Finding a path

I've had a number of conversations recently with people who are new to testing and feel that learning to code is the only possible career progression. It prompted this tweet:

Learning to code isn't the only progression for a tester. Find and follow your passion to travel a career path that is truly rewarding.
— Katrina Clokie (@katrina_tester) March 21, 2014

I'm not saying that coding is bad and we shouldn't do it. I'm saying that it isn't the only way to diversify and upskill as a tester. If you don't enjoy coding, then why take that career path? There are so many opportunities to choose from and learning is much easier when you're truly interested in the topic that you study. Try to find something that you're excited about.

Critical Thinking

There is nothing more frustrating than missing a bug; watching a colleague discover something that you feel you should have found first. I think the first path for every tester is learning about how they and others think.

• Testing Mnemonics
• Oracles [Michael Bolton]
• Heuristic Test Strategy Model [James Bach]

Test Approach

Why do you test the way that you do? Are there other test approaches that you could learn and attempt to implement in your organisation? What are the benefits and pitfalls of each?

• Visual Test Management [Aaron Hodder]
• Session Based Test Management
• Exploratory Testing

Mobile

Software for mobile platforms is increasingly popular and demands a particular set of testing skills. Thinking about the environmental factors that can influence mobile application users is an interesting problem.

• Testing Mobile Applications [Jonathan Kohl]
• Mobile Testing

Usability

If your application is frustrating or difficult to use, then it doesn't matter how brilliant the code is underneath. Yet few people dedicate study to the aspects of an application that make it appealing and engaging for users.

• Useology [David Greenlees]

Performance

Do you like to push at the limits of an application? Do you enjoy statistical analysis? Performance testing examines the behaviour of software under specific use scenarios.

• PerfTestPlus [Scott Barber]
• Performance Requirements [Oliver Erlewein]

Security

Is your application safe from malicious or accidental mis-use? Have you thought about vulnerabilities and how they might be exploited? Security testers look for the loose threads that they can pull to create a hole.

• oWASP Top 10 2013

Integration

We may have a perfect application in an isolated environment, but when we deploy it to interact with others there are any number of issues. Testers who understand how applications speak to each other, and how to test these connections, are very valuable. Knowledge required for integration testing will vary based on architecture.

• SOA Made Simple
• SoapUI 101

Leadership or Management

Are you interested in motivating a team? Do you enjoy communicating and being a conduit for information? Are you happy to run interference so that your testers can concentrate on testing?

Writer or Speaker

Share your experiences so that others can learn from them. The act of preparing an article or presentation will solidify your own learning, and offering your ideas to others is a great way to broaden your education with feedback given from the wider testing community.

Consulting

Consulting is about learning to eloquently communicate your thinking. It's about understanding a problem or situation, then suggesting ideas that may help address it. Good consultants think inventively and laterally.

Teaching or Coaching

Once you have established skill in some area, you might enjoy teaching it to others. Planning, preparing and delivering education material can be both challenging and incredibly rewarding. Learn how to create interactive classrooms and present information in an accessible way.

• Coaching for Software Testers [Anne-Marie Charrett]
• Interactive Learning

Community Leader

Some people enjoy creating community by organising MeetUp groups, or conferences, or special interest groups, or weekend testing events, or crowd-sourced testing, or any number of other activities. If no one in your area has established a community event, why not create one?

• Community Question

What other paths do you see? Do you have other resources I could add here?