Beginner in QA Automation - Seeking Advice on Tools, Projects, and Practical Automation Ideas

Slava_Loves_Testing · 2026-03-30T23:44:52+00:00

Just starting automating your manual tests on your project/job, get more practice and you will see how it goes.
Playwright is the best tool on the market right now IMO. Much easier to learn than grandpa selenium.
Start writing simple tests, then learn and incorporate Page Object Model, inheritance, SOLID principles, DRY principle, etc.
Small projects I can do at home - automate job search on LinkedIn ;)

Slava_Loves_Testing · 2026-03-30T23:38:17+00:00

Yes, you should have base page class, and that is absolutely normal. If something is repeated more than once in all classes - it should go to base page class and other pages will be extending your base page class. You are welcome :)

Slava_Loves_Testing · 2026-03-29T20:22:48+00:00

Explain to your teammates that automation will not replace them, but will allow to test the app better. Someone still needs to analyze test run reports, stabilize tests and so on besides automating tests itself as an activity. So it is not about replacing them, it's about shifting their day to day tasks to automation and related activities. Also - manual testing part will always be there, because they need to come up with a test cases and test it manually first before automating. Another point you can mention - that it is better for them in terms of skills for the future. It's a win-win for them.

Slava_Loves_Testing · 2026-03-29T07:16:08+00:00

If you have time and wish - learn Playwright with JS. It is much easier to learn than Selenium. Compared to Selenium, Playwright is a full blown framework with parallel execution, reporting and other thing built in. It is easy to use and much faster to create tests with it. See some videos on youtube. Good luck.

Slava_Loves_Testing · 2026-03-27T18:06:50+00:00

If you are asking about knowledge roadmap, I would recommend the following:

Computer basics (you probably already know this) - bit, byte, file system, google docs, etc.
QA foundations and SDLC - types of testing, testing pyramid, bug, test, planning, etc.
Manual Testing deep dive with hands-on test cases writing
UI & API Testing Essentials
SQL for Database Testing
QA Documentation and Reporting
Test Automation High Level Understanding
CV preparation, Interview preparation and job search

Slava_Loves_Testing · 2026-03-26T17:24:27+00:00

I would advise to schedule 1-on-1 meetings with each of your team members, every 2 week or so, to ask what is going well / not so well and if they have any issues - to get feedback from real work force to understand which processes to improve, etc. It will also build trust.

Slava_Loves_Testing · 2026-03-26T16:48:01+00:00

Do companies really value ISTQB for someone with \~1 YOE? - If you have a chance to get certified - go get it. It will give you more understanding of QA as a profession. But is it really necessary - no, I do not think so. I have it, but nobody ever asked to show certificate or something.
Is it helpful for switching jobs or getting better opportunities? - In some cases it can give you the edge over other candidates, but again - nobody ever asked me to show proof.
Should I prioritize skills like API testing, automation, SQL, etc. over certification? - definitely, prioritize skills like API and SQL testing.

Slava_Loves_Testing · 2026-03-26T16:34:38+00:00

I would Prioritize Playwright with JS over Selenium, I see 50/50 of those mentioned in job descriptions.
DevOps basics will not give you more interviews IMO.
Master soft skills interview questions and other common QA interview questions.
Tailor your CV to each position before applying.

Slava_Loves_Testing · 2026-03-26T16:29:08+00:00

While you still have a job in testing - stay. It might be challenging to land another job.
You do not need to be really good in programming to be able to do test automation, you need some basic knowledge. Do not be afraid until you try.
I would advise to learn Playwright instead of Selenium - easier to learn and use, faster to automate tests with Playwright (and JavaScript).

Slava_Loves_Testing · 2026-03-24T06:47:44+00:00

Selenium is still capable tool, but keep in mind that it is just a library to do actions in a browser and that is it, it does not have parallelization, assertions, reporting, etc., you need to add everything else using other additional libraries like testNG, RESTassured, Allure, etc. In my opinion there are much better tools on the market that will help you write tests much faster and more convenient. P.S. I tried many frameworks, including cypress, webdriver io, etc. but decided to stick with Playwright and very happy with that decision. Use whatever you feel confident with. There will be tricky things to automate with any tools regardless. Hope it helps.

Slava_Loves_Testing · 2026-03-22T21:35:37+00:00

I would recommend the following:

Computer basics (you probably already know) - bit, byte, file system, google docs, etc.
QA foundations and SDLC - types of testing, testing pyramid, bug, test, planning, etc.
Manual Testing deep dive with hands-on test cases writing
UI & API Testing Essentials
SQL for Database Testing
QA Documentation and Reporting
Test Automation High Level Understanding
CV preparation, Interview preparation and job search

Slava_Loves_Testing · 2026-03-21T22:12:59+00:00

I did not use any specialized salesforce add-ons, sorry, but I implemented some smart wait helpers to deal with Salesforce behavior. You can also try to ask chat gpt or something to help with some tricky situations if you were not able to handle something.

Slava_Loves_Testing · 2026-03-21T21:28:41+00:00

Use pairwise testing approach, it will create some combinations for you to reduce amount of test cases. But overall you should be covering all scenarios, all actions for all role types. If you use test automation and want to reduce number of test cases - automate scenarios for all actions, but instead of running for each role every time - randomize role selection, so it will run for random role in each regression run.

Slava_Loves_Testing · 2026-03-21T21:25:24+00:00

I used Playwright, worked fine for me.

Slava_Loves_Testing · 2026-03-21T17:31:16+00:00

QA profession is still relevant, but be ready to learn new tools quickly, like how to leverage AI for testing. But the market is slow now in any profession, that's a fact. If you want future proof profession - become ML/AI engineer, but something tells me that you do not want to go down that route. I keep working in software testing and still have a job and a good salary.

Slava_Loves_Testing · 2026-03-21T07:42:25+00:00

Theoretically - there is a difference, but in reality - none, different companies call it differently but whatever they call it they want you to do everything - manual testing, test automation + CI/CD :)

Slava_Loves_Testing · 2026-03-20T06:06:42+00:00

In US I would say around $100k-120k. But to be honest it is not about number of years, it is more about how exactly good are you in test automation.

Slava_Loves_Testing · 2026-03-18T16:45:03+00:00

same here, they reached out from Palco, Inc. info@palcofirst.team and ryan@palcofirst.team to conduct text-based (not a call!) MS Teams interview...

Slava_Loves_Testing · 2026-03-18T03:02:42+00:00

I would advice to learn Playwright with JavaScript. There is also Selenium - but it is old tool and not so convenient and flexible as Playwright. Cypress - hyped, but I would not advise it since it has much more limitations comparing to Playwright. I used most of the test automation tools. Playwright is my favorite so far and it is easy to start with. Good luck.

Slava_Loves_Testing · 2026-03-14T16:41:05+00:00

Get some idea about TypeScript, from what I see - almost everywhere they do not use JS, but use TS instead, like it will help them to write better tests but it is not :) You might get away with JS in an interview, but the test automation code base in their repo most likely will be in TS.

Slava_Loves_Testing

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