How to grow as a tester if you are not interested in automation

Testing is a well-rounded profession that requires a wide range of skills to be effective in your team. Acquired skills and experience bring great opportunities for development. Yet, there are many who believe that automation is the only way to grow. Modern experienced and successful QA specialists not only have the potential to manage the QA process but also to take on new career challenges, starting with customer interaction and ending with product management and enterprise architecture. Therefore, in this article, you will find several non-stereotypical career paths for software testers.

Directions of development

DevOps

Software testers have a comprehensive understanding of the development process, making them good DevOps professionals who help software developers (Dev) and operations teams (Ops) improve the efficiency, speed, and security of software development. A faster software development life cycle provides a competitive advantage for the company and its customers.

Customer experience leader

QA professionals are focused on the user, making them more and more valuable as companies increase the value of the customer experience. Experienced testers understand the importance of putting the customer first. In many companies, CEL is the voice of the customer.

Enterprise architect

QA professionals have an eye for detail which makes them great candidates for enterprise architecture positions. The ability to take many changing parts and fit them into a complex picture or flow is a critical skill for an enterprise architect, who is responsible for the development and architecture of the software development chain.

Quality Head

The Quality Head is the most highly ranked position in the Quality Department. This is a combination of technical and management skills. This position combines years of experience and proven expertise in managing multiple teams and projects/programs.

IT management

Within this segment, there are many other options, such as Product manager or Project manager (or any other managers), who focus on organizing the team's work and communicating with other managers, customers, senior management, etc. Management is especially suitable for quality assurance specialists since it is aimed at project supervision. This includes managing all aspects of the product life cycle: from the analysis stage to the release.

If the tester does a lot of organizational work and demonstrates good skills in motivating other employees and communicating, they can quickly be promoted to management. A talented QA manager is likely to be promoted to senior manager, director, or senior director. Due to the growing popularity of Testing Centers of Excellence (TCoEs), more and more QA leadership positions are opening up at the vice president and senior vice president levels.

Quality engineering and strategy

QA specialists can alternatively take up positions in quality assurance strategy, which historically have been awarded to non-technical professionals with a background in business intelligence. In quality engineering, the focus is not on providing quality for a specific program release, but rather on ensuring a quality system for all releases. This is a way for software testing professionals to raise the bar in their careers.

Business analysts

A business analyst is responsible for the analysis and evaluation of a company's business model and workflows. This position works well for testers since most of their work closely overlaps. By analyzing various business problems related to the look and operation of product features, testers have an advantage as analysts where workflows, usability, and communication are important.

Testing specializations

If a tester wants to grow in a particular specialization (their own or try another) without going into management, there are several options to consider:

• mobile testing;
• database testing;
• usability;
• accessibility testing;
• security testing;
• performance/load testing.

Software testing is an interesting, challenging, and complex area with plenty of career opportunities. The specialization allows you to start a new path where you can grow into many other roles, as long as you are highly motivated. Therefore there are several QA leadership roles in big companies: business analysts, test specialists, etc.