Hello all!!! I’ve been lurking in the forum for a bit and decided to create a post for myself. I am currently transitioning from Healthcare to this lovely field. But I’ve hit a bit of a snag. I followed advice from others to do freelance work which I’ve been doing on Utest. But I can’t seem to get any luck with finding something more permanent. Right now I am also going through Test Automation Universities courses to skill up, and I am also contemplating sitting for the ISTQB exam as I figured these things will help set me a part from others. Any other ideas? Perhaps maybe some mentorship? I’m in NYS if that helps at all 
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I created a video regarding my thoughts on certification.
If you are willing to work GMT hours, you can consider this role at Glofox. Reach out to someone there if you have questions (I do not work there)
Edit: here is the LinkedIn post I shared so you have an idea of who to reach out to at Glofox.
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It may not be the most popular opinion but, in my view, certification is useful because it proves you understand the techniques and processes involved in testing. But don’t just do foundation level. Also do the agile extension, because you’ll likely be working in an agile environment and ISTQB foundation doesn’t teach it at all. Given a lack of experience, you can still show any prospective employer that you know what’s what, you have plenty of get-up-and-go and have a positive attitude. Also, uTest is great exploratory experience, so point out how quickly you went from proven to your current level.
And don’t forget, your current skill set is very likely transferrable, so make it a virtue. For example, I’m at least twice as old as anyone else on my team, and that means I had a wealth of experience and judgement I could bring to the role. I can quietly advise my young boss, and do things like tell people “no” on his behalf in a huge number of positive ways when he’s snowed under! Being an ex-writer, and because our product needs user documentation (don’t ask!), I’ve also volunteered to write that.
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I’m on the fence about ISTQB. I see lots of Testing roles have it as a requirement or a nice to have. I took mine very early in my test career and for the most part the most useful thing about the course (other than the cert) was meeting other testers from various backgrounds and at various stages of their testing careers. Some were people trying to get into testing, others had been doing it for years and had been sent on a massive 2 week certification hunt. The mutual passion and interest in testing is usually quite motivating.
Ultimately I think it might be worth it from a giving a leg up landing your first testing role and some of the content is useful. Will you use it long term? potentially not. I also wanted to say good luck and welcome to the coolest job around <3
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Thank you kindly for all the responses thus far!!! This is the most I’ve gotten for insights to the career out of any forum so I appreciate you guys :)!! I definitely love the short tests I’m doing on utest so far. Sent my resume out to a few places but these days when they say entry level they don’t mean it. I hope everyone has a great week. I hope to update this post with good news soon.
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