From Developer to QA : Benefits of a Career Shift
When I started my career as a developer, I never thought I would become a QA engineer.
Why I made this choice and what has it brought me? Let’s take stock of this career change.
How did I get here?
2015, after successfully completing several missions as a developer, I have a disappointing experience. I’m so disgusted at that moment that I don’t want to code anymore. I need a complete change.
To capitalize on my developer background while moving into a field I always was interested in, quality, I find a position as a QA engineer in a company I’ve always admired.
I manage to put forward my interest for the tests through my past experiences, I pass the interviews and finally get the job.
I join this company which is composed of many QA specialties, coming from different cultures. It sounds like a great opportunity to get a fresh outlook.
My first QA opportunity
During this period I develop my QA skills by taking advantage of the experience of my many colleagues. I learn a lot and discover that quality extends over fields as varied as development.
I improve my skills on E2E tests but also load tests, performance tests, API tests… So I still code a lot, I’m reassured. I also realize that manual tests can be more complex than we imagine.
I also develop a lot of soft skills. Organization, communication, collaboration, in short, things that I used to put aside when I had my eyes on the code.
I have given a lot and grown in this company and after some years I arrive at this fateful moment where I see the limits it imposes on me. Not having the feeling of growing anymore and feeling limited in my decisions, I end up losing my motivation.
Another new opportunity
Then one day I get a call, as if fate was knocking at my door. I’m offered a position as a QA manager in a startup where everything has to be done at this level. The challenge is as great as my ambitions.
I had always wanted to live the startup atmosphere and here I am served. Everything goes fast: one day you have an idea, the next day it goes into production. I love this state of mind, but my role as QA is put to the test. I don’t want to be the one to slow down the machine, but I also have to make sure that everything that goes into production is OK. I have to find the right balance between speed and quality, two criteria that always have trouble going together.
This time I have total freedom to put things in place to ensure quality. Test strategy, E2E tests, process implementation, implementation of a support follow-up, communications, in short, I’ve tried everything. Of course, it wasn’t always easy to put everything in place, some things worked, others didn’t, but in the end, I learned a lot. And it’s the principle of the startup, fail fast learn fast, the important thing is to do things and to have the right feedback to see if it works.
Where am I today?
Today I am still in this company. It has changed a lot, I wouldn’t say for the better or worse, it’s just different, but the good things have remained, and that’s what keeps me there.
I will have to develop this in another post. But the main values for me are trust, caring, flexibility (our team works totally remotely) and remuneration (we know that it is important), in short, for me everything is there.
Review of my career choice
I still remember that famous day when I applied for a QA job, I was so afraid to lock myself into this position when in the end I opened myself to such a rich world.
Just take a look at https://roadmap.sh/qa to see how wide the field of QA can be. I haven’t done the whole thing yet and it is also possible to specialize in specific parts like performance, E2E automation or test management.
This job is for me a bridge between 2 other jobs I love: developer and product manager. I know how to develop, but managing a product, I do it on a small scale when I create tools internally. One day I’ll go into that and I’ve acquired the necessary skills to do it.
Opening up to a QA position allowed me to seize opportunities I might not have had as a developer and access companies where I could make things happen.
I have chosen the right path by ignoring my fears and misconceptions. I trusted myself and opened my mind leading me to a wider range of tools to tackle the next thing.
Where am I going?
Lastly, I tried developing some full features for my company. All my QA experience helped me a lot to create polished features. I question more the feature I develop and I know better how to test it. I also detect risks in a natural way. On the other side my developer experience helps me in QA tasks. It’s a win win. I love walking on my two career paths.
I want to share this vision that we can progress on multiple specialties and build a specific expertise that brings something unique to a company. This year, I’ll try to write as much as I can about this.
I also started coding again on personal projects. Let’s see where all these roads bring me.
