Quality Assurance/Testing
Doing research on changing careers... No programing background; what are some of the basics to learn if I decide to go with QA? What would be the base salary? (Philadelphia) and how could I learn quickly? (if that's even possible)
QA is a good entry into becoming a developer. I would start by learning how a REST api works. YouTube has tons of videos on this subject. Then I would start to use postman. This is a tool that many developer use to do requests to a server. Lastly look at node.js for automation. There are many very easy to use frameworks for QA and automation.
QA is not good entry to become swe. It slows you down. It is more seperate role. Please dont go that way if your goal is SWE.
I have to disagree. QA is a good starting point on a path to becoming a SWE
If the QA job only requires Jenkins, then it's a dead end. For QAs with API background and writing test cases in code, that's a good knowledge to have for SWE. But the most important part for getting SWE job is still LC and system design
Have good hands-on knowledge of UI automation using Selenium and Java. You will find plenty of free learning resources online. Most of the QA jobs require UI automation knowledge . Additionally get familiar with REST apis and get a very basic idea of some common aws technologies likeS3 and dynamo db. QA jobs in financial industries also require SQL knowledge. Learn these too- -Get some idea about non functional testing types -test cases and test planning -SDLC -Agile methodology -get to know how sprint management tools like Jira are used in industry - decent knowledge of data structures
Why QA? Why not try SWE?
Thought QA was easier to get into....?
Not sure about the easier part. Some QA jobs are a tech career deadend.