Thoughts on pursuing QA as a CS new grad? /u/savemeloadme CSCQ protests reddit

(also posted on r/QualityAssurance but want to get varied opinions)

As the title says – I’m coming up on finishing my CS degree and really trying to consider what I want to do/what is actually feasible to do. I’m finding myself with little clue what kind of role I want to pursue in tech. I don’t think I dislike software development, but I have to admit my experience is lacking and I’m not passionate for creating things from scratch. I also wasn’t able to land an internship so my experience is limited to a website I helped a startup create and lots of teaching web-dev/programming gigs. I know the market is bad everywhere, but it also feels like the standard SWE role is what everyone aims for so I’m wondering if something like QA would be easier to start with. Anyways – here’s what I do know and what makes me think I could be a better suit for QA at least on a conceptual level.

• I don’t like creating things from scratch. Not only do I feel that I am not creative, the idea of making things from scratch does not inspire me.

• I DO like problem solving and fixing existing things. For example, I like touching up functionality that already exists because I’ll usually want to fix things that bother me or at least make criticisms known so they can be fixed.

When I worked for the startup, I created some simple test cases using Cypress and did lots of manual testing myself, and I do like that kind of minute work where I had to be very thorough in checking all the possible scenarios.

So leading back to the main question, would QA be a realistic path to pursue with my CS degree? Would it be more feasible that just trying to become a backend dev or something in terms of entry-level market? Finally, does it seem like it would be a good suit for me given what I described? If it helps can link a resume.

(also posted on r/QualityAssurance but want to get varied opinions)

As the title says – I’m coming up on finishing my CS degree and really trying to consider what I want to do/what is actually feasible to do. I’m finding myself with little clue what kind of role I want to pursue in tech. I don’t think I dislike software development, but I have to admit my experience is lacking and I’m not passionate for creating things from scratch. I also wasn’t able to land an internship so my experience is limited to a website I helped a startup create and lots of teaching web-dev/programming gigs. I know the market is bad everywhere, but it also feels like the standard SWE role is what everyone aims for so I’m wondering if something like QA would be easier to start with. Anyways – here’s what I do know and what makes me think I could be a better suit for QA at least on a conceptual level.

• I don’t like creating things from scratch. Not only do I feel that I am not creative, the idea of making things from scratch does not inspire me.

• I DO like problem solving and fixing existing things. For example, I like touching up functionality that already exists because I’ll usually want to fix things that bother me or at least make criticisms known so they can be fixed.

When I worked for the startup, I created some simple test cases using Cypress and did lots of manual testing myself, and I do like that kind of minute work where I had to be very thorough in checking all the possible scenarios.

So leading back to the main question, would QA be a realistic path to pursue with my CS degree? Would it be more feasible that just trying to become a backend dev or something in terms of entry-level market? Finally, does it seem like it would be a good suit for me given what I described? If it helps can link a resume.