Here at Careerist we strive to help people from all over the world, and in doing so we have created a curriculum that can be easily followed, no matter where you live. Our next success story comes from a graduate who lives outside of the US, it’s time to meet Daniel from Canada!
Where are you located?
I live in Ontario, so I don’t actually live in the US. I believe that I’m the first graduate from Canada.
Before meeting you we didn’t actually know what the quality assurance market was like in Canada, because we focus on the US. After doing some research we found out that both market situations are similar. So, can you tell us how the course went for you?
So, I completed my course in April, April 13th to be precise, and then I requested a career coach on April 24th. Two days later my coach contacted me. From then on I worked a lot with my career coach. We had an initial meeting and they helped me to clean up my LinkedIn profile. By June I was ready to start the actual job search.
How many applications did you send off?
I was applying on average to 20 jobs per day, starting from Sunday and ending on Thursday. There were lucky days when I could apply for 30 positions in a single day. Then there were bad days when I could barely find ten new open positions to apply for.
So, how long did it take you to find a job?
It was about a month and a half in total. I was happy with this timescale. I actually heard that during May-June of 2021 there were a lot of open positions, and a lot of Careerist’s graduates that were based in the US got jobs. Since I am, and was at the time, based outside of the US, I was happy to find a job so quickly.
Were you happy with the amount of responses you received from recruitment teams?
I actually got a lot of responses. However, not all of the responses were positive, but I didn’t stop trying because it’s a game. I kept applying. I’m really thankful for my career coach because they kept on encouraging me during that bumpy period.
I had a lot of no-s and the only interview I had turned out to be the winning one.
At the end of June, I got an email from a recruiter asking if I would like to speak with them. I had a call with the recruiter and the company offered me a job. It’s a 100% remote Manual QA position.
Have you already started your job?
I started two weeks ago. I can honestly tell you that it’s not complicated, for now anyway. All you need to do is follow instructions. I went through an onboarding process, and I had plenty of help during this time because things are likely to change over time. There are often many changes, but they always tell you what to do.
I had my first project last week. But at the moment I don’t do any API or SQL work.
Were you happy with the salary they offered you?
Yes, I was offered $75,000, but I also have $16,000 more in company shares, paid vacation and so on. By the end of the year, I will probably get a bonus between 10% to 30% too.
A friend that introduced me to the industry lives in the US, and he told me all about salaries, so I knew what compensation I should ask for and how to negotiate. I did, of course, have to do some research myself on the Canadian market.
What pushed you to complete our course?
I decided to sign up for the QA course because it’s a career that's recognized worldwide. It’s something that is everywhere and it's a respectable job. I am thankful to the teachers and to my career coaches for all the knowledge and support they gave me.
It’s been a pleasure to talk to you today. We appreciate you taking the time out of your busy schedule to share your story with us all. Come back for another chat in six months, so you can tell us what your job is really like!