2007-Aug-28 - QA career path
I've been a QA engineer for 2 years, not including my nearly 1 year part-time tester experience when I was in college. I learned functional testing, localization testing, some system testing, some process, and some test automation. I like what I'm doing now and I think I am kind of good at it. But recently the manager has talked with me about career path, and I start thinking about it. Where should I go 5~10 years from now? Should I stick with this career, or try something else?
What I am worrying about is whether this is a career for the youths only. Just look around me, most of the employees are in their 20s or 30s. Only very few in managerial positions are over 35. I don't see a clear path for a QA to follow. I even have considered going back to school to study another degree, like Intellectual Property, so that I can change profession.
But when I searched the internet (I searched a lot in sqaforums too), I realized that every career was difficult, but if you like it, it would be easier to go through. At least I like what I'm doing, I like designing test cases for an object, I like reporting the bugs I find, I like learning automation tools and scripts and use them to help me execute cases, and I like working with people in and out of local office. It's much risky to change the career, and the future is more uncertain. I think I will just expand my skills and go deeper in current career.
Although I'm still not sure what choices are for a QA's future besides QA manager. Someone listed senior QA, project manager, technical director, independent consultant, or owner of your own business. Perhaps consultant is a choice I'm interested. But I do not know the roadmap. I don't have acquaintance has that experience.
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