From CV and interview prep to learning on the job or getting over a blocker you’re having right now, let’s see if we can get you some help 
What’s something you need help with right now?
If you see a reply to this thread and you know someone who could help, share this with the person who could help. I’ll be doing the same 
I’ve been considering doing odd QA jobs on the side but I literally have no idea how it works if I’m already doing a full time job already. Anyone here do that already? It would be good to find out what opportunities exist out there.
I’m currently in a new QA Engineer role with a start-up, having recently graduated from a Software Developer bootcamp. They have never done testing and neither have I 
I’ve been tasked with learning how to test from scratch, come up with a plan to test the app end-to-end and to teach the developers the best way to test. Overwhelming and exciting all at the same time. Any advice on systems to research (React, JavaScript framework), test management tools and any good courses I can put my skills into action straight away?
What do you mean by this? Like freelance working weekends doing QA jobs or something more like https://usabilityhub.com/?
I’m still exploring so I don’t really know my options, my original question was more freelance working weekends I guess. I didn’t know about usabilityhub.com but I will check it out. I wonder how it changes my tax status etc.
I believe every 100 credits you get, you can get a payout on Paypal.
Info from their site:
So yea it adds up ofcourse, I’m not sure but if you justk eep it on paypal there shouldn’t be taxes (atleast not here) only if you start transfering it onto your bank acc, but you can just purchase stuff with your paypal account ofcourse.
Sounds really exciting, and a big challenge! Your in the right place for some great resources and a community of people who could help, also stuff over at https://testautomationu.applitools.com/.
Advice for me is always best context based on things like budget, experience, tech used in house, current delivery methodology, desired future state etc so hard personally to give any specific advice.
Maybe start with really clarifying (if you haven’t already?) why your company wants to start testing / what caused them to hire you for that role, understanding particular risks, concerns, regulatory requirements, standards to hit (ISOxxx) or current issues impacting customers and building tests around those areas first?
Great to see start-ups hiring QA’s!!
Thanks Linford, I’ve been scouring for courses for the past month and have learned a lot about the test cycle. The app is about a year old now but they decided that as it was getting a bit bigger they really needed to start testing. Think they were happy for a junior dev to come into the role of QA. The devs have their unit tests and have integration via Jest. They have asked me to research Cypress so my main task is to do the UI testing for the minute, writing test cases, but I think they would benefit from having a regression test suite, which they don’t really have right now. They also don’t test cross browser or do any load tests. I think they really want to automate a lot of the tests so finding a tool for that too is a challenge for a noob 
I’ll have a look at the link you sent over though, thank you. And its a relief to know I can come here for advice
@stephennb welcome to the world of testing 
I’ve been where you are with learning from scratch and being thrown in the deep end 
Have you had a chance to explore the online Essentials course run by @mwinteringham and @danashby? There is a whole area here on The Club dedicated to it too
Hi @heather_reid 
that’s so good to hear I’m not the only one who has gone through this I’ve not yet no. But I’ll make that a priority. I have spoken to the app owner about personal development and I did mention the Pro subscription for MoT. He is willing to invest in me so that will be on the cards in the future. I’ve been signed up for a course by Kent C Dodds, “Testing JavaScript” course so I’ll complete that first and see. Thanks for the support, means a lot. I’ll be a regular on here I think
Ah, excellent! Shout if I can help at all. Look forward to seeing more posts from you 
Ah got it, nice your building on some foundations. @marksgilligan on twitter has had a very similar experience, graduated from a bootcamp with some js skills and got going with Cypress, sure he’d be willing to give some tips or advice if you still needed any after the other materials!
I was and still am ‘overqualified’ or ‘doing too much tasks, too many roles, too fast, too good’ on the jobs.
I believe if I would have been working in an optimal place in my past 10 years, I’d be about 3 levels/positions higher and my salary would be twice as much.
I haven’t been able to get a serious discussion about my career with any employer or possible new employers.
I was told on multiple occasions: we don’t need more than a tester that does the basic validation, work less, don’t do that, let them fail, that’s not your responsibility, why do you need to learn that, we don’t have the budget for x/y, there are no open positions, etc…
Even with colleagues on my side, raving to various stakeholders and C level, nothing’s happening.
I’ve been recommended to look into BA or PO/PM or Digital Transformation or Data Analysis or Quality Engineering as I’d be almost there anyway with my skills. I’d probably get more opportunities, higher income, more things to learn - probably better satisfaction and recognition.
What would others here recommend?
