⚠️ 𝐋𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐅𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐐𝐀 𝐉𝐨𝐛? 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 Mini-RoadMap 𝐅𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭

Matviy Cherniavski

Aug '25 (edited) • Career Friday

I got tons of DMs from people asking how to get into QA in the first place.

Here's what everyone gets wrong...

Most beginners think: "𝐈'𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐣𝐨𝐛, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧 𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫."

⚠️ 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐚 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐜𝐡. 𝐀𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐥. 𝐈𝐧 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐭… 𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞.

➡️ Here's the thing:

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❌ 𝐁𝐚𝐝 𝐍𝐞𝐰𝐬:

Pure Manual roles are disappearing fast → QA automation and AI are pushing them away.
Everyone can apply (no technical skills needed) → You're competing with thousands of people for one position. Literally.

✅ 𝐆𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐍𝐞𝐰𝐬:

Manual Testing doesn't disappear into nowhere - it becomes hybrid or Automation jobs openings.
Companies really want someone who can do both (manual + automation). This is very achievable even for complete beginners in 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚 𝐟𝐞𝐰 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐡𝐬 of dedicated learning and interview prep.

I want to emphasize:

𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐚 𝐠𝐮𝐫𝐮. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐣𝐨𝐛.

📌 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 "𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫":

──────────────────────

🔹 𝐎𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝟏: 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐓𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠

Easy to learn, but very hard to get a job.
You'll still need to learn automation soon if you want to stick around.

𝑂𝑟

🔹 𝐎𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝟐: 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧 𝐁𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐜 𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧

Spend a bit more effort to learn the tech skills, but get the job easily.
Plus... Have tons of interviews... 𝐒𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠-𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐦 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐫... 𝐃𝐨𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐲 of manual jobs.

🌀 Those are your only options.

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By the way, for the overseas readers:

𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒂 𝑸𝑨 𝑨𝒖𝒕𝒐𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒐𝒓 𝒋𝒐𝒃 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑼𝑺, 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒍𝒂𝒓𝒚 𝒊𝒔𝒏'𝒕 𝒅𝒐𝒖𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒂 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒖𝒂𝒍 𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 - 𝒊𝒕'𝒔 𝟖𝒙. 𝑰 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒔 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝑼𝑺 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒂𝒏𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒔 𝑸𝑨 𝑨𝒖𝒕𝒐𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝟑-𝟓𝒌 𝑼𝑺𝑫 𝒑𝒆𝒓 𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒉. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒚'𝒓𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒆𝒕, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒊𝒕'𝒔 𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒃𝒍𝒆, 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆.

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🔮 𝐈𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬:

𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝟑 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐡𝐬 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 → 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐢𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐩 𝟓-𝟏𝟎% 𝐨𝐟 𝐣𝐨𝐛 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐬.

𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐧𝐨-𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐫.

You cannot get better returns on your invested time and effort with absolutely anything else. Not even close.

👔 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐢 𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬.

You wouldn't open a store on the first corner you see without doing research and preparation, right?

You might, but the results will be… Well, you can guess. Nothing good.

𝐒𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐫.

The approach that seems "fastest" and "easiest" often isn't the best. In fact, later you may discover that it wasn't the fastest or easiest at all — it only appeared that way.

In the long term, this results in the waste of both time and money.

❢ So invest in the things that actually matter. The skills that will pay the bill now, a year or even 10 years later.

💬 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐦𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐚𝐬𝐤... 𝐬𝐨 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐈 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐲 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐐𝐀 𝐑𝐨𝐥𝐞?

Here's the list of things you 𝐌𝐔𝐒𝐓 know if you want to crush it in the job market when searching for your first QA job:

……… ➩ 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐒𝐢𝐝𝐞:

📋 𝐃𝐨𝐜𝐮𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧:

What are Test plans, test suites, and test cases.
Bug reports: How to create bug reports, what to include, when to close them, and the whole "life cycle of the bug report".
Main testing techniques: Negative and positive scenarios, boundary testing, UI, and basic API testing.

