How to become a tester?
Top useful resources for preparation
Want to build a career in testing and wondering what books, articles, courses to choose for training?
Based on the recommendations of IT-Academy trainer Eugene Shidlovsky and a survey of EPAM Lab students, we have compiled a list of relevant resources that will help in mastering the profession of tester.
INTRODUCTORY MATERIALS FOR BEGINNERS
- Everything you need to know about QA, in 5 minutes – a video about the profession of tester and a chance to test yourself in searching for bugs.
- What a beginner tester should know – where to start, how to level up, what to delve into.
- Testing. Fundamental theory – complete immersion into the profession, the basics of software testing.
TESTING FUNDAMENTALS
- List of books about all kinds of testing, project management, test management – a big selection with reviews, enough for a long time.
- Software-Testing.RU. Software Testing and Quality – a portal with both professional materials and small articles, understandable and useful for beginners.
- Functional Software Testing is a complete course for anyone who wants to learn software testing from scratch under the guidance of an experienced trainer.
- Introductory course on testing from Mail.ru “Quality and Software Testing” – an introductory video course on testing: simple, interesting and clear.
- ITVDN “Testing Basics” – a series of video tutorials on the basics of testing.
- Mobile App Testing Android and iOS – express course on mobile testing.
- Complete Web Application Testing Checklist – This checklist is applicable to almost any type of web application depending on business requirements.
- Universal schema for web application testing – a workable option for all cases.
- A collection of checklists for checks – all about the necessary checks during software product testing.
- Sample test plan – about developing a test plan for testing.
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FOR BUILDING EXPERTISE
- Databases and the SQL language
- The online course “Databases. Fundamentals” is a free preparatory course.
- SELECT statement exercises: learning stage – a well-known training resource that contains many practical tasks with different levels of complexity.
- Learning Programming. SQL is a series of video tutorials on MySQL. Each lesson contains theoretical and practical parts.
Computer networks
- Andrei Sozykin’s “Computer Networks” training course – a free course on computer networks with a series of short videos.
- GeekBrains. Fundamentals of data networks. OSI model and TCP IP protocol stack. Ethernet Fundamentals – a simple one and a half hour video course on computer networking fundamentals.
- В. G. Olifer, N. A. Olifer “Computer Networks, Principles, Technology, Protocols” – this textbook contains practically all the information you need to understand computer networks.
HTML/CSS/JS/web in general
- Web site development using HTML, CSS and JavaScript – a simple and straightforward basic course on these technologies.
- HTML Academy: HTML, CSS & JavaScript online courses – a series of free HTML/CSS/JS/PHP courses.
- Site building from A to Z – how to create a free website on website builders! – a collection of articles, books, videos on web development.
Algorithmic and/or programming basics
- CS50 – Harvard course on the basics of programming, where many basic concepts are explained on a very simple everyday level.
- Scratch – Imagine, Program, Share – a resource that allows you to learn basic programming concepts in a playful way.
- Brad Miller and David Ranum “Problem Solving with Algorithms and Data Structures using Python” is an interactive tutorial on the basics of algorithmization and data structures.
Basics of Operating Systems
- The Linux Self-Study is a collection of useful tutorials for beginners and advanced users alike.
- GNU/Linux World – A resource for Linux beginners: lots of material and interesting insights.
- Windows School – all about working with the Microsoft computer system – a collection of thematic publications on working with Windows (a lot of things that “average users” might not know about).
EMPLOYMENT
Questions about testing from job interviews – a full review of frequent questions about software testing at job interviews and answers to them.
QA Interview Preparation Toolkit – if you need a quick refresher on what might come in handy for a technical interview for a QA Engineer/QA Automation Engineer position.
40 of the most popular interview questions for mobile testers – for those who will be building a career in mobile testing.