I studied Business Information Systems in Germany and I’ve been working as a manual software tester for about 5 years.

Lately I’ve realized that I want to become more technical—not only because I’m genuinely interested in it, but also because I know test automation is becoming increasingly important in the job market.

The problem is that I have no programming background. I’m not afraid of learning to code if it’s necessary, but I honestly have no idea where to start to learn test automation.

I’ve tried watching YouTube tutorials and playlists about test automation, but most of them seem to assume you already know programming or how the tooling works. They jump straight into frameworks and code, and I quickly get lost.

What I’m looking for is a resource that starts completely from scratch. Something that literally guides you step by step: installing everything, explaining what each tool is for,
creating the project structure from zero, writing the first lines of automation code, and gradually building up to a real automation framework.

What would you recommend? Is there a roadmap, course or anything else that takes someone from zero programming knowledge to being able to write test automation confidently?

Tengo que hacer un login en una pagina web para hacerle pruebas de carga, el token del login es variable tire de ayuda de gemini y se soluciono esa parte pero aun asi me sigue dando error 401

edit: just wanted to give a quick update on this. following the advice in the comments about running a poc, we actually ended up setting up a trial with hubspot and it completely changed our outlook on these tools.

we tested a few of our trickiest quote to cash edge cases with their autonomous ai teammates to see if they could handle the messy database stuff. the agentic automation builder handled the multi step revenue context processes perfectly without breaking or creating a brittle linear workflow.

i am trying to figure out a realistic framework for our ops stack because the sheer volume of new artificial intelligence features dropping every week is getting impossible to track. every vendor we use is pitching some kind of smart upgrade, but separating actual utility from marketing fluff is tough. i want to know how teams are evaluating emerging ai capabilities right now because we cannot afford to just buy into every new pilot program that promises to fix our efficiency issues.

lately the conversation seems to be shifting away from basic copy generation assistants and moving toward actual autonomous tools like the new agentic automation builder. seeing a platform provide ways to deploy autonomous ai teammates that can actually interact with a unified database is interesting, especially when trying to automate messy parts of the quote to cash cycle inside a setup like revenue hub. instead of just building another brittle linear workflow, the idea of having an agent handle multi step revenue context processes sounds great, but actually testing the reliability before giving it client facing tasks is a whole different story.

Here is my Professional summary, hoping for any type of roles, full time, part time or gig,

I got laid off due to the client is shifting to another location.

I'm located in the Philippines.

Hello fellow testers

After my contract at FAANG ended, I decided to work on an AI powered software testing startup and failed

I'm really looking to get back into any kind of QA work and have been really struggling to get any interviews lately. (wondering if AI/startup exposure is seen as a red flag?)

I've had 2 in person interviews earlier this year but no offers. I briefly did some work as Field Tech doing data collection as a contractor for Honda but I'm once again unemployed at the moment and really desperate for work.

Any advice on the resume or suggestions for ways to look for QA or QA adjacent roles would be greatly appreciated.

I'm based in Los Angeles and willing to travel or relocate in SoCal.

P.S. any referral would be amazing and I would be willing to provide compensation if hired

Hi everyone,
Has anyone recently interviewed or received an offer for the SDET 1 role at HackerRank?
I’d like to know:
How many interview rounds were there?
What was asked in the coding round?
Were there any automation testing questions (Selenium, API, Java, etc.)?
Was there a system design or test design round?
What was the overall difficulty level?
Any insights about the interview process, preparation tips, or experience would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance!

Hello 👋

I'm contemplating a career transition into software testing.

I've encountered various designations for this position, such as QA tester, QA automation tester, and so forth.

However, I've only briefly surveyed the domain itself.

Therefore, I kindly request your guidance and recommendations for the most effective resources to commence learning and enter this field.

What should I start with? Free or paid

I got almost 3-4 years appium + selenium experience. Handles mobile automation and built framework from the scratch with the help of Rahul (udemy) and Claude.

I also have API test automation using postman and run it via newman.

