I am considering making a career change to software testing and becoming some type of entry-level QA tester. To start my discernment process, I spoke to my neighbor who has been a software developer for over 20 years. He thought becoming a junior QA tester would be a possible starting point for me because I have no education, training, or experience in this field. I am as green as you can be. (At best, I have a college degree in liberal arts.) My neighbor spoke to the QA lead at his company who advised me to starting doing research around what QA is, how to write test cases, how to execute test cases, and how to create a test plan/strategy. Guru99 was recommended to me.
Guru99 did provide some good information, however, I am unsure where to go from here. I have spoken to some other people and read forums and other guides online that suggested earning some type of industry certification would be helpful for my situation. One of the recommended certifications appears to be the International Software Tester Qualification Boardâs (ISTQB) Certified Tester Foundation Level (CTFL) v. 4.0. This certifications appears to address everything that the QA lead at my neighborâs company recommended described above.
Should I earn the ISTQB CTFL? I would think that creating some type of portfolio and/or volunteering to help others complete projects would be more important to a hiring manager than a certification. An internship would probably help too. However, I have to start somewhere and learn the foundations. I am wondering if this certification really matters. Given where I live in the United States (close to Washington, DC), I imagine anything would be helpful against my competition. I have found the IT market as a whole to be hypercompetitive in my area. There are many government contractors in my state (Maryland) who do business with the federal government and have specific requirements for work.
I wrote an article, that I believe more or less would be relevant to you Learning Software QA Engineering and Testing in 2024
Donât think that you need to do and know everything mentioned in the article; even I havenât done and learned everything Consider this more as a reference or guide; there is no ultimate list of skills and actions to become an expert in QA.
Speaking about ISTQB, personally, Iâm not a fan of this certification and I donât think that itâs really useful and may significantly boost your career but it, definitely, in many situations itâll give you some advantages and what is more important some structured knowledge (again personally, I donât have it and I donât think that it has any use for me now but maybe for the career development in some situation it might be useful even for me)
No disrespect to your neighbour, but some of the best testers come from non-technical backgrounds, I hope they put you in contact with that QA lead at their company, because introducing you is the first step to opening that opportunity, they or someone they know might be looking for a junior QA, one who is keen to learn the industry and put in the work.
I echo @shad0wpuppet in that ISTQB certifications are not the be-all. They might help open some doors, and youâll have the certification sure, but there is nothing here youâll learn that you canât learn in the industry in a junior QA position, and if youâre willing to set on the path of continuous learning by reading articles, following tutorials online etc.
Your idea of creating an online portfolio is a good one. Testing is more than âbeing able to do automationâ but getting a git profile setup, and following some of the tutorials on here (MoT), Test Automation University, and Youtube (which has an absolute catalogue of tutorials and testing conferences, TED talks that you can learn from yourself) will help you learn the industry.
In your git profile, create a couple of really basic automation frameworks, maybe one with Selenium, one with Cypress or Playwright; as this will introduce you to many aspects of testing, as well as testing yourself technically.
Iâve not a clue when it comes the the US job market and how that works - but here in the UK Iâd be looking at entry level QA roles. Once youâre in youâll get some experience under your belt, and youâll learn loads and probably discover a bit more about what you want out of being a QA.
I wish you luck on your journey, check back in sometime and update us how youâre getting on.
I personally wouldnât recommend you get ISTQB certification , but I understand there are some employers who value it and look for it. While I think there are better certifications that are more helpful, ISTQB is still probably one of the more widely-recognised ones.
Look up jobs in your area and see if they ask for that certification and also ask in your network. Also take note of the other requirements people are looking for and consider that I to your upskilling.
Thank you @shad0wpuppet. Your article is very helpfulâI appreciate your time laying this all out for people to consider. I personally am not a fan of IT certifications based on past personal experiences, but I understand they are a necessary evil. I agree with you that certifications can provide some structured knowledge. I am reading the free syllabus from ISQTB for their CTFL and think it is sufficient for now.
Thanks @whitenoise. My neighbor said that the QA lead at his company would let me know about any internship opportunities this summer at their company or anywhere else they know. I will wait and see what happens.
I have a Github profile as well. I will look into your suggestions.
I agree that it is important to get started somewhere and then figure out where I want to specialize further from there in QA. I donât know what I donât know. Only experience and exposure to the field can allow me to find what I want.
Thanks @deament. Your article is helpful. I have not found any consensus yet as to what employers in my area look for in quality assurance testers. Every job posting, as you can imagine, is different. I only have seen ISTQB certification in a handful of dozens of jobs I have looked at in the past few weeks. Most postings seem like they want a senior QA tester, but they are advertised as a junior QA tester. I had this same problem several years ago when I wanted to work in IT supportâmost jobs in my area for entry-level IT support really wanted a system administrator instead. I might be better off looking for remote opportunities in other states than Maryland within the United States. The IT market in Maryland, in general, has been too tough for me to crack. Other people I know have had the same experience also. But then again that is how competitive the world is today.
Honestly, my impression of Guru99 is a lot of shallow, irrelevant, and even incorrect garbage that I would never recommend to anyone wanting to learn about testing. ISTQB is similarly a poor starting point, in my opinion.
Too much that passes for software testing is fixated on artifacts like test plans, test cases, etc but I would instead focus on learning how to actually test, and view it as an activity.
I wrote the linkedin post below a while back with a list of resources I recommend. You could also check out Michael Boltonâs blog at developsense.comâthat was some of my first exposure to better approaches to testing.
Hello. the QA journey can be hard but rewarding You can use this roadmap ( QA Roadmap: Learn to become a modern QA engineer) to see what QA is all about and there you can see if this road is the right one for you Remember that A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
Having one or multiple certifications under you belt is always a good thing , and ISTQB Foundation level can help you understand some testing concepts and will give you an advantage over other candidates that do not have these certifications. In some cases you can be selected for a project if the client demands QA engineers that have that certification. Happy learning
Consider this more as a reference or guide; there is no ultimate list of skills and actions to become an expert in QA.