Do you need testing courses? Honest opinion from the teacher

A little background: I started my journey into IT in general and QA in particular 7 years ago, when “getting into IT” was not as mainstream as it is now. The courses, if there were any, were not widely known. To get a job as a QA Junior, I independently searched for information on the Internet in preparation for the interview. I don’t remember how (apparently, my memory replaced traumatic memories :)), but I passed the interview and started testing work.

Why am I doing all this?

I experienced the issue of learning the basics of testing from all sides.

| On the one hand, I myself was once in the role of a person who decided to take the path of testing without specialized education.

| On the other hand, I was a teacher in testing schools, and now I am engaged in individual training.

| On the third hand, in my main job I constantly conduct technical interviews for QA engineers of all levels and I know exactly what skills are important when hiring.

In connection with all of the above, my opinion is clear: To start a career as a tester/QA NOT NECESSARY buy courses and take them.

When I was preparing materials for my lessons, as a teacher, I had to remember a lot of the theory myself and dig even deeper than I knew before. At such moments, I resorted to YouTube. I'm still in awe of the huge amount free QUALITY material that numerous authors post there (God bless them).

I wanted to shout: “People, come to your senses, why are you paying a lot of money for courses when all the same information can be found on the Internet for free?”

After talking with many students, I came to a simple answer – not everyone is able to learn on their own. For someone myself involvement to a formalized learning process is the main motivator. There are quite a few such people, and, perhaps, “purchased” courses are just for them.

!BUT! In any case, over time (and the sooner the better) they have to learn to independently search for information on the Internet and master it without outside help. Without this, you cannot build a tolerable career in IT.

I can also include the advantages of ready-made courses from various platforms: practical classes. This is a huge plus if used correctly.

I myself tutor on the basics of testing, but I can only give theory without much “combat” practice. I don’t have enough resources to maintain my website with a certain (periodically changing) list of bugs, specifications, and a bug tracking system so that my students can practice testing a real system.

Large course providers have this opportunity.

!BUT! This opportunity needs to be squeezed to the fullest, because during technical interviews I saw enough candidates who completed very good courses, but were negligent in their own responsibility for assimilation of information. Simply put, people thought that they had paid a lot of money for the course, listened to it, and that was enough for all the doors to be open to them.

Also, many large companies that provide testing courses can, with some degree of probability, guarantee further employment in their company or with partners, or, at least, an attempt at employment.

So, let's summarize the advantages:

1. The psychological factor of the learning process that needs to be completed;

2. Opportunity to practice testing on real systems;

3. Possibility of easier further employment.

Accordingly, if you still decide to study using ready-made courses, I strongly recommend that you carefully study the 2nd and 3rd points when choosing a training platform, otherwise it will be a waste of money.

As for learning the basics of testing on your own, the main difficulty here is to understand WHAT study and to what extent. Finding information on the Internet is not a problem these days, the problem is understanding what exactly to look for and filtering what you need.

I made up check list for studying testing theory, which included all the required topics for study. I share it with joy, absolutely free of charge, so that you can start learning on your own.

After completing the entire checklist, I would recommend taking a consultation with some QA specialist, like a tutor, to once again discuss the correct understanding of all the topics and clarification of the “failures” in the material studied. People often come to me with such a request; it’s a simple and fairly quick job, which then pays off in spades. It is much cheaper to pay a tutor or mentor for a 1.5-2 hour consultation than to go through dozens of interviews and get rejected because you failed theoretical questions.

Well, in general, of course, theory is not what a good interviewer looks at first and foremost at TI. Although you definitely shouldn’t neglect it. I speak as a practicing specialist.

And I will write about what is important at TI in the next article, thank you all for your attention 🙂