Hi everyone,
So a little a bit of background about me: I started learning web development in January 2018 through Free Code Camp and I thought it was pretty fun. I breezed through the HTML and CSS section of the site and found the JavaScript Data Structures and Algorithms section to be quite challenging and a bit of a steep learning curve. Nonetheless, through attending various Meetups, using a wide variety of learning tools, and asking a lot of questions, I was eventually able to earn their certification. Iām currently doing projects with Front End Libraries like React and Sass and Iām really enjoying it!
Since August 2018, Iāve been working as a Software Development in Test Intern at a pretty big company and that internship will soon be ending in January. Initially, I was very excited about it and eager to work in the software development industry, but as time went on, I found things to be sometimes overwhelming, sometimes tedious and I was generally just bored by the work. It seems like there arenāt many opportunities to do anything creative or to build anything that is very interesting.
So my question is, is this what being a developer is really like? I have a strong interest in front-end development, but this internship has almost made me apathetic towards the industry. Thoughts?
Testing is incredibly important but also can be very tedious. Thatās why bigger companies have QA and testing team dedicated to them, because sometimes it is just not feasible or efficient to have developers do both.
The truth is circumstances varies wildly even for positions with same job description, so it will be hard to really compare. Development can as dull and tedious as a menial job if it is the wrong company or the wrong team. There are days my job feel like that because of company bureaucracy, some work inefficiencies, and actually, lack of QA and Testing support. Itās work, sometimes itās not going to be creative or interesting. Boring stuff needs to be built, too.
It comes down to your preference. There are good jobs and bad jobs in both fields, but any job can be a bad job if you donāt like it.
Personally, my preference is to be a developer. I like to be the on building solution than to be the one that find holes to the solution, and Iām probably better at one than the other . Iāve always been a little reckless and never been very good at considering all the pitfalls, but I am pretty good at coming up with solutions with tools at my disposal and code them quickly.
This really depends on the position. As @psychometry mentioned, its not always feasible to have developers do both testing and building. For example if you were in a smaller company odds are you would be on both sides, told to write tests and to be writing the code that is to be tested.
I wouldnāt take this as a view of the entire industry (testing is pretty boring, which is why many donāt do it hehe )rather just a part of it. The experience you gain will be invaluable in the future where you could be writing the code and testing at the same time.
I personally started my ādeveloperā journey as a QA, where I would manually test the application and provide feedback and report bugs. I kept digging and asking for me, and eventually bothered the right person and got a proof of concept (POC) project where I got to develop something hacky. To make a long story short what I made was impressive enough it eventually led to my current job where I get to do what I always wanted todo which is development.
Id stick with it, learn what ever you can and move on. Just know in the future that you donāt really like testing (who does haha) and keep it consideration when looking for full time jobs. The jobs for QA or testing might not be for you, and thatās fine
Well Iāll be the dissenter hereā¦ I never thought QA Testing was boring. I liked doing it- most of my QA jobs were manual testing and on mainframe. I liked the challenge of finding ways to try to break something. And once in a while Iād find a bug that nobody knew was there- nothing super amazeballs but still worthwhile and something that did affect the program & batch processing with one bug.
I was good at my job (or Iāve been told). I was just getting into āautomated testingā if you call using VBA macros testing lol (hey it workedā¦).
I also love programming (errā¦ coding) so a little of both worlds. As other said- it depends on the company, the team, whoās ON the team and your own preferences.
So many people knock QA and QA is almost always an āafterthoughtā (in my experience, it has felt like that in several jobs) but in the end it is truly an important part of the software lifecycle if one wants to put out a product or program that wonāt crumble so quickly.
Seems to me these days more QA Testers/Analysts ARE doing some coding- mostly for automated test scripts in Quality Test Pro, Jenkins, Cucumber, RSpecā¦ Seleniumā¦
Thanks for your response, and I think I fall into the same boat as you where I prefer to build solutions as opposed to finding things that could go wrong with the solution.
Perhaps the problem is with the āpretty big companyā? In most large companies, you are just a cog in a machine. Working for a small company, you are more likely to feel that you contribution is important, and more likely to learn a variety of skills.
Or, if you can handle stress and insecurity, how about a startup?
)rather just a part of it. The experience you gain will be invaluable in the future where you could be writing the code and testing at the same time.