The 6 Steps I Took to Get My First Software Testing Job

Anytime someone learns that I get paid to play Dungeons and Dragons, one of the first questions is how did I get my job.

It’s a fair question. I’ve worked as a tester for six years now. I work a lot, but I also have a lot of flexibility with my work hours and tasks. I make a healthy salary, even for the tech sphere. I get paid to do some fun stuff. I’m rewarded for breaking things.

Honestly, it’s a dream come true.

This was never my plan though. When I graduated high school, I had dreams to work at the United Nations. Life had other plans for me.

The short version is that I started out with plans to become a full-stack developer, and fell into a role that I loved. Now that I’ve sat on the other side of the table, interviewing to hire testers, I know what made a difference in landing that first gig.

There are multiple paths to your first job in tech, here was my process more in detail. (And some tips that I’ve learned from sitting on the hiring side of the table.)

How did I land my first software testing job?

1. Got a Degree

You absolutely do not need a college degree to become a software tester. Having any degree will help your resume stand out though.

Most non devs don’t care or understand the differences between a computer science degree, a cyber security degree, and a networking degree. Technical folks will, but the HR representative, hiring manager or generalist recruiter may have no idea.

I know multiple successful developers and testers who either have no degree, or a degree in a non related field (bachelor’s degree in economics, or a master’s degree in music theory).

I have an Associate’s degree in computer science from a local community college. It took me a year of evening classes to finish. (I already had about 80+ credits from other universities at this point, so I only needed to take enough classes to make up for what wouldn’t transfer.)

It wasn’t the most rigorous academic program, but it did give me the foundation to build a lot of skills very quickly, as well as give me the confidence that I knew what I was talking about (sometimes).

My degree has never been the deciding factor (that I’m aware of) for me to be hired. With the exception of companies who still hold on to the archaic practice of requiring all employees to hold a degree. I have been turned down early in a hiring process due to not having my bachelor’s degree.

2. Started a Github

Here’s a little secret, every hiring manager who hires a manual tester, secretly hopes that their new employee will pick up on automated testing.

Even if you want to be a manual tester, having an active repository with projects will be a huge help in the process.

It’s especially helpful to flesh out your resume when you lack experience or a degree.

You don’t need a perfect repository of personal code, or a huge finished project. (Although that would be awesome) A junior tester’s code portfolio will be judged differently than a senior developers portfolio.

Before getting my first testing job, my GitHub included:

• A project that collected coding challenges, and my answers for how to solve them.
• A project with examples of working Selenium tests
• A project showing how I would write API tests
• A tutorial project from an online course
• Any coding projects from school

The goal isn’t to pass yourself off as a full stack developer. It’s to show that you understand technology, and can understand the basics of programming. Showing up is worth more than perfecting your portfolio.

3. Read a ton

I had no idea what I was doing, so I turned to the internet, and I read. I read and read and read. Textbooks. $.99 eBooks on Kindle. Blogs. At first, a lot of it didn’t make sense to me. After a while it started to click.

There’s a great James Bach quote about no one at Apple Computer reading testing textbooks (The quote starts at about the 3:30 mark in the video below). He says that no one reads them because they aren’t helpful.

And I looked around and saw that no one, of the 400 people at Apple Computer, where reading testing textbooks. — James Bach, open lecture

He has a point. After a certain level of knowledge, you’ll learn a lot more from what you do on the job. Before you can get there though, you need to have a general understanding of the job.

• Find online communities like the Ministry of Test, and read a blog post a day.
• Follow software testing and software development publications on Medium.
• Find affordable books on Kindle about software testing.
• Listen to testing podcasts.
• Read about testing frameworks.
• Read about Agile methods, and team structures.

Every piece of knowledge that you gather, is another node that can connect new information. This is how you find the fun bugs.

4. Picked Up Some Free Tech Certifications

Generally when testing certifications come up, the ISTBQ, is the first certification that’s mentioned. It’s a fine certificate, but it’s not free.

When I was trying to get into the tech industry, I didn’t have a couple hundred spare dollars to pay for a certification (much less the study guides and classes).

Instead, I focused on free technology certifications. Most free technology certifications are vendor specific. This is because the vendors want people to know how to use their software, so that they’re more likely to suggest it in the future.

I pulled together twenty jon listings, and compared the software that they mentioned. After deciding on the most common software, I then Googled if the software offered a free certification.

This is another great trick for those coming in with little work experience. If you don’t have the work experience, fluff up the other areas to show your authority.

5. Practiced interview questions

Tech interviews can be very different than interviews for other industries.

I researched the general flow of tech interviews to understand what to expect. Then I used GlassDoor to see interview questions and learn about the interview process of specific companies that I interviewed for.

There are plenty of resources online that provide detailed practice interview questions for software testers.

Don’t just read an article or two, study them. Understand them. It’s obvious when someone is repeating something that they memorized, so don’t aim to memorize answers.

6. Interviewed a lot

I interviewed a lot. I was working for an awful boss, and needed a new job as soon as possible.

I went with the high volume route. I applied for every junior tester job I could find. My invitation to interview rate started low, but as I spoke to more recruiters, and bombed more interviews, I got better at it. I asked for feedback, and learned what to do better.

Interviewing is it’s own skill set. It’s a mix of soft (social) skills, and proving that I’m competent on the hard skills.

A lot of developers and testers try to interview somewhere every six months, even if they aren’t looking for a new job. Interviewing regularly keeps your skills sharp.

7. I researched the companies that I interviewed for

I mentioned Glassdoor in the step above, but it and websites like LinkedIn, offer a ton of value for interviewing candidates.

Using these sites you can get insider knowledge on the interview process, the company organization, salary ranges to expect, job titles, and most importantly, what the company values.

Some companies value data driven decisions. Other value reciprocity or team work. Once you know what the company is looking for, you can subtly adjust your answers to interview questions.

I tend to over prepare. I’ve hired juniors with less than I’ve suggested above, but these are the steps that I took to get my first junior software testing job.

1. Took night classes to get my associate’s degree.
2. Started a Github to keep track of tutorial programming projects.
3. Read everything that I could on software testing.
4. Researched the software mentioned frequently in job postings, and picked up free certifications for them.
5. Researched and practiced interview questions.
6. Interviewed (and failed) a lot.
7. Researched the companies that I interviewed for.

Using the steps above, I went from having a terrible boss, to the start of a career that I love.

I ended up starting my QA journey at a midsize local company. It was the first company that made me an offer, and I needed a change pronto.

It wasn’t an easy job. Very little of what they did was “correct,” but it gave me the opportunity to learn.

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