Software Tester - Worthwhile career?

As you all know, i'm working my butt off looking for a new career. I've found a total of 3 roles which i'm interested in: 2nd/3rd line support, a forensics role and a software tester role. I know what to expect from the first two, but not the software tester role. I have a friend who is a developer and he has recommended me to the company to work as a junior QA assessor. I've got little programming skills (although I can understand code with enough time) and i've not worked in QA before. I have, however, tested over 300 apps for companies, giving a 10-15 minute review of them and how they can be improved in terms of usability (I think this is why they're keen to interview me).

From what I can tell, the job is pretty much mine if I want it. So if anyone here is a QA assessor, or software tester, can you tell me if it's an interesting path to go down? Is it technical? Will I be bored? Is it repetitive etc? I don't know much about this line of work, so anything would be a bonus for me.

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Comments

Mike-Mike

i did software testing for awhile, I thought it was fun, testing a mobile app and some web components. It paid pretty well, but was a contract, so I didn't stay long. I liked it then, but I think the level of job enjoyment is based on the team you work with.

But i have a buddy who still works there and did it for a few years and now makes a 100k, but he had to work up to that.

TechGromit

I knew a guy that had a certification in Mercury test tools (I think it's called "Quick Test Professional" now), he was making around 40k as a software tester in Florida. He paid for the course and exam out of his own pocket (around 5 grand), with his experience and the certification, he moved to New Jersey making over 90k a year. (nice 50k a year salary bump). I think he works for Sirius XM radio now.

Basically he wrote scripts that could simulate 50 or 100 users using an application at a time, so he could stress test the app as well as test it for functionality and software bugs.

si20

Thank you for the replies, I wasn't aware of how much the salary could grow to!

The forensics company and the Software development company are moving very fast with my application. The public sector 2nd/3rd line job hasn't even picked up their phone the 3 times i've called wanting to ask a question! I've got the forensics interview next week (wed) and the QA Tester interview will be in the first week of march.

The 2nd/3rd line public sector role is 25 mins away
the forensics job is 1 hr 45 mins away, so i'd have to move
QA job at software dev company is 2 hours away so i'd have to move for that too

The first job is the one I want, because the commute is fantastic - literally 20-25 mins down the road. But the public sector are SO SLOW at responding and inviting to interview. Will let you know how it goes.

yzT

right now I'm working mostly as Security Software Engineer, but every now and then I have a "second set of tasks" as Software Tester. Basically what I do is what TechGromit said, write test scripts (Unit Tests) for simulate users and check whether or not the infrastructure is working as expected.

I think this is the minimum you should expect of every QA position, manually write test cases. Then there are other things like writing tests for checking the performance, use tools for automating the testing process, etc.

si20

So I got offered the forensics job today...on ....18k. $25,041. Needless to say, i've said no and that I was "insulted". I'm on the verge of giving up right now. I'm disheartened by my search for a new job.

So now i'm waiting to hear back from the public sector job and the software tester job.

TechGromit

si20 wrote: »

So I got offered the forensics job today...on ....18k. $25,041.

They offered 18k or 25k? Minimum wage is 15k a year, did they actually offer so little? Who do they expect is going to take a job that requires certs and knowledge? Was it a limited contract engagement? I could see getting 18k for month or two of work.

I wonder if the guy working for the San Bernardino police department that screwed up Syed Farook's phone was only making 18k a year.

si20

TechGromit wrote: »

They offered 18k or 25k? Minimum wage is 15k a year, did they actually offer so little? Who do they expect is going to take a job that requires certs and knowledge? Was it a limited contract engagement? I could see getting 18k for month or two of work.

They offered 18k. I was told the job was 20-24k starting and that I should expect 24k to start. When they said 18k...I told them it was nothing but insulting and the answer is no.

JoJoCal19

Was that 18k private or public sector?

I'd see if you could parlay the software testing into a software security career. Software security pays $$$$. But you'd definitely need to learn a lot in that space and some of the best folks/firms out there in software security would blow your mind.