Sprint 9: "What keeps you in testing? Is this your career or a step on the path?"

Write a blog on the above subject and link it here, Ends 2018-09-18

1 Like

This isn’t really a blog but …

I find this a really interesting topic, especially in relation to the stats released in the latest ‘state of testing’ survey and move towards ‘modern testing principles’.

The state of testing survey suggests that the number of QA with 10+ years experience is shrinking year on year, where are these people going? where is their career taking them? My guess is there is an inevitable progression into Leadership/Management roles, but also talking with other QA i’ve seen a more towards Product management and DevOps.

Whereas the Modern testing principles sees the entire industry shift more dramatically than ever before, instead of the emphasis being on knowledge, it is shifting towards softer skills, the ability to mentor and coach and communicate. While i disagree that teams will be able to operate without a dedicated quality advocate, there is less reliance on this being a tester in the traditional sense. The role more resembles a sports coach than a top sports professional.

this model has seen the dev to QA ratio swing dramatically, and i’ve heard of 1:50 ratios in the extreme, if this trend continues, then Quality Advocacy will become an increasingly specialised and rarer role. I see more testers moving into Automation development and developer roles too.

As for myself, I love the testing world, but i think i might like at a startup of my own someday… until then, i’m more in the coaching pathway.

2 Likes

https://dominic-kua.github.io/keep_testing.html

2 Likes

Hi there, here’re my thoughts:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/what-keeps-you-testing-career-path-ana-sarbescu/

2 Likes