Start Your career with Software Testing is the best option. Learn Testing Tools Online Training By Professional Expert.If you are willing to choose software testing as your career then this is a must read!
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Nowadays I get many mails asking me aboutsoftware testing jobs. Should I select software testing as my career? How to switch to software testing from other job experience? Which institute should I join for testing course? And many more …
I will give a common answer to all these questions whether you should choose software testing as your career or not? Let me first explain in brief about software testing.Software testing and quality control are the processes by means of which application quality is improved. Software testing is done in each phase of product life cycle i.e from requirement specifications , design, coding, to the user acceptance.
Many complex software structures require in depth analytical and technical skill to test the applications. Knowledge of programming languages is required for unit testing, scripting skill essential for Automation testing.
Now we will speak about your career in software testing. No one can guide you choosing your career more than you! Its right and you are the only person to decide your career.
Do self-assessment to figure out where you can fit well. Do study of your skills, interests, strengths, weaknesses.
Ask some questions to your self like:
What is your goal in life?What will increase your satisfaction and skill?What is your interest?Which skills you have developed in your life till now?Which training you did that can be applied to future job?
By answering these questions you will automatically come to decision.
To switch to software testing career What skills you will require? Is the most important question I think.
In my previous post what makes a good test engineer, I mentioned some of the software testing required skills.
1. Communication: Customer communication as well as team communication most important for this job. Written communication as well!
2. Technical skill: As I mentioned earlier for testing technical domain skill in languages is important.
Some of the Testing skills are:
Project life cycle,
Testing concepts,
Knowledge of testing types,
Programming languages familiarity,
Database concepts,
Test plan idea,
Ability to analyze requirements,
Documentation skill,
Testing tools
3. Leadership quality
4. Analytical and judging skill
Don’t worry if you don’t have some of the skills mentioned above. You can always learn the things if you have interest. Non-IT personas can also grow fast by gaining necessary skills.
You can try doing software testing as a part-time or side job, not only to get experience but to also see if it's something you enjoy. At uTest, we are often looking for testers for specific test cycles - some of our testers fill their entire week by working on test cycles for us, whereas others might only test on nights and weekend because they have another full-time job already.
Depending on your needs, you certainly have options to ease into the profession if it's something you want to try out first before committing to it full-time.
Phase #1: Awareness:
+Why do you want to start your software testing career?
+What is software testing?
+What are required skills to become a software tester?
+Do you need programming to start your career as software tester?
+Communication skill is a must
+What about the career path? Does it have competitive salary?
+Does software testing require technical skills?
Phase #2: How to get into software testing?
+How to learn software testing?
+How to earn hands-on experience?
Phase #3: How to find a full-time job as a software tester?
+Warm-up and networking
+Write a CV that works
+How to have a successful interview?
Career Path basically revolves around your strengths. It's a simple ideology I believe in. A person is good at something because they like it. I can't be good at maths and hate it. So creating a career path around your likes and strengths is the most easiest way to develop a nurturing career.
A lot of Graduating students join companies they have always heard of but unsure what to expect when they actually join in. This leads to them hoping between companies. changing profiles and a weak resume with little experience in multiple fields.
The best time to decide which career to head to is when you are in the last few years of college. One of the profoundly used tool for this is Assessment for Graduate Employability (AGE). It uses Multi Dimensional testing to map individuals to careers and also provide Job Recommendations after mapping.
Some of the common options are
1) Job experience for couple of years and then MS from states
2) Write CAT and join an MBA course from top institutes in India
3)Write GMAT and TOEFL to get placed in a foreign university
4) Work on your own start up and dream big
5)Get a high paid job and say goodbye to further studies
6) Become an IAS ans serve the country with your technical knowledge.
Part of the above mentioned choices will only be possible if you have a decent CGPA but if you work your way up for GMAT, you will surely make your way to MS from US.
If you are a perfectionist, you are going to love software testing! :) I wouldn't say that this is the best option to start your career with - the other fields like Software Development or SAP are equally good. However, the difference is the attitude and aptitude that you have for a particular job :)
Testing will introduce you to a all round development around Communication skills, technical skills (tools, languages), industry processes and domain knowledge. The exposure is vast! However, you need very peculiar qualities (and that too in abundance) - patience and attention to details.
- Improve programming abilities
- Improve logic and reasoning abilities
- Be a puzzle solver
- Be good listener
- Be a problem solver
- Do some certifications like CSTA, OCJP, OCA
This all require couple of months, about 6 months and you are all to get job in decent company.
So finally selecting testing as your career ask one question to yourself:Are you looking for career in software testing or just a Job?
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