Someone asked about self-improvement after 10 years as a tester and wanting to expand their knowledge into software development.
I can sympathize with this attitude because I went through a similar mindset — which let to my eventual burnout and move to Fiji that I’ve written about previously.
Here is my response:
After 10 years as a tester you probably have pretty good testing skills.
Adding development skills can only increase your value as a tester because it will allow you to communicate better with developers and understand the architecture to find, anticipate, and troubleshoot bugs better.
And if you want to move into development (creative vs destructive role) your skills as a tester will help you and maybe influence other developers to think of testing first.
Other areas you could branch out into and expand your knowledge include operations/devops, understanding system architecture, project / product management, team leadership, or specialized domain knowledge (such as healthcare or machine learning) which can all benefit your work in testing or provide alternate career paths if you’re looking for change.
See the original post on LinkedIn here:
Fijiaaron 