Victoria Braik

In 2022: Everyone told me not to opt for QA as a career, because they said it has no future. In 2025: The same people are asking me for referrals to become a QA. SWE roles were always seen as high-paying and high-status. But AI has transformed a lot of things. Let's get one thing right, I do not mean code is less important. But the code is easier to write now. → Thanks to LLMs, anyone can generate 100s of lines of code in seconds. → Auto-generated APIs, UIs, and flows are becoming the norm. → Junior SWE tasks are getting automated faster than ever. But - AI doesn’t understand context. - It doesn’t know what “good” means for your user. - And it definitely doesn’t catch edge cases. That’s where QA comes in, and not just as testers, but as product protectors. → Someone has to ask: What happens when a real customer breaks flow midway? → Someone has to verify: Does this new feature affect the payment gateway? → Someone has to challenge assumptions, not just check boxes. LLMs are generating more code, faster. But that just means there’s more to break. So companies aren’t just hiring testers. They’re hiring critical thinkers who can examine and challenge AI-generated systems. That’s why in 2025 and beyond, QA isn’t optional. It’s strategic. And the engineers who ask better questions are the ones shaping the future of product reliability. If you're in QA, your time is now. Own it. Build for it. Repost this if you are a proud QA. P.S. I'm Raghvendra, a QA-II at Amazon. I share real stories and practical lessons from my journey in QA and career growth. Follow along if that’s the path you’re on, too.

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In 2022: Everyone told me not to opt for QA as a career, because they said it has no future. In 2025: The same people are asking me for referrals to become a QA. SWE roles were always seen as high-paying and high-status. But AI has transformed a lot of things. Let's get one thing right, I do not mean code is less important. But the code is easier to write now. → Thanks to LLMs, anyone can generate 100s of lines of code in seconds. → Auto-generated APIs, UIs, and flows are becoming the norm. → Junior SWE tasks are getting automated faster than ever. But - AI doesn’t understand context. - It doesn’t know what “good” means for your user. - And it definitely doesn’t catch edge cases. That’s where QA comes in, and not just as testers, but as product protectors. → Someone has to ask: What happens when a real customer breaks flow midway? → Someone has to verify: Does this new feature affect the payment gateway? → Someone has to challenge assumptions, not just check boxes. LLMs are generating more code, faster. But that just means there’s more to break. So companies aren’t just hiring testers. They’re hiring critical thinkers who can examine and challenge AI-generated systems. That’s why in 2025, QA isn’t optional. It’s strategic. And the engineers who ask better questions are the ones shaping the future of product reliability. If you're in QA, your time is now. Own it. Build for it. Repost this if you are a proud QA. P.S. I'm Raghvendra, a QA-II at Amazon. I share real stories and practical lessons from my journey in QA and career growth. Follow along if that’s the path you’re on, too.

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This message is to all QA Professionals out there. It’s time to start speaking the language of CEO, CFO and COO. Too often, QA conversations revolve around defect counts, test cases executed, or coverage percentages. While these metrics matter to us, they rarely resonate with executives. C-level executives don't wake up thinking about how many bugs were caught. They care about: a. Money protected (savings, avoided costs) b. Risks reduced (compliance, brand, operational) c. Customers retained (loyalty, trust, satisfaction) This is the language of business. And unless QA professionals learn to translate their work into this language, our craft will always be undervalued and disrespected. That's where HIST (Human Intelligence Software Testing) comes in. HIST doesn’t just improve testing, it teaches you how to align your testing outcomes with business impact. It reframes QA as a strategic partner in protecting revenue, reducing risk and strengthening customer trust. The future of QA isn't in defect counts or AI Automation scripts generation stats. It’s in demonstrating how our work safeguards the business. HIST gives us the framework to do exactly that. Thoughts? To learn more about HIST register to the debate here -->To learn more about HIST register to the debate here -->https://lnkd.in/eQ8VH4Tk