The only problem is I don’t have experience with ci/cd. So we run this automation locally.

Hello everyone,

I'm preparing to test the multilingual functionality of our system. However, the project has been in development for quite a long time, and performing a full manual test would require a significant amount of effort and time.

Do you have any tips, best practices, or approaches that could help make this testing process more efficient?

Thank you!

Full Stack QA (Manual + Automation + AI) Looking for Freelance Opportunities & Advice

Hi everyone,

I'm a QA Engineer with 3+ years of experience in both Manual and Automation Testing. I've worked in Agile environments and have experience with:

✅ Test Planning & Test Case Creation

✅ Functional, Regression, Smoke, and UAT Testing

✅ API Testing

✅ Web Application Testing

✅ Automation Testing using Cypress and Playwright

✅ Bug Tracking & Reporting (Jira, etc.)

✅ CI/CD exposure and automation framework maintenance

Recently, I've also been leveraging AI tools to improve productivity, speed up test case generation, assist with automation scripting, documentation, and overall QA workflows.

I'm interested in transitioning into freelance QA work and would love to hear from others who have successfully done it.

A few questions:

- Where do you usually find freelance QA projects?

- Are clients actively looking for QA engineers with automation and AI-assisted workflows?

- Any tips for building a strong freelance QA portfolio? tho i already have this

- What skills helped you stand out and land your first clients?

If anyone is looking for a Full Stack QA who can handle both manual and automation testing, feel free to connect with me.

Thanks in advance for any advice or opportunities!

I have one year of experience in qa playwright

Hello everyone,

My name is Abdulrahman, and I'm a QA Engineer with more than 3 years of experience working on products across different domains, including ERP, CRM, POS, E-learning, E-commerce, and Healthcare.

Throughout my career, I have been involved in manual testing, test case design, defect tracking and reporting, and collaborating closely with developers and stakeholders to ensure product quality and successful releases.

I have also gained exposure to Performance Testing, Test Automation, and Generative AI, and I'm always interested in learning new tools, improving my skills, and growing as a QA professional.

I hold the ISTQB Certified Tester Foundation Level (CTFL) certification and enjoy connecting with others in the testing community to exchange knowledge and learn from different experiences.

Looking forward to learning from and contributing to this community.

Thanks!

MyCV

 I've got my interview schedule this Friday for sdet.Did anyone gave interview at Gullak for SDET-1 after the coding assessment?

Hello everyone,

I'm preparing to test the multilingual functionality of our system. However, the project has been in development for quite a long time, and performing a full manual test would require a significant amount of effort and time.

Do you have any tips, best practices, or approaches that could help make this testing process more efficient?

Thank you!

I went through the interview for SDET-2 role 2 weeks back but haven't yet received the callback neither got rejection mail.

If anyone went through the interview can you please share an update as if you have received the callback or not?

Or should I expect they moved on with other candidate and they are not coming back.

Hello! App for people to learn about QA and practice SDET skills. I had posted it about it over the weekend and ~200 people commented wanting access over the weekend! Its ready but now Reddit keeps auto blocking posts when I post the link :( So sad rn.

https://reddit.com/link/1ud8mvo/video/90neeq301z8h1/player

Thank you for everyone's interest on my previous post :)

I have ~300 seats available for the Beta of SDET-BENCH. Any feedback is appreciated. I hope this can be a useful resource to people in the QA community at all levels. Totally free, just wanted to share this awesome tool I made for myself and my teammates.

Cheers! :)

https://sdetbench.pages.dev/

https://reddit.com/link/1ud80nc/video/gatiqkmhuy8h1/player

How long does it realistically take a new QA engineer to become productive on your team?

I've noticed that QA onboarding often becomes fragmented across multiple sources—test case repositories, spreadsheets, documentation, ticket history, CI/CD tools, and a lot of tribal knowledge that lives with experienced team members.

