Reader,

That's what I'm going to start telling people who ask me how to get into QA.

Yeah, obviously you need the skills too, but that's a given at this point in the game.

2025 is gonna be rough.

But remember, I started in Support. After 2 years of learning web development (HTML/CSS/JS/React) and failing to get a web development job.

Because I was working as a shift manager at Walgreens. Why should they trust me to do the job? I was barely getting interviews for hundreds of jobs I applied to, and the only 2 whiteboarding interviews I got...I flopped.

But when I applied to a Support Specialist role at Fetch, I was asked to set up a call with their internal recruiter within 24 hours.

For context, I was making $13.75/hr at Walgreens, but this role was $17/hr.

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Here's the thing. I had customer service experience up the wazoo before I applied to that role. More than 3 years doing all kinds of grunt work and customer-facing roles.

So I was qualified. But I also brought some technical skills to the table, which made me a bit of a "unicorn" applicant for that role.

For a frontend dev role, though, I was "too green" to be taken seriously (literally was told I was "too green" after a whiteboarding interview once).

And the funny thing is, I got to "play web developer" for 6 months as an apprentice full-time at Fetch only 2 years after I started there, and my skill set was essentially the same.

I moved to QA within 6 months of joining Fetch in 2019 because they wanted to start building the QA team.

Most companies look at their internal staff before trying to hire out for a role.

External recruiting is insanely costly compared to moving someone from another department into a role.

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So for 2025, go crazy. Learn every QA skill you can get your hands on.

Learn automation. Learn 2 programming languages. Discover the deeper philosophy behind testing and start taking leadership opportunities in QA communities. Use AI for stuff.

Do all of that and more.

But think about what jobs you've already done. Is there a job in a tech company that is exactly the same, or at least very similar to that?

Are you willing to wait another year or so to just get into a tech company so you have a better shot at getting a QA role?

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I urge you to think long-term. Because I've seen some folks out of work for 1-2 years in this market and it's kinda terrifying to be honest.

The path I took was completely unintentional.

I was trying to be a web developer when I joined Fetch in 2019, and Support Specialist was just my foot-in-the-door role.

I ended up in QA and have loved it ever since.

But if I was trying to break into QA, I would've done the same thing.

And if I had known it would've worked out the way it did, I probably wouldn't have waited for 2 years before trying to play to my existing strengths.

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Shoot for the stars, but be fine with landing on the moon first.

I know that's not how the saying goes, but consider it.

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Also, if you're trying to make 2025 your year, there's literally 1 seat left in Social QA Bootcamp.

By the time you read this, it might already be gone.

And I won't reopen it until sometime after my birthday (I'm an Aries 🐏).

​>>> Get into Social QA Bootcamp while you still can​

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Have a happy 2nd day of 2025.

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Cheers,

Steven