Guide: Important steps to improving your QA career

Introduction

You're a QA professional, and your reputation matters. How can you best navigate all the challenges in front of you? Take a deep breath and jump into this ever-changing QA career.

If you're just starting out, there's a lot you need to familiarize yourself with. First, you'll need to know how to proceed and why it's important to find a mentor. Make sure you understand things like DevOps -- even if your job has nothing to do with DevOps today, it will eventually -- and how to work with contractors. And you'll need good advice on how to negotiate a raise.

If you've been doing this awhile, you face different problems. It's easy to get into a rut, but it can be hard to get out of one. Perhaps you need a reminder that you might be making your job more difficult than it needs to be. You might be feeling underappreciated, but there's a solution to that. Or you simply might be wondering if you're on the right QA career path or whether it's time to change jobs. Everyone goes through those doubts, and that's why getting the advice of experts who've been there and done that is so helpful.

QA career pros also need to solve some very specific problems on occasion. Perhaps your development team is moving to a lean delivery method. What does that mean for testing? Is your test team struggling with time management, or perhaps they're really not sufficiently engaged with what they're working on? And most importantly, do you have the skills you need for the future of software testing? We've got the answers. Read on.

1Start with QA basics-

Edge your way into a software QA career

Are you just getting started in your QA career? This section covers the need-to-know essentials for getting yourself properly situated in a software QA role. Learn how to get your foot in the door, steps to negotiate salaries and how to work with software developers.

2Move your QA career forward-

Winning in your software QA career

Becoming a software QA pro is just the first step. The challenges don't end there. This section covers how to ease QA challenges, why software testing is harder than necessary and also why now is a great time for a QA pro.

3Problem solve the QA way-

Improving QA career quality

Are you fully engaged in your QA career? Are you using all of your software testing skills? This section covers productivity ideas, getting started with lean QA and which skills can lead to an improved QA career.

4Software testing speak-

QA career terms to know

Looking for clear ways to explain software technology terms? Take a look at this terminology section for up-to-date definitions.