🔄 𝐒𝐨𝐟𝐭𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐃𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐩𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐋𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐂𝐲𝐜𝐥𝐞:

Simply speaking, what are the stages of developing software, from idea to the app that people use.

🚀 𝐒𝐨𝐟𝐭𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐃𝐞𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐲𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭:

The way software gets deployed, a.k.a. goes from a developer's computer to the "server" (a shared computer where anyone can access it).
In the QA context, it's important because your job is to test after it's deployed.

🌍 𝐄𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬:

Deployment can happen in a few places called "environments." Most common ones: DEV, QA, PRODUCTION.
These are "servers" explicitly dedicated for developers to test their code, for QA to test the app, and Production is where customers can access it.

……… ➩ 𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐒𝐢𝐝𝐞:

🐍 𝐁𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐜 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠:

Nothing fancy - you're not becoming a developer.
Just know how to install the language and write test scripts that use testing frameworks.
𝐋𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐮𝐚𝐠𝐞: 𝐏𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐧. It's the best language for beginners... It literally looks like English.
And yes, I know you've seen Java or something else on job openings, but in reality, it doesn't matter. If you know one language, you know all of them.
Companies are looking for someone with programming skills at a level to do the job - if you can demonstrate those skills, you're good.

🎭 𝐅𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤:

𝐏𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭. It's the most beginner-friendly framework around.
Things like Selenium are very complex, and you need to do a lot of setup to start. But your main goal is to learn how to write tests, not how to set up everything. So stick to it.
Also, Playwright is growing in popularity in the US, and Microsoft even backs it. Meaning it's one of the best career investments you can make. It will just keep getting bigger and spreading over the world.
About job requirements - If you know one framework, you know all of them. You can still apply to jobs that have other frameworks listed - in 99% of cases, it doesn't even matter.

📚 𝐆𝐢𝐭 (𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐎𝐧𝐥𝐲):

Learn what Git is and 3-4 top commands. That's it.
In short, Git allows you to have a copy of your code stored on the remote computer so your teammates can access it, and in case you mess up, you have a backup.

⚙️ 𝐂𝐈/𝐂𝐃 (huh... what is this?):

CI/CD is a set of tools and practices that moves software from local computers into shared environments like Dev, QA, etc..
You don’t need to know how to set it up — that’s a DevOps responsibility.
What does matter is understanding what CI/CD is and how to run automated tests within it.
Running automated tests only on your own machine isn’t ideal. No one else can see the results or trigger the tests.
In a CI/CD, however, the whole team can run and review these tests using a shared web tool.
Your job as a beginner is to know what button to click and where to review the results.

🏁 𝐑𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫:

You're not becoming a guru. You just learn enough to stand out to recruiters and pass interviews.

The rest can be learned and SHOULD be learned on the job.

There are tons of different technologies, and it's impossible to know all of them.

So pick the easiest ones to learn, nail them, and learn the rest later.

✅ For a more detailed roadmap, you can check the Workshop in the 'Classroom ' tab.

𝐏.𝐒. Here are interesting stats about yearly salaries worldwide:

𝐒𝐚𝐧 𝐅𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐨 ~ $𝟏𝟓𝟖𝐤 𝐔𝐒𝐃
𝐒𝐲𝐝𝐧𝐞𝐲 ~ $𝟏𝟎𝟓𝐤 𝐀𝐔
𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐥𝐚 ~ ₱𝟏.𝟐𝐌 𝐏𝐇𝐏
𝐋𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐧 ~ £𝟕𝟐𝐤 𝐆𝐁𝐏

Well, I cannot promise it on the first job, but the second job… is very 𝐝𝐨𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞!

Comment below: Would these salaries be enough for the lifestyle you want, or do you need more? Let me know!

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