Revelio Pathway to become a QA Automation Engineer
General Pathway to becoming a QA Engineer
Switching to the software side is scary, I get it, because of all the new stuff you got to learn. It was scary for me as well when I decided to become a QA Engineer but I believed in what Professor Dumbledore always said: “It is our choices that really show what we truly are, far more than our abilities”. It really depicts that he believed in the growth mindset and so do I.
Background
I graduated from a top university in 2020 with a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering. When I enrolled in the Department of Electrical Engineering, I had no clue what I was signing up for. As the semesters proceeded and I learned more about my courses, I realised that EE does not align with my interests and personality. My performance was not up to the mark, my grades were declining continuously and the time for my graduation was getting nearer and nearer. I was deep in the rabbit hole and could not find a way out.
One of my friends suggested watching movies for motivation. So I randomly downloaded a movie named “Iron Man” and that man changed this man’s life. I was fascinated by how that suit worked, and how he used computers to make that suit more functional. I finally found something that piqued my interest, something that clicked my curiosity, it was time to dive into the coding stuff and swim against the waves.
In my final year, I selected Artificial Intelligence and Computer Vision as my majors as they involved programming. I still didn’t have a clear career goal and the kind of job I would be pursuing after graduation, But I knew I would find a way. I motivated myself by repeating one slogan “I will find a way out”. It was not an easy journey but it taught me a lot.
Stepping into a whole new world
Select a Tech Stack
To begin a career in the software industry on the testing or development side, the first step is to select a programming language. I chose Python. After selecting a programming language, the next step should be to learn its basics and for that, I started looking for online platforms. Now, I will list down the platforms where you can learn and practice basic programming.
I was looking for an open-source platform where I could learn the basics of Python. A friend of mine suggested Coursera. You won't earn a certificate on a free course but it can be a good starting point.
Coursera
I found a course on Coursera which had all the basic elements in it:
- Installation
- Basic Syntax
- Conditionals
- Collections
- Regex
- Short Exercises
Enrol in this course and start learning Python.
When that course was completed, I was in search of a platform where I can solve different problems to enhance my programming skills and as I was working on Python, so I was specifically looking for python problems. I found an online platform named, Datacamp.
Datacamp
On Datacamp, a course usually consists of short lectures and a lot of exercises to practice the key concepts. I did some problems practising here:
https://app.datacamp.com/learn/courses/intro-to-python-for-data-science
https://app.datacamp.com/learn/courses/intermediate-python
It is a good platform but mostly focuses on Data Science and Machine Learning so if your interest lies there you can dig that platform a bit more. This platform is paid and just offers one course for free so if you are looking for an open-source platform, Datacamp is not an ideal one.
When I was learning and practising programming, one of my university seniors told me about the QA Engineer job. The role sounded very exciting to me. To be a good QA, one must be proficient in a programming language, hot languages for automation were JavaScript and Java. I decided to learn the basics of JavaScript. I started to search online platforms to learn and practice JavaScript. During a discussion with my friend, he suggested LinkedIn Learning.
LinkedIn Learning
You can do one free course on LinkedIn without a premium account. I found a course that covered:
- Difference between the scope of let, var and const
- Conditionals
- Functions
- Small exercises
- A slight touch of web development
- Event Handlers
It is just a 6 hours course which can strengthen your JavaScript base.
A QA must have good problem-solving skills and logic-building skills. To improve your problem-solving and logic-building skills one must keep practising programming problems. Practising problems not only boost your confidence but also broaden your vision. After some research, I found a platform named CodeSignal.
CodeSignal
It will help you in many ways, some of which are listed here:
- Learn to understand a problem and identify which things to resolve to reach the answer
- Programming skills will enhance as you will get to know different methods and keywords.
- Learn code optimization
- Learn time complexity reduction
You can visit the platform using this:
Hover over the CodeSignal label, this drop-down will appear and then click the Arcade button to open a different section. Just click any section and start solving problems.
QA role is not confined to just testing the UI/UX of the application or just doing some functional testing, it’s much more than that. The role of QA starts when the client hands over the requirement to the development team. Reviewing the designs or mocks, verification and validation of the application according to the requirement document and much more comes under a QA. Simultaneous development and testing make a product much better.
QA Role in Software Development
To get a better grip on Software Development Life Cycle or SDLC, Agile vs Waterfall Method, different sorts of testing, V Model and much more you can find on this site, it will help you a lot.
A QA is incomplete without manual testing touch. So I aimed to learn manual testing things as well. One of my seniors told me about Test Automation University. When I explored it, I found it quite exciting as a lot of courses were present related to automation and manual testing.
Test Automation University
I chose the JavaScript path but it is up to you which path you want to choose.
On this platform, you can learn things related to manual testing such as API testing, performance testing, load testing and etc. You can learn about how to use GitHub or git for continuous integration which can help you set up project repositories. You can get basic concepts related to continuous deployment and its tool as well.
In automation, one of the backbone skills is how good a selector you can make. Selectors or web element locator is basically a reference of the element which you use in your code to interact with that element. For example, there is a search box and you want to type something in it using automation. You will inspect that search box and will look for a unique class, id or attribute which will help you to interact with that search box using your code. If these terms sound alien to you, do not worry, just go through this course and it will help you a lot.
Conclusion
The certifications mentioned above will surely boost your resume and portray how good your learning attitude is. One thing which is significant but we ignore is, how to make a proper portfolio. When you complete any course and receive a certificate, post it on your LinkedIn wall immediately.
My last tip will be that do not procrastinate or be flabbergasted about where to start. Just follow this pathway and it will help you become a first semester wizard in the world of QA. Voila!!!
Always remember “ happiness can be found even in the darkest of times if one only remembers to turn on the light”
