Relationships  Discussion Forum

Hi Everyone,

After my daughter´ s birth, I want to change my job profile from s/w programming to testing. I' m looking for such people and would like to know about their experiences. Is it possible to change job profile like this easily? Do they consider you a fresher or count your previous experience in s/w programming too? I´ ve around 6 years of experience in s/w programming and am working as a Team Lead. Also what post would be offered? Will it be of engineer level or TL only? If anyone of you has any idea about this or have encountered any example like this, your feedback would be highly appreciated.

Waiting for your reply eagerly,
Regards,
PD PD replied. Hi Ladies,

It is really nice to get your replies and know about your experiences. This will definitely help me in taking any decision. Thanks a lot.

PD A replied. I feel so nice reading this message and feel there are people who think like me . I have 5 yrs of exp and am expecting my first child in July . All my exp till date has been majorly in Development . I have recently moved into another company into testing. And believe me having a development background definitely gives u an edge over people who have been in testing all thru. And I also agree to this that testing in no way is inferior to dev. It finally all depends on u how u take ur job. My decision of moving to testing was looked down upon by mnay people. They feel that females are not good enuff for development and that is the reason why they want to be in testing ...but any ways u can not give clarification to each and every person and keep satisfying them at the end u have to c ur comfort ur priorities. And even I feel that testing is definitely less stressful than develeopment but at the same time its equalyy demanding job . As for me it didnt take me long enuff to get a job in testing. U can definitelt try out.
All the best
A Aashima replied. I had 5 yrs of development experience and was a Team Lead and mother of 1 + expecting second when I changed to testing. I did not change company nor project. On the same engagement I had a good performance feedback and goodwill with the Lead and had expressed him my interest to move to testing. But My actual reason to move to testing was 1. Interest 2. Dev needs more time and attention than Testing comparatively.

They compared my skills with that of a test lead - for eg test sttrategy, test plan, reqmt, metrics, mgmt, client related etc (cutting it short). There were little gaps like automation experience, traceability etc which i cd cover soon. I worked as a back up test track lead for last 3 mon of my pregnancy and when i returned after leave, the same enggt took me as a test lead. Then i kept myself uptodate with market and covered remaining gaps. I went for 1-2 interviews for test lead to understand what they ask and what i lack. then, i covered that too as i worked test-lead on same project (though it was not included on that proj, i learnt it over and above). Thus i got into testing field. Overall, it took me around 1 yr but u can minus some pregnancy and leave period.

Now i hv moved to another project as test lead and finding things good. Late days ar there but i think its much better than dev. I am finding it equally challenging and creative and interesting. As some people percept, i not at all feel is is second to dev, it is equally imp. My dev knowledge is another feather in cap, it gives me additional value add and i can talk to dev team at their levels (while another test lead on my project i hv seen can do comparatively lesser Root cause analysis of defects than me).
Onsite oppor are also equal to dev.

overall, from me, especially as a mother, i think its a good move.