The SQA2 Blog: Advice Center
Getting a job in QA is no different from getting a job in any other industry. First, try seeking opportunities through your personal network. Ask your friends and relatives if they know anyone working in QA then reach out to those people and let them know you are looking for entry-level work. Another thing to try is meeting people at software testing clubs or groups. In some larger cities, there are QA groups that meet to discuss their industry. One other option is volunteering to test open source software or applications created by college students. Download one of these programs and install it. Write a simple test plan (your ideas for ways to break the program) and document your results.
As a relatively new QA analyst, I would recommend training at home. Pick a program or a web application and identify a set of features to test. Since you don’t have access to the requirements and don’t know exactly how the program should work, write down the things you think the application or website should do. Then, think of some ways that the user could cause those features to fail. Execute your tests and document the results. Write down the steps you took to find the error and also take screenshots. If you do find defects (“bugs”), send your documentation to the application developers.
