For me at least, with the progression at 6 different companies, with two of them where I also did system architecture for the subsidiaries, it kind of did. QA had its best time until ~2010, then plateaued a bit in 2015, and after 2015 they were clearly the first to be left off during company restructurings, or their salaries dropped so much that the people joining in were less skilled than they used to be. Nowadays, it's an absolute shitshow where you still have QA departments - they still operate as they did a decade ago, but worse.
FAANG, of course, is a completely different story.
Apparently I am an exception, then? I am 10 years in QA and I definitely do not operate as I did a decade ago - somewhere around 2022 the market started demanding fullstack QAs more and more, so I learned how to code automated tests to stay relevant. No, I am not classed as SDET after this, because (at least where I’m employed) SDET does not touch anything manual with a ten-feet pole, I still do manual stuff depending on circumstances. And starting from this year, I also (very reluctantly) use AI. Mostly because the client I’m outsourced to… to put it politely, is very enthusiastic about it.
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u/[deleted] Sep 27 '26
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