QA Automation looking to transition to swe/full stack engineering
First post Graduated in 2019, QA Automation for a year, then promoted to Senior QA Automation and feel that salary has definitely peaked. Feels like a completely deadend career (I've always kind of known this), but I've been fairly content with clocking in, doing like 30 mins of work, and collecting checks until some fairly catastrophic personal circumstances/changes have left me realizing I need to step it up. Currently have been LCing all day at work (blind 75, neetcode 150) and been working on a fullstack web/mobile app so I have something to show on my resume. Also been working my way through DDIA & doing some system design stuff (grokking) but to be honest, I would say this is the part I'm weakest and have the least experience with, hence me trying to make an webapp from start to finish w/ all the components for a scalable application so that I at least have a rough understanding of things like why you would need a message broker or a load balancer etc. I've had my resume reviewed by two diff services so far, but out of ~180 applications I've sent (just on LinkedIn), I've gotten one (1) interview. What am I doing wrong, and what can I do to at least get eyes on my resume or a call back. I haven't put my webapp on my resume as a project yet because it's not really in a finished state and I'd like to have it up and running in production before I do so so that there's at least something for someone to look at. Any suggestions?? Is it just impossible to move from QA to SWE? Did I stay in QA for too long? Is it over for me? TC: 130k #engineering #swe #software #qa #fail
There is some bit of ceiling with QA salary but most of the leadership positions are held by prior QA folks atleast in the banking space. But yes in core tech companies its better to be a SWE than QA. You have not spent like 10 years that you cant switch stream, with some time and efforts you should be able, also the market right now might not be the most supportive
Not late. I did that.
It is difficult other way. Difficult to switch from SWE to QA in my experience.
Why would you want to though? Are there really ppl who switch from SWE to QA?
To get to higher level leadership roles in traditional companies, spending time leading each function is very helpful
Try getting into a company where transitions (QA to SWE) are easier. Like in Amazon you can get in an SDET and then transition to a SDE. But be informed about the time it may take.
I transitioned from QA engineer to SWE at my company. First choice would be to see if there are internal opportunities you can explore with the support of your manager. Going straight from QA in current company to SWE in a different company is extremely difficult.
Tried this already, and even had a team lead from another team vouch for me but our company just isn't hiring/no open SWE positions. This was the first thing I tried as I knew it'd be hard to make this transition to another company. While I realize it's just not attractive for employers hiring an SWE to see "QA Automation" on a resume, what (if anything) can I do to make this situation less bad for myself? Would the project that I'm working on help?
Frankly I think having the side project wont help much with the resume screening. But it for sure wont hurt. I would personally consider the following: - take a coding bootcamp (only if you want to jump right into SWE in shortest amount of time. Investment and risk is higher because bootcamp job placement rates aren’t as high anymore) - adjust resume so your job title is something more along the lines of “software engineer - test automation” to get past some automatic filters. Can also try to word things in the resume so it sounds like higher impact work like building automation frameworks and less manual - apply for QAE/SDET positions at other companies, while discussing with the hiring manager your longer term goal and see if they’re open to a future growth opportunities. For example in Amazon, there is a defined process for lateral moves (which I went through). You could probably even push it faster and ask for some software work to do on the side after you’ve done your QAE tasks.
Same boat bro. Thing is I didn’t learn anything new apart from my work which was too much.
Yea honestly I kinda exaggerated re. 30 mins of work a day. Some days im just getting absolutely slammed with bullshit, QA automation is a completely thankless deadend job, wish I would have just stayed unemployed instead. This shit has got me really depressed, keep your head up we're gonna get out the trenches maybe
I am getting no other calls apart from SDET roles. Market is so unforgiving coupled with visa restrictions.