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I always thought you needed a bs in computer science to get into software development. Is it possible for companies development less complex software like business softwares and SaaS for software testers to move into development at those companies? In 5 years, would this still be true that you can move from software testing into software development?
Most software testing jobs require a bachelors as well.
I know of 1 or 2 people that moved from testing to development. It doesn't happen often and when it does it happens fairly quickly.
The word in tech is that the longer one stays in software testing the more difficult it becomes to switch to development.
I say for those looking to move into the field to just go full fledge software development and skip testing altogether.
If testing is the only option, then learn a scripting language and do what you have to within the first year to network your way into a development position. Just know that it won't be easy.
I got my bachelors in EE. When I first graduated from college, I got a job as an avionics systems engineer. My job was to talk to the customer about what they wanted in their product, and translate that into software requirements for the software engineers. Lots of technical documentation, but no hardware or software design. I did this for for about 10 years at 2 different companies, even going back to school to get my masters in EE.
Then, one day, one of the software engineers where I worked quit. I knew the software manager well, so I asked him if he would consider me for the vacated position. He agreed and I've been doing software development for the last 20 years. I specialize in C-language embedded software for wireless devices, but have done other things. For example, I have been a test engineer on 3 different occasions, always to get my foot in the door at companies that weren't hiring software engineers at the time. I then get chummy with the software manager and make my move to the software department after a year or two.
I'm a QA manager (software testing). I've been doing QA for 15+ years. Yes, if you can show that you have the aptitude to develop then there is absolutely the chance to move into a software engineer position. But I do agree with the others it is rare.
I'll say as IT changes the lines between testing and development become more blurred as automation is the key to testing. There will always be a need for some manual testers but developers will be needed to do the automation. This is always a good place for manual testers to see if they can write code.
I'm a QA manager (software testing). I've been doing QA for 15+ years. Yes, if you can show that you have the aptitude to develop then there is absolutely the chance to move into a software engineer position. But I do agree with the others it is rare.
I'll say as IT changes the lines between testing and development become more blurred as automation is the key to testing. There will always be a need for some manual testers but developers will be needed to do the automation. This is always a good place for manual testers to see if they can write code.
In some places it is already changing. I have a friend in an office where they've told her (a tester) that the testers also need to do the automating. She says it's quite difficult because although they do know basic scripting, they don't necessarily have software engineering background or the training that the engineers have. My friend does not even have a bachelor's degree and started doing this as a second career in her 40s and is now probably near 60. I think it is unrealistic to expect an entire department to do the automation, as not everyone there has the inclination or interest in doing it.
Thanks for clarifying guys and gals! My IT school was trying to tell us to go into the software testing path because it will lead you to software development! But I feel like that was a sales pitch to get people to do software testing. Realistically I had this feeling it's rare to make the switch.
I am going to stick to working my way up to a network engineer then.
I always thought you needed a bs in computer science to get into software development. Is it possible for companies development less complex software like business softwares and SaaS for software testers to move into development at those companies? In 5 years, would this still be true that you can move from software testing into software development?
Thank you!
Quote:
Originally Posted by the city
Thanks for clarifying guys and gals! My IT school was trying to tell us to go into the software testing path because it will lead you to software development! But I feel like that was a sales pitch to get people to do software testing. Realistically I had this feeling it's rare to make the switch.
I am going to stick to working my way up to a network engineer then.
Yes, you can move from QA to development. I did so many years ago and it was 100% worth it.
However, I haven't worked in QA in over a decade and things were very different when I got my start in QA. I think QA was more technical in the late 90s/early 2000s than it is today, and "agile" development methodologies have made QA much more slipshod and half-assed than it ever was in my day, mainly because QA people are not often given enough time to develop actual test cases.
Most QA people I encounter nowadays are south Asian, female, non-technical, and cannot read or write SQL. It's rare I encounter someone in QA who knows how to write a SQL query beyond "select * from....". When I'm asked for help, however, I give help generously because I know how important it was to me when I was in QA.
So...yeah. You CAN, but that doesn't mean you WILL, or that you'll even want to. If you want to be a developer, then be a developer.
Started out in phone support, then quickly back into QA (I was in QA in a prior larger company)..... then I got tired of the manual test the company was relying on so I started to automate. Then I was placed in a position to do bug fix and triage along with being the QA lead that did code reviews as well as participate in design. I still maintained the automation as well. Soon, the group was overwhelmed with work, so I volunteered to do development along side with my QA responsibilities. That lead to tasks that required full stack knowledge... from UI to persistence. I was familiar with the entire stack.. so it came naturally.
At some point, managers said I was more valuable as a developer and they made that my focus. Several years later, I am a lead position in development. I've been told many times that the code I produce is always well thought out and clean... I attribute it to the years in QA, bug fix, and code reviews of being shown "what NOT to do". I also quickly learned which developers did a good job and always maneuvered myself to work closely with them.
You adopt a different mindset when working in QA... a mindset that can be valuable in development.
I worked for both large and small companies (a few startups). It is almost always easier to change roles in a smaller organization. If I were in a QA group in a large company, I would have been so removed from the development arm of the company that no development manager would have ever noticed. The first person to suggest that I should move into development was the CTO of the company... I doubt the CTO of a large company would even know I exist.
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