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I Came. I Tested. I Said “No.” Being in QA didn’t just make me better at catching bugs. It made me better at saying “no” with data, confidence, and a smile. When I started, I thought QA was about test cases and edge conditions. Now? I know it’s about protecting users, teams, and sometimes the company’s reputation from itself. Here’s what QA actually taught me: 💬 How to push back on rushed releases without sounding like a blocker 📊 How to argue with metrics instead of feelings 🤹‍♂️ How to navigate between Dev, Product, and Business like a diplomat with PTSD 🔥 How to smell disaster from 3 Jira tickets away 😐 How to keep a straight face when someone says, “Let’s just test this in prod” Being in QA sharpened my judgment. It gave me a backbone. And yes, it made me ruthless, in the name of quality. So if you’ve ever worked in QA: 👇 I want to hear it. What did QA teach you that no other role could? #QualityAssurance #Leadership #Product #QA #Testing #TechLife #Agile #DevLife #TestLikeAPro

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If you think a non-tech background means you can’t be a QA at companies like Amazon or Meta, read this before you give up. I know a lot of amazing QAs who started their career in non-tech, and today they are fantastic engineers. Here's how they did it, and you can do it too. 1. Understand the QA mindset first Don’t start with Selenium or Postman. Start with questions like: - What breaks most often? - Why do bugs create user pain?  -What makes a test valuable? Thinking like a tester instead of a technician is what makes the difference. 2. Begin where you are, no fancy setup needed Use any app you love (food delivery, OTT, shopping). Write down: - One bug you see. - One edge case nobody considers.  -One improvement that makes the user’s life easier. You don’t need access to a dev team for that. You just need curiosity and clarity. 3. Learn to explain QA is communication. Practice describing bugs in simple words. “Feature X crashes when…” beats “NullPointerException…” any day. And being able to explain your thought process clearly, that’s what hiring managers will remember. 4. Pick one practical skill, and build a mini habit Don’t juggle too many tools. Pick one: - Manual testing? Write one exploratory test a day. - Automation? Write one small script over a weekend. - API test? Wake up 30 minutes early and automate one endpoint. Small habits build real momentum. 5. Show your work Publish one thing: - A bug you found in everyday software. - A short test strategy for an app (think: cart checkout). - A tweet thread explaining why a build broke. You don’t need a perfect resume. Show your thinking in plain words. Here’s what I know for sure: I started in non-tech. I taught myself QA in quiet conversations with developers, shadowing, and 1-hour-a-day practice. You can do it too. If you've ever thought, I don’t belong, stop. You don’t need the background. You just need the intention and the willingness to learn. Your non-tech start isn’t a weakness, it’s a perspective. A QA with a non‑tech background sees problems before others do. Repost this to encourage others. P.S. DM me "Ready" if you want to start your career as a QA without a tech background.

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“QA as gatekeeper” isn’t protecting your product. It will quietly kill it though. The outdated idea is that QA should be the final stop before release. What happens over time is you exhaust your QA team, killing their morale. It usually looks a lot like this: 1. Devs toss code over the wall, QA scrambles to test under impossible timelines. 2. Releases stall for weeks because QA becomes the bottleneck. 3. Bugs slip through anyway, because QA isn’t embedded where issues are born. 4. Engineers stop owning quality; it becomes “someone else’s job.” I’ve seen this play out in multiple startups: long regressions, flaky tests, “big bang” releases. Every time, the gatekeeper mindset suffocated speed and trust. When QA is treated like a wall, morale dies. Engineers and QA end up in an “us vs. them” cycle, and nobody feels responsible for shipping with confidence. Stop making QA the gate. Make us the accelerator in your company. Embed QA early, label risk, automate smartly, and coach teams to own quality at every stage. That’s how you scale speed and trust, without killing morale along the way. #DevOps #CloudComputing #DeveloperExperience #EngineeringCulture #PlatformEngineering #ContinuousDelivery #QualityByDesign #ShiftLeft #SoftwareEngineering #TechLeadership #CTO #EngineeringManagement #Scalability #Microservices #SiteReliability #Innovation #TechTrends

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“Being a QA is easy..." — Really? Let's talk. Many people outside the QA world believe that being a QA just means clicking around and reporting bugs.
 But here’s the reality check: * We think like users * We think like developers * We understand systems * We prevent disasters * We ensure quality * We solve complex problems QA isn’t about just testing. It’s about thinking critically, being the last line of defense, and ensuring the best user experience before the product goes live. It takes technical knowledge, domain understanding, strong communication, and an eye for detail — skills that are often undervalued but crucial. So next time someone says QA is easy, just smile and say:
 "It only looks easy because we make it look that way." #QA #QAlife #Testing #userfriendly #bug

