Moving from testing to development
One of my coworkers asked me for advice on shifting from a testing role to development. Inside IBM, cross-role experience can often be picked up within a project, on a BizTech opportunity, or by assignment to another role (if the project manager really, really believes in you). Here are some tips if you’re considering the shift yourself:
Although you can build your skill in steady increments, building expertise can be a long and frustrating process. You’ll make a lot of progress in the beginning, but you’ll probably hit a plateau. Don’t be frustrated.
Unless your project manager is okay with taking a risk on you, you probably won’t be able to immediately spend time developing those skills on the job. Here’s how you can free up some time to work on improving your skills:
- Look for ways you can work more efficiently and effectively, so that you can save time.
- Document those processes so that you understand them better and so that other people can take over your role when you leave.
- Automate as much as you can, saving more time and enabling more people to do your work.
You want to be replaceable. You can’t spend time learning something else or move on to another project if that would leave a big gap in your previous team.
How can you learn more about development when you’re testing?
- You can improve your processes, learning more about available tools along the way.
- You can learn how to script while automating tasks.
- You can learn an in-demand skill and get pulled into projects that way.
- You can focus on providing additional value while testing. For example, if your project is okay with it, do whitebox testing in addition to blackbox testing. By reading the source code, you might be able to think of test cases that should be covered. You can try helping with problem identification, using tests to narrow down where the bug might be. Once you get good at that, you can try documenting your problem-identification process and commonly-encountered bugs. When you’ve got a good feel for the structure of the program and how things are generally fixed, you might even tentatively propose fixes.
What other advice would you give to people who want to move from testing to development?
Short URL: http://sachachua.com/blog/p/7023
What you’re saying is that this person should try to collect programming experience while doing his testing job. If he/she has got some spare free time, he/she could also consider contributing to an open source project.
Absolutely. Open source is awesome. As the person in question works at IBM, she’ll need to get approval to contribute to open source, which makes it a bit more of a hassle, but open source is totally awesome.
Hi “Sacha:,
I completely agree with you that open-source is awesome, I am myself a big enthusiast of it.
I need your advice, I am a fresher and accidentally entered a CRM testing job (I was supposed to be in dev team but they required testers so put me into testing. They also told me that I can switch to development in coming time), so will starting my career as a tester will affect my future options to switch to development, should I quit existing job anf search for a new development job or I should carry on with the current job and keep on polishing my skills to get a development job in my company itself????
Ankit: If I were in your situation, I’d stay in the job.You don’t want to switch jobs too quickly, because then future employers get nervous. Besides, it’s good to have many skills and to be flexible. I’d keep a close eye on the development team, and work on ways to find out when a position becomes available and how to become the best-qualified person for that position. You might be able to do this by regularly talking to the manager of the development team. I would focus on doing really well at the testing job. Learn how to use automated testing tools, and work on identifying ways you can even improve the testing/build process. Lastly, I might set aside some personal time to work on development-related projects, so that when a position becomes available (either there or at a different company), I’d have the experience to make me a stronger candidate.
Hope that helps!
what growth does testing have in the industry respect to personal knowledge,skills and salary…???????
Growth depends on how much you invest into it. There’s always more to learn.
Hi, I am 2 years experience in Manual Testing in very big MNC, but i am not satisfied with Manual Testing as I am now a days feeling that I have learnt nothing in this field as compared to my dev. colleagues. When I entered in Testing I was a fresher and as my company is very big, It is not much flexible to allow people to switch from QA to dev. And, in my last 2 project I didn’t get time to harness my skill as dev. because of work pressure and also it don’t seem to me that there is any chances of automation project coming up in my account.
I think taht i have development skill its just this that I never got any chance or oppurtunities as my colleagues.
I am loosing my sleep over this. Please help me out.
You can learn how to automate your testing, or learn development during your personal time. For example, if you test web applications, you might check out Selenium. Good luck!
Hi,
I was working in FileNet technologies and last year I had to leave my job due to personal reasons. Currently, I am not working anywhere. I want to change my domain from development to testing as I feel dev field requires more time and is stressful as compared to testing.
I have time constriant and cant devote much in thinking how to execute some piece of work. Pls, guide me whether I shud leave dev and adopt testing as my career.
Also, how to proceed for change from Dev to testing.
Ambika: Career changes are always decisions you’ll need to make yourself. It might help to find other people who work in testing and talk to them about what the work is like, and if there are open job opportunities. You can also ask them how they got into that role.
Most of the job positions I hear about tend to be for development instead of QA, but you could try applying at larger companies.
If you find development stressful, maybe you can branch out into a different field, or even go into something non-technology-related. The What Color is Your Parachute book is a great read for career changers, and the recent The Start-up of You is good too.
Good luck!
Hello Sacha Chua,
Great post and I found it useful.
I am working as QA in a developing s/w company for more than 12 months.and really I gained “0″ knowledge from the domain where I am working.Manual testing is going,nill knowledge in automation,no time to study any materials regarding automation or development or pinging any testing courses. They(employer) are not recognizing me as a part of team,giving testing processes to dev team itself, but still I am working reasonably well for them
Please I need your advice,what should I do. I feel very bad about my career,my company doesn’t give any valuable hikes also in these months. Am getting only 7200 pm.!!!!(Whew…!)
Eagerly waiting for your reply
Thanks in advance,
Priya.
Try to talk to your manager about your career growth plans – what you want to learn and how that can help the company. If that doesn’t work out, you might want to think about saving up a good emergency fund and switching companies. It’s important to find a place where work is a good fit for you and helps you grow. If you don’t feel you’d be a strong candidate for other positions, give your company just the time you’re paid for, and invest your personal time into learning new skills.
Do you really think that all companies will recognize all the employees equally? I don’t,coz,in my case,they were really bad…I should not blame them,but I got really depressed..
Companies are made of people, and people make good or bad decisions. I think most people are too busy trying to stay afloat to really nurture other people’s lives or careers. Your career is your responsibility. If you don’t think you’re getting enough opportunities for growth in your company and you can’t seem to create them if you try, work on making it possible to move, and accept a job more carefully.
Many people are teaching themselves how to code through sites like http://www.codecademy.com/ . Others learn different skills, too. Never count on someone else to take charge of your learning.
Its true that “my career is my responsibility”. Thanks for the advice.
And from today onwards I am teaching myself how to code,with the link that you have mentioned. Awesome link and helpful too,
hi,
I got placement through campus recruitment in a product based company.As of now i am currently doing my internship in same company.I am alloted to manual testing team but i am not satisfied with my work in testing.Even I am not able to move from these company because of 1 year bond.
I need you suggestion to make my future bright. Really i am interested in development. I discuss about with my colleageaus,friends different persons tell different reasons i am totally confused about my career. Suggest me i do any certification is it useful to my career to shift from manual testing to development team in same company or different company.
Thanks in advance…………
You can teach yourself how to program. Certifications are still a long way off for you; don’t worry about them yet. Try something like http://codecademy.com or check out a book from the library, learn programming, and see if you like it.
Thanks for your advise.
Actually my intention to ask, can we shift from manual testing to development team . I need to clarify about these i am getting different answers from different persons because these is starting stage of my career.
Let me know , can i get offers from companies after one year to work with development team because i will get experience in manual testing.
That’s up to you and the prospective company. It may be difficult considering you’ll be competing with people who have development experience, but it’s not impossible if you work hard, work smart, are passionate about what you do, and have a good fit with the company.