
