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What does reliable QA look like when speed, scale, and precision are non-negotiable? The secret isn’t just automation - it’s a smart mix of hybrid frameworks, CI/CD pipelines, and scalable strategies built for speed, compliance, and resilience. 💡We’re talking real-time coverage, adaptive systems, and quality that compounds with every release. 👉Here’s how Frugal Testing helped a leading fintech client move from reactive to reliable - in real-time: https://lnkd.in/gKA3ZU9d #FinTech #TestAutomation #FrugalTesting #SmartQA #ScalableTesting #QualityEngineering #QA

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One QA skill that changed my entire career When I started in QA, i thought success meant learning every tool, every framework, every testing technique. And while those mattered there was one skill that completely transformed my career: Communication Here’s why: i)Writing clear bug reports saved developers hours of guessing. ii)Asking the right questions in sprint planning prevented scope creep. iii)Explaining testing risks in business terms earned stakeholder trust. iv)Advocating for users in a way non-technical teams understood built stronger products. Tools and frameworks change but communication. That’s the skill that makes QA not just a tester, but a bridge between teams. If you are early in your QA journey, invest in your communication as much as your technical skills it might be the game-changer you don’t expect. What skill has had the biggest impact on your QA career? #QualityAssurance #CareerGrowth #QA #SoftwareTesting #Leadership #SoftSkills

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What happened to ambition in QA? 5-10 years ago, QA engineers were breaking systems, crafting strategies, writing frameworks from scratch, and figuring out how to test SSO, caching, race conditions, and much more. Now? Scroll through LinkedIn and all you see is: - AI writes test plan - Self-healing tests - Generate tests in plain English - 🧙 This tool (yes, that one you hear about daily) will reshape everything! Reinvent test automation! I use AI tools daily. They help. But many of these so-called problems were solved a decade ago. And this new wave of hype? But it's just wrapping old ideas in new packaging. QA deserves higher ambition. Not just easier test writing. As I said, is not a problem for a long time. #QA #SoftwareTesting #TestAutomation #AIinTesting #QualityEngineering #LinkedInMeme #RealityCheck

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Bad QA leaders guard the gate. Great QA leaders unlock the highway. The “QA police officer” mindset; signing off on releases, blocking progress, and making quality a department instead of a culture are failing the job. It trickles down from QA where: - Engineers see QA as blockers instead of partners. - Releases crawl because everything waits for QA approval. - Quality feels owned by one team instead of everyone. - Morale drops when QA is always the “no” at the table. I’ve led QA/QE orgs through hyper-growth and enterprise transitions. The moment things turned around was never when we added more checks; it was when QA leadership shifted from policing to enabling. When quality was a shared asset instead of a blocker. When QA leadership clings to gatekeeping, trust across engineering dies quietly. And rebuilding that trust is harder than fixing any test suite. Just remember: A great leader doesn’t guard the gate. They build the bridge. They coach engineers, shine light on risk, and embed quality into every stage. That’s how you turn QA from bottleneck into accelerator; and make teams unstoppable. #Productivity #TechLeadership #Innovation #FutureOfWork #Automation #DigitalTransformation #StartupLife #EngineeringExcellence #BuildInPublic #Leadership #CareerGrowth #HighPerformanceTeams #WorkCulture #Teamwork

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Thanks to AI, we will lay off our QA team this year 🙈 And here’s why. AI is now generating test cases, writing automation scripts, even suggesting fixes. So, do we still need QA professionals? Or is AI the new tester? Here’s what the latest research & industry voices say 👇 1) AI boosts speed, not quality Companies release faster with AI — but nearly half suffer $1M+ losses from outages because quality slips when humans aren’t in the loop. 2) More AI = more testing, not less As tech expands, the number of testing scenarios explodes. AI can handle boilerplate, but humans still define what “quality” really means. 3) AI lacks context & judgment Yes, it can create 100 test cases in seconds — but often for the wrong system (true story: Gmail tests in a product with no Gmail). Critical thinking, business logic, and empathy? Still human-only. 4) The future is collaboration, not replacement Analysts predict 40% of IT budgets will include AI testing by 2025. That means automation of repetitive tasks — but also more demand for QA engineers who can guide, review, and validate AI’s output. Of course, we didn’t fire anyone. That was just a hook 😉 and AI won’t kill QA — it will elevate it. The next generation of QA engineers will be those who know how to work with AI, not against it. Want to join them? Our new QA Automation cohort starts September 27. Drop the words “one on one” in the comments and I’ll personally give you a free consultation and answer any questions about the course. QA engineers who embrace AI as a co-pilot will be the ones shaping the future of software quality. What do you think? Would you trust AI alone to guarantee your production release? #QA #Automation #AI #SoftwareTesting #QualityEngineering

