Are you concerned that your age might hold you back from getting a job in QA? Read Martin’s encouraging success story and you’ll soon see that age will not stop you from succeeding in the tech industry.
So, tell us a little bit about yourself...
I’m 55 years old and I had a background in tech before doing the course. I’d worked in the tech field for a number of years. However, I wasn’t a full-time tester before.
The training program at Careerist helped me a lot. I learnt exactly what I needed to know to master the testing world.
I had no idea what the market was like for testers, how I should behave in interviews, what questions I was going to be asked at interviews and what a tester’s resume should look like before I found Careerist.
The Careerist guys, including Max, guided me all the way, they gave me all the tips and guidance on how to create a resume, social media profile and they provided me with little tricks to make my age unnoticeable. The most popular age for testers is from 25 to 40. Recruiters don’t always choose candidates from these age groups, but that’s what managers and recruiters seem to like.
My resume and LinkedIn profile look great and they certainly helped me throughout my job search.
How much time did it take you to get a job offer?
I was looking for a job for about a month before I got an offer.
I sent out about 250 applications during this time. I’d send around twenty apps off per day, and I usually sent applications out five days a week.
I applied to many jobs, not specifically remote jobs.
I always made sure that I read every little detail in every job description, but this isn’t essential. If I hadn’t read all of the descriptions I would probably have got my offer earlier.
How did you find the interview process?
Actually, all the questions I was asked during my interviews had been covered during lessons. And many of them were highlighted in the last class we attended, which is where we were provided with some training. Overall the questions were no problem.
The guys that hired me were from the SCRUM environment and I had a lot of questions about it and I also asked them about it. For example, “What is the sprint duration?”, “When does a tester start testing?”, “What does a SCRUM team look like?”, “What should you do with bugs?” and “What is the bug life cycle?”
How did you find the process of looking for a job?
I got my job after going to my first interview. I guess I was in that ‘lucky group’. My interview was a face-to-face meeting. It’s not a typical story because the Careerist team will tell you to be ready for a two-three months job search.
Before that, I had a 30-minutes screening interview with another company and I failed the test. I didn’t figure it out in time. I also had 3 interviews, after my successful interview, that lasted about 30 minutes each with another company and I got that job too.
That was the end of my job search.
What sort of screening test did you go through?
It was a multiple question screening test that lasted for 30 minutes.
Questions required a lot of analytical thinking, and this is quite a time consuming process. There was a lot of reading for each question. There were a few easy API and SQL questions that weren’t hard at all. The job was offering a salary of $120,000 a year, so I guess they wanted something special from the candidates.
Can you tell us about your job offer?
I’m starting my job in a few days, and I’m on a salary of $90,000 a year. It’s a full-time job with extra benefits. I didn’t negotiate my salary because it was the maximum amount they could offer. It’s a manual job, so maybe it will be automated one day.
I’m working in New York and the team is working remotely in New Jersey, even after COVID it will be remote work.
I work for a retail company, which is good because I’ve had experience of working in retail before.
What would you like to say to students and graduates?
Just don’t give up. Always follow your mentor’s advice and collaborate with them. They will help you do anything you need to do to get a job.
Nothing is related to your age. Your mentors will work with your particular situation, so you should listen to them.
Learn the interview questions and practice answering the questions. It’ll be very helpful during interviews.
Be persistent and you will get there. I can’t see a reason why you won’t succeed. It worked for me.
Good luck in your new job! You have just shown everyone that age is just a number and it won’t hold you back in life. Thanks for sharing your story with us, come back and tell us how you get on.