Will coding experience from automated testing translate well for software development? [closed]

Question

I have a couple of years of experience in software testing, however I find myself more interested in working on the application code itself. I've become reasonably proficient in coding over this timeframe and I've found I have more passion for software development rather than software testing. How can I leverage my current skills and move into application development rather than QA?

Answer 1

Most straightforward option would be to start developing small little tools to help testing. Test automation, scripts analyzing logs, whatever your group need. You know your needs better than developer. Talk to your manager about possibilities of automation you see, and how you want to improve productivity of your team.

More disruptive way will be to try becoming developer in your existing company (but still less disruptive/less risk for you than landing a dev job in different company).

Again, if you want to stay in your company, most straightforward way would be to ask permission to fix some bugs, if both managers (dev and QA) allow it and developers agree to help you to "show the ropes". Ask the manager of developers, s/he might be able to arrange with your manager. Maybe even splitting your time between QA and development, to get your feet wet.

This will give you benefit of knowing the application, as compared starting as junior developer in different company working on different application. Less moving parts, less possibilities for failure, less risk for both you and the company.

For company hiring you as developer is also beneficial (less risky), because outside junior developer does not know the application, while you do, to certain extend. So they might even be open to pay for some of your training/certification (especially if you do the learning in your own free time), just ask.

Niels' answer is correct in explaining how you can get skills on your own. I focused on my answer how to present (and get the buy-in from managers) the transfer inside your company.

If you cannot get traction for the transition to the developer in your current company, you may consider to get job in another company. As the saying goes: "if you cannot change your company - change your company" :-)

Answer 2

Test automation is software development. And in my experience, it is approximately as difficult as writing the thing you're testing.

So: If you were good at test automation, you will be good at software development.

By "good at test automation," I mean that the tests you write are:

• Reliable (the information they report accurately describes something about system being tested)
• Useful (they produced information that helped people make better decisions)
• Readable (someone else can read the test code and quickly understand what it is testing, and how it is testing it)
• Maintainable (the tests are easy to change when the system, the test environment, or third-party test libraries change)
• ... probably some other attributes that I can't think of right now.

If you can write test code like that, you can be a good developer.

Answer 3

I would not worry to much about your background. Good software development is not learned in schools, since it is all about practice and more practice.

Developers are in high demand, even people with poor development skills often find a job as a software developer.

Some options:

• Tell your current employer you want to become a full-time developer and ask if that is possible within the current organization.
• Go job hunting for (junior) developer jobs, find recruiters specialized in software development.
• Do hobby coding projects. If you have a hard time finding any. Look at coding kata's which should trigger you to learn and handle real-life problems.
• If needed get a developer certificate for your favorite technology: http://blog.pluralsight.com/best-developer-certifications