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🚀  Dev vs QA As a QA engineer, I come across this situation more often than you’d imagine: 👨‍💻 Developer: “It runs fine on my browser.” 🧪 Tester: “Okay, send me the link.” 🔗 Developer: “http://localhost/test2” 😅 QA Team: “...” And the cycle begins... 👉 This meme is funny, but it highlights a serious point: Quality is not just about whether it works on your system — it’s about whether it works for everyone, everywhere, under real-world conditions. 💡 That’s why QA isn’t just about “finding bugs,” it’s about: Ensuring scalability & compatibility Thinking from the user’s perspective Catching environment-specific issues before users do Building trust in the product At the end of the day, Devs build it, but QAs make sure it actually works for the end users. ✨ A great product is always a teamwork of Developers + Testers + QA Team. #SoftwareTesting #QA #Developers #Collaboration #QualityAssurance

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Most QA engineers make the same mistake. They chase tiny bugs that barely matter - while missing the big picture. Let me explain. I used to get excited when I found obscure edge case bugs. It felt like I was doing my job right. More bugs = more value. But then I realized something. → Fixing some bugs costs more than the value they return. → The business does not care about "perfect" - it cares about usable, reliable, and profitable. → QA is not just about finding problems - it's about helping the company win. Do not get me wrong. I am not saying ignore bugs. I am saying prioritize like your time is expensive - because it is. Every QA has limited hours in the day. If you spend those hours on low-impact tickets, you're not helping the product. You're slowing it down. The real job is to protect the user experience and the company's bottom line. That means: → Know what matters to your users → Understand what matters to the business → Spend your time on tests that protect both You are not just a bug finder. You're a strategic asset - if you act like one.

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Mini QA Project: Automate Google Search with Playwright If you are learning Playwright, here’s a simple project you can try today. It covers browser launch, navigation, typing, and verifying results. You can run this in less than 5 minutes if you have Playwright installed. Perfect for practicing locators, assertions, and basic browser control. What should I automate next for the next mini project?

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Skip 10 minutes daily, risk ending your QA career. 🔥 Want to stay relevant in QA? You don't need a course. Just 10 minutes a day. In 2 years, that's over 7300 minutes. Around 61 hours of focused learning per year Here's how to use them: 1. Learn prompt engineering basics 2. Use AI to review and generate test cases 3. Try tools like GitHub Copilot or TestGPTs 4. Document and share what you learn 5. The testers who invest now won't just keep up. They'll lead. What's stopping most people from adopting a new mindset, allocating time, or not believing AI matters in testing yet? #softwaretesting #QualityAssurance #QualityEngineering #TestMetry

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A colleague of mine, Curtis Stuehrenberg, periodically says that testers need to explain the business value of what they do. The entire value of testing is about making decisions. What testers do is learn about product behavior and risk via observation and analysis and then share that learning with other people so the team can make decisions and take action. People will understand this if they know what the tester intends to learn about. They will consider the testing as part of making a decision and taking action, it becomes part of how they do something. They will tend to stop seeing it as a bottleneck on what they want to happen and instead just want it to happen. The simplest way to do that is to tell people about your test charters. Define the test charters around problems that threaten business value and give them simple names that everyone will understand. Organize your time around testing sessions (https://lnkd.in/g-MmxW5p - as per James and Jon Bach) and everyone will know why that time is on the schedule. The fastest way to have people call your testing a bottleneck is to hide all the business value behind meaningless names like "test pass" or "acceptance test" or anything else that doesn't describe why you are doing it or how it relates to the thing you test. Treat it like a step that happens as part of signing off on a release, and the only part people hear is "signing off," and they want that to happen fast. All that other stuff you might do is something in between right now and signing off. #softwaretesting #softwaredevelopment You can find prior drawings and articles of mine in my book Drawn to Testing, available in Kindle and Paperback. https://lnkd.in/gviJ-GaH Naming testing ideas is a powerful way to make thinking about testing easier to do. I talk about that and other techniques in my book Writing Test Plans Made Easy, also available in Kindle and Paperback. https://lnkd.in/gzsjqgxt

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