# How do you know you like or hate your QA career? **URL:** \ **Category:** Discussions\ **Tags:** career-development, career-moves, career-growth\ **Created:** [30 September 2026 22:13 UTC](https://club.ministryoftesting.com/t/how-do-you-know-you-like-or-hate-your-qa-career/87792 "2026-09-30T22:13:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![nsegal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/8491ac/32.png) [@nsegal](https://club.ministryoftesting.com/u/nsegal)\ **Post date:** [30 September 2026 22:13 UTC](https://club.ministryoftesting.com/t/how-do-you-know-you-like-or-hate-your-qa-career/87792/1 "2026-09-30T22:13:46Z")
By QA career I mean being any kind of QA or SDET in any company. Essentially, I am asking you if you enjoy being a QA or want to switch careers to something else like Dev, Pilot, Plumber etc. **How do you know you like or hate your QA career? What are the top 5 signs for you ?** I think I hate being a QA because of the following reasons - **1** - I’d quit QA instantly if I got a huge sum of money (like a few million USD). I think this is the biggest sign regardless of whether you are a QA. I’d probably try to be a chef or something else. **2** - Some of my peers are way better than me at getting things done, which I noticed over many years. There are always people better (or worse) than you, which does not necessarily mean you are a bad QA. But I don’t see how I can catch up to such peers or even get better than them. I have worked hard, but plateaued on what I can realistically achieve in my QA career (I am not talking about any particular job or company). I don’t think anyone would want to mentor me at this stage even if I wanted to stay in this career. **3** - I just don’t feel excited or curious about testing. I never really felt excited much about QA. I recently tried (actually forced) myself to see some books, articles, and videos by pro testers like James Bach in the hopes of triggering a spark or renewing my interest in QA. It was sometimes slightly fun, but it did not inspire me. I wonder if I am just lacking inspiration or do I have no business in being a QA. OTOH, I feel excited about being a chef and trying stuff. I don’t need to force myself to learn. I also know its not an easy life (You have to work late and even on holidays. There is no work from home lol.). Every time I sit to prepare for QA interviews or just learn, I get distracted easily and end up doing something else like making this post right here. Not so much when I am cooking and experimenting in the kitchen. ---
**Author:** ![hananurrehman](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/club.ministryoftesting.com/hananurrehman/32/14717_2.png) [@hananurrehman](https://club.ministryoftesting.com/u/hananurrehman)\ **Post date:** [1 October 2026 13:43 UTC](https://club.ministryoftesting.com/t/how-do-you-know-you-like-or-hate-your-qa-career/87792/2 "2026-10-01T13:43:35Z")
We’re in the same boat mate. I have this feeling that there must be a next stage from what im currently doing right now. Can’t keep testing the same basic stuff for the rest of my life. One thing I did do was take initiatives at work to improve the team’s overall quality of work which makes my life easier. What has kept me alive is shifting to a context driven approach. Which means I formulate my own standards and measures based on the uniqueness of the situation. If its repetitive, I’ll start working on automating it so I don’t have to do it again and again. This partial laziness in me keeps thing fun because I get to try out new stuff. Switch to chef? I do like cooking a lot and do have a dream of owning a cafe one day 😅 I also spend my time thinking about food, new recipes, new combos, perfecting a certain recipe or technique. I hate following a boring procedure, but when it comes to cooking, I may give it a chance. But on a serious note, many tech people say the same thing. i.e. shifting to a non-screen job if given the chance. So yes, you’re not alone in this. In the end we must all do what we love to do with a passion. ---
**Author:** ![hananurrehman](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/club.ministryoftesting.com/hananurrehman/32/14717_2.png) [@hananurrehman](https://club.ministryoftesting.com/u/hananurrehman)\ **Post date:** [1 October 2026 13:53 UTC](https://club.ministryoftesting.com/t/how-do-you-know-you-like-or-hate-your-qa-career/87792/3 "2026-10-01T13:53:36Z")
Peers seemingly having a better grip at the skill than one’s self? I totally relate to that FOMO but one thing that you must understand is, this industry is half skill and half yapping. Yes, there’s highly skilled people too but a lot of the “experts” I know have the same skill set as me but better yapping capabilities. This allows them to sell themselves to the right buyer and establish the supposed “worth”