Education · 1 of 4

The path

A shorter, cheaper way into software work than the developer route, with a lower ceiling unless you learn to automate.

1. 1

   High school

   Grades 10 to 12

   Math and any computing class. Being the person who notices the thing everyone else missed is the actual talent here.

2. 2

   A computing qualification

   2 to 4 years

   A two-year community college degree in information technology or a four-year computer science degree. The University of Washington's Allen School, for example, offers computer science and computer engineering bachelor's degrees.

3. 3

   Learn to write test code

   Alongside study

   One programming language plus a test framework. This is the difference between a job with a ceiling and a career.

4. 4

   First job

   Year 1

   Junior quality assurance analyst on a software team, mostly executing and writing up tests that already exist.

5. 5

   Automation, then lead

   3 to 6 years in

   Owning the automated test suite, then the release process, then a team. Some testers move sideways into development from here.