DEV Community

Cover image for Things Junior QA Engineers Don’t Expect in Their First QA Role
Mochammad Alie
Mochammad Alie

Posted on

Things Junior QA Engineers Don’t Expect in Their First QA Role

#switchcareer #qa #tech

Hi there 👋🏻! I'm Alie, working as a Software QA Engineer (freshhh...) at SaaS company.

In this post, I want to share my experience after successfully transitioning from Customer Support to a QA Engineer role.
Hopefully, this can give you some context—and maybe a bit of clarity—if you’re considering a similar path.

Background

After graduating from university, I started my professional career as a Customer Support Associate at a SaaS company.

After about a year, I began to feel conflicted. I enjoyed working with the product and users, but I also felt the urge to grow into a different role. At that time, I considered several options, such as:

  1. SEO Specialist
  2. QA Engineer

After a lot of thinking (and persistence), I finally decided to pursue a QA Engineer role.

And… here I am.

1. QA Is Not Just About Finding Bugs

During my first month as a QA Engineer, I realized something important:

QA is not just about finding bugs or executing test cases.

As a QA, you’re expected to be proactive in the software development process.

This was very different from my role in Customer Support. As a QA Engineer, I needed to:

  1. Get involved in product development discussions
  2. Review mockups and designs
  3. Understand the business goals behind each feature

So before jumping into a QA role, I highly recommend sharpening soft skills such as:

  1. Business understanding
  2. Logical thinking
  3. User experience awareness

These matter more than I initially thought.

2. Understanding the Product Matters More Than Tools

One thing I’m very grateful for is my background in Customer Support.

By dealing directly with users and solving their problems, I gained deep product knowledge even before becoming a QA Engineer. Because of that:

  • I could work more independently
  • My onboarding process was much faster

Tip:
If you’re applying for a QA Engineer role, try to understand:

  1. What the product does
  2. Who the target users are
  3. What problems the product is solving

This will help you understand the system far beyond what tools alone can teach you. DO NOT just apply by feel the role is matches with your dream.

3. Automation Is Not the First Priority

In today’s job market, many Junior QA roles require some automation skills—and sometimes even hands-on experience.

While automation is important, I learned that it should not be the first priority.

Automation is a tool to save time on repetitive work—not the goal itself.

Before automating any test, there are important questions to ask:

  1. Do we really need to automate this test?
  2. Why should this test be automated?
  3. What happens if we don’t automate it?
  4. Is this scenario critical to the user?
  5. Is the feature stable enough to automate?

Without business and product understanding, automation can easily become wasted effort.

4. Reading Logs and Errors Is a Core Skill

Let me be very honest here:

Do not become a QA Engineer if you’re lazy.

QA Engineers read a lot (read = understand).

In daily work, you’ll:

  1. Read the Product Documents
  2. Review and understand the UI Mockup
  3. Read logs from development and testing
  4. Analyze bug reports and error messages
  5. Debug failed automated tests
  6. Inspect API responses and system behavior

All of this requires patience and curiosity.

If you dislike reading logs, errors, or technical details, QA can feel very exhausting.

5. Communication Skills from Customer Support Are a Big Advantage

Another thing I truly appreciate from my Customer Support background is communication skill.

In Customer Support, I interacted with users from:

  • Different countries
  • Different cultures
  • Different communication styles

That experience helped me:

  1. Explain issues more clearly
  2. Communicate better with developers and product teams
  3. Think from a real user’s perspective

When I test new or existing features, I often ask myself:

“How would an actual user experience this?”

That mindset is incredibly valuable in QA.

Final Thoughts

I hope this post gives you a small preview of what it’s like before jumping into a Software QA Engineer role.

Transitioning roles is not easy—but it’s possible.

Remember:
Chase your dreams regardless of the situation, because only you truly understand your own capabilities.

Good luck on your journey 🚀

Top comments (0)