How to start a career in Software Testing

zervi2003

How could you start a career in Software Testing?

I know some people think that its a no-brainer job, but I have always found it very interesting and have always tried to pursure it but with no luck.

I have a degree and a post-grad (the post grad in question involved learning how to write test plans and test scripts and also involved doing this in a project (and some automation).

Its been a few years now since I finished college. No matter how hard I tired, I never got a job in that area.

I don’t want to/cant afford to go back to college.

Is there anything I can do?

I sent my CV off the other day to an agency and he rang yesterday saying that I have it all on paper and qualifications but that I have very little experience. I explained the situation, that I tried very hard to get a job in it, but that I had no luck (I had to get a job then as, well, I needed money!).

Any advice anyone? Am in the mid-west.

foxyboxer

i'm in a similar situation as yourself. i've applied to all junior positons here in Ireland, but it's always the same...experience required etc of which i have no direct testing exposure. i'm stuck in tech support hell and it's driving me nuts. i graduated in '02 with a typical IT/Business hybrid degree. i have considered the ISEB foundation route but the 3 day course is ridiculously priced. i plan on completing the exam. i also have exposure to test director and winrunner. searching on jobserve.co.uk for example i have seen some trainee testing positions so that may be worth a go if your willing to move that is. from what i can tell, testing is a job people seem to fall into having started out in graduate programmes. likewise any help from people on getting started would be much appreciated.

pwd

I used to work i software testing.
I first did it when I deferred a year of college in 99/2000 and it was easy to get a job in it - people would walk into them from fas courses.
Now you need a degree and experience to get the same work.
look for contracts offer to work for a cheap rate always offer to do more in your current position.

Glowing

Yeah I also think your best bet is to get some short term contracts - chat to CPL perhaps, they usually have a few contracts on the go. Although Dublin is probably the easiest place to pick up one of these, they may have some elsewhere.

monkey24

My first job after I graduated in Computing Science was software testing. Moved onto QA Lead then Software Engineer to Senior Test Engineer. I moved into recruitment a couple of months ago so have some varied experience.

Due to my background, this is something I find quite interesting. There are a couple of things to note here. Previously in Dublin, about 5 years ago a lot of the testing being done was Localization testing. This didn't require people to have a huge amount of experience so was a lot easier to get into.

My experience was a little bit different, I was from a Unix background and that allowed me to move into roles that required large Test Harnesses to be implemented to automate the whole process. A lot of scripting/Perl/Python. This is more on the System Test side of things.

Software Testing would mean first getting into the manual side of things. If you are moving into the automation side of things, you will probably end up using tools such as Mercury, Load runner etc. Although of course some of the Software Testing would require people with both Windows and Linux experience.

I think the problem a lot of people have regardless of their area of expertise in Dublin is trying to get that first start. If you do go the contract route, push to try get experience in doing up the actual test scenerios, scripts etc as that is vital to securing a better role down the line. A lot of contract roles will just want people to come in and do the Testing, nothing else. You can then get pigeon holed into that and just that for quite a while.

pclancy

This thread should be stickied in the software forum if it hasnt been mentioned already. Its hard find a resource on the net to know how to get into testing.

ballooba

I can't believe people would actually pursue a career in testing. :eek: I know people who work at it and really like it. I don't think they chose it as a career though. I worked for 18 months as a tester before quitting to do a Post Grad.

Testing jobs are the easiest software jobs to get coming out of college. I can't understand a recruiter saying you are light on experience. Any software experience would be somewhat valid I'm sure. What's your background (work)?

foxyboxer

my background work is 9 months previous level 1 tech support.
I also did a six month IT internship as part of my course.

Iago

It's amaxing how things change. I'm a plasterer by trade and when I decided I needed a change of career I did a 6 month FAS course with a city and guilds certificate in Software Testing (back in 99) and at the end of the course had 3 job offers. Money wasn't great though, ranging from 12-18K to start. Only did it for about 3 months before switching role.

I'd recommend applying directly to companies as opposed to going through agencies, if a company gets your CV directly they're more likely to interview you for a position. Decide what industry you want to work in and send a cover letter and CV to every major company in that industry, I'd be surprised if you didn't get a couple of interviews out of it.

The Hill Billy

I've been working in testing to one degree or another for almost 18 years now. More recently in a consultancy capacity. Can't say that I enjoy it, but it pays the bills.

OP - If you care to drop me a PM with areas of software testing interest I may be able to give you some advice.

Eoin

ballooba wrote:

I can't believe people would actually pursue a career in testing. :eek: I know people who work at it and really like it. I don't think they chose it as a career though. I worked for 18 months as a tester before quitting to do a Post Grad.

Testing jobs are the easiest software jobs to get coming out of college. I can't understand a recruiter saying you are light on experience. Any software experience would be somewhat valid I'm sure. What's your background (work)?

I think software testing has changed a lot in the last ten years. A lot of it was (and some of it still is) just running through test cases, and checking that the expected result happened.

Now, with a lot more projects employing Agile type methodologies, and more specifically "test driven development", a software tester is a lot more involved with the planning and ongoing development of a project and is not just there for the end testing phase. It can also be a good route into business analysis type roles, as you have to think from the perspective of the end-user, which developers often don't do.

kmick

Try IT alliance they are mainly in Dublin but they WILL take on inexperienced people. Very bad money but if you want to get into it then...

On the CV side stretch the reality of your experience. Any testing you did within that role put it in there even if it was only for a week!

If you apply yourself in the testing area you can move up fast. Much faster than development. Plus the money is as good as development by the time you get into Test Lead/Test Manager roles.

zervi2003

Thanks - am in the Mid-West.

I dont have any opportunity to move to Dublin, due to ties here.

I have applied till CVs have come out my ears for about 3 years and still not a sausage.

giddyup

Have you tried Lionbrige? They have sites in Ballina and Galway afaik. We used to outsource test work to them. CPL would be a good agency to try. Ask them if they have test contract work available in your area. Contracting route would be a tried and tested way of getting into perm roles.

pclancy

A few places in Limerick as well might look at your CV...lots more opportunities in Dublin but i understand wanting to stay put in the country, i would if i could have!

bullpost

On the automation side of things you could start looking at technologies such as Watir (http://wtr.rubyforge.org/) and selenium (http://www.openqa.org/selenium/).
These are open-source testing frameworks and used by some Agile houses. You will be able to learn them at home and they'll look good on a CV.