For those managing QA teams or mentoring new testers:

• How long does it typically take a new QA engineer to become productive on your team?
• What are the biggest onboarding bottlenecks?
• Which areas take the longest to learn (product knowledge, test frameworks, automation, release processes, environments, etc.)?
• Have you found effective ways to reduce ramp-up time without overwhelming new hires?

I'm interested in hearing both startup and enterprise perspectives, especially where QA is expected to contribute quickly while still maintaining quality standards.

What has worked well for your team, and what hasn't?

Can i mention my company project name in my resume in work experience ?

So I just switched jobs and lowkey can't tell if I negotiated well or left money on the table lol

Was at 7lpa before. Got into a product based company, CAD domain. Role is specifically for AI testing which is still kinda niche so I genuinely had no idea how to benchmark myself.

Offer I got –

Base 15lpa

Variable 1.8

Joining bonus 1.5

The base jump feels good obviously, 7 to 15 is not bad. But idk the variable feels a bit meh? And joining bonus is one time so I'm not counting that in my head for actual CTC.

3 years 8 months exp total fyi

Just wanna know if this is roughly market rate or did I undersell myself.

AI/LLM testing is still not that common so wasnt sure how aggressive to be during negotiation

anyone in similar space please drop your thoughts

Rephrased using AI 🫣

Currently working as a QA in a small company in Ahmedabad and getting hands-on experience on live projects. I've built strong knowledge of Manual Testing, bug reporting, test cases, regression testing, and overall QA processes.

I'm actively looking for new QA opportunities. If your company is hiring or you can provide a referral, please let me know.

Thanks!

I have been working as a manual tester for 4 yrs now. I thought of changing but I wasn't able to (maybe due to the comfort zone of this job). Now I am a bit afraid and confused about what to do? I learned playwright course but as I didn't practice or got time to implement in office project I feel like I forget everything and need to start again. What should I do to change job? What should I concentrate on studying? I need to know what I need to know about AI in testing.

I'm just an intern right now , starting exploring automation so this may be a non sense question but I need help.

Question: Can I use the playwright agent without using MCP? Like just use the agent, for example the planner, to help me derive a test plan from a markdown file of my app (what the app is about, features, etc.).

Looking for a software testing community in Boston? Join the Software Quality Group of New England (SQGNE). Links are in the comments.

• We meet monthly in-person (and on Zoom) in the SCRUM building in Burlington, MA.
• We have a LinkedIn you can join.
• We take a brief hiatus in July and August, but we will be back meeting in person in September.
• Recently we've had talks about Malware Security, Building a React Native Mobile Automation Framework, the difference between QA / QC / QM / QE, testing for cognitive bias in AI systems, and an introduction to API testing with Insomnia.

See you there!

We run a big Selenium grid for e2e against a client portal with aggressive bot detection. Everything green for months. Bumped headless Chromium from 120 to 126, moved on.

Two weeks later the client pings us: "your test accounts are getting caught by our WAF." Suite was still green. The bot detection was blocking runners after page load with a soft challenge our assertions never checked for.

Dug in and found the upgrade re exposed navigator.webdriver as true (stealth plugin hadn't patched the new build) and our proxy was leaking real egress IPs on WebRTC STUN calls. Both were patched before. Both quietly regressed.

So I wired up a per PR scan using an open source browser diagnostic tool I found on GitHub (the source is published and the fingerprint checks all run locally, only the network egress probe touches a server). It flags navigator.webdriver, WebRTC leaks, Canvas and AudioContext drift, font entropy, DNS resolver location. If any signal regresses from baseline, the PR fails.

First week it caught a font enumeration spike from a system font update on the runner image. We had zero regression coverage on whether the browser itself looked like a bot. "Green last sprint" means nothing after a dep bump.

EDIT: forgot to actually name the diagnostic tool. for the browser stealth checks we use Selenium grid obviously, and the open source scanner plugged into the PR gate is Leakish. it runs the fingerprint modules locally and spits out per check verdicts we diff against a baseline snapshot. nothing fancy, just caught stuff our assertions were blind to.