Brief Summary
This video discusses three critical career mistakes that individuals often make, which can significantly hinder their professional growth, especially in the QA field. These mistakes include staying in a comfort zone, having poor communication and not building relationships, and ignoring continuous skill development. The speaker emphasizes the importance of addressing these issues to avoid stagnation, job insecurity, and missed opportunities for promotion and higher earnings.
- Staying in a comfort zone leads to stagnation and fear of job interviews.
- Poor communication skills and neglecting relationships limit career advancement.
- Ignoring continuous skill development results in a lack of recognition and missed promotions.
Staying in a Comfort Zone
The speaker highlights the danger of remaining in a comfort zone, using the example of an individual who has stayed in the same manual testing job for 14 years without growth. This stagnation leads to lower salary increases and a fear of taking on new challenges or interviews. To combat this, the speaker advises starting to give interviews to explore new opportunities and avoid becoming too comfortable in a manual testing career. The speaker stresses the importance of learning automation to avoid being replaced by AI.
Poor Communication and Relationship Building
The speaker emphasizes the importance of good communication skills for career advancement, regardless of whether one is a fresher, manual tester, or non-native English speaker. Poor communication can hinder the ability to convey work reports, test cases, and ideas, leading to missed promotions. Communication involves reflecting thoughts and providing information effectively, not just speaking English. Building relationships and increasing visibility by showcasing work to developers and QA leads are also crucial. The speaker suggests using platforms like Duolingo and Camly to improve English skills and continuously learn new techniques to avoid being replaced by AI.
Ignoring Continuous Skill Development
The speaker underscores the necessity of continuous skill development to avoid career stagnation. He shares his experience of learning mobile testing, performance testing, and security testing as a manual tester. The speaker advises manual testers to learn automation, automation testers to learn advanced automation, and tech architects to learn how to scale test frameworks. The speaker notes that failing to add new skills to one's resume can lead to a lack of recognition and missed promotions. He advises to improve communication, build relationships, and maintain a good reputation to enhance career prospects.
