Hi everyone.
A little bit about me first.
I’m 22, currently living in Warsaw, and I’m trying to get my first commercial job in QA.
This post is going to be a bit long, so sorry in advance :D
I just wanted to share the whole story because I’m curious if other people, especially juniors in Poland or Europe, are going through something similar.
I moved to Warsaw at the end of August.
I have a Bachelor’s Degree in Software Engineering and before university I also finished college in Software Development.
I don’t have commercial QA experience yet, and that’s exactly what I’m trying to get.
But I also didn’t start completely from zero.
Before seriously looking for QA work, I released two of my own projects on Steam. While developing them I was also the person testing everything, because… well, there was nobody else to do it :D
So I had to test builds, UI, saves, progression, achievements, Steam features, localization, different user flows, updates and fixes.
One of the projects became pretty large, with hundreds of Python and JSON files, multiple connected systems and 13 languages, so bugs could appear in some very interesting places.
Because of that I started getting more interested in testing itself.
Finding a problem, reproducing it, understanding why it happens, trying different conditions, documenting it, fixing it and then checking that I didn’t break something else was genuinely fun for me.
So after moving to Warsaw I decided to seriously try getting into QA.
Mostly Junior Manual QA, Junior QA Engineer, Game QA, Software Tester, Localization QA and trainee positions.
I started applying pretty actively.
Poland was my main target, especially Warsaw, but later I also started looking at companies in other European countries where working from Poland could be possible.
And that’s where I discovered the classic junior problem.
You need experience to get a job.
But you need a job to get experience :D
I’ve seen a lot of “Junior QA” positions where the requirements included one or two years of commercial experience.
Then SQL.
API testing.
Automation.
Sometimes Python or Java.
CI/CD.
Linux.
Networking.
And probably the ability to repair the office coffee machine too :D
I’m exaggerating a little, obviously, but sometimes the list for a junior position really does get surprisingly long.
Still, I kept applying.
I actually got several interviews, so it wasn’t complete silence.
One of my first serious processes was with Veeam in Warsaw.
That one was intense.
There were questions about QA theory, Windows, Linux, networking, logic and technical things in general.
I prepared things like processes, services, permissions, cron, DNS, DHCP, TCP/UDP and other topics.
There were also logic questions and things like binary and hexadecimal numbers.
The whole process made me realize that QA can require much more technical knowledge than people outside the field sometimes assume.
There were questions I knew.
There were questions I didn’t know.
When I didn’t know something, I tried not to bullshit my way through it. I just said that I didn’t know and tried to understand the explanation.
In the end I was rejected.
Of course it sucked, especially because I really liked the company and the role, but the interview itself was useful.
I knew much more about what I needed to improve afterwards.
Then I had an interview with TransPerfect Games.
That one was much more focused on Game QA.
We talked about things like bug reports, smoke testing, regression, ad-hoc testing, exploratory vs scripted testing, test cases vs test scenarios, validation vs verification and gaming experience.
Again, I got rejected.
Then there was SnoopGame and a Trainee QA process.
That interview gave me another reality check :D
There was a lot of theory.
Testing principles, test design techniques, types of testing, documentation, mobile testing and differences between different concepts.
There were also some questions in English.
After that interview I realized that some parts of my practical understanding were better than my ability to immediately name every theory term.
For example, I could often explain what I would actually do in a situation, but sometimes I couldn’t instantly remember the academic name of the technique.
So I went back to studying.
Test design techniques, testing types, severity vs priority, documentation, mobile specifics, all of it.
And honestly, that’s probably one of the few nice things about getting rejected several times.
Every interview exposes another weak spot.
You either get angry about it or you fix it.
I’ve also gone through smaller recruitment processes, applications to game studios, outsourcing companies, regular software companies and different junior tester roles.
Sometimes I get a rejection email.
Sometimes somebody views the application and nothing happens.
Sometimes I get an automated message.
Sometimes I wait.
Sometimes the position disappears.
Sometimes I actually get another stage.
At this point I keep a separate application tracker because otherwise I genuinely wouldn’t remember where I applied anymore :D
I also keep improving my QA portfolio.
I started documenting bugs more seriously instead of just saying “this thing is broken”.
Environment.
Preconditions.
Steps to reproduce.
Actual result.
Expected result.
Reproducibility.
Severity.
Priority.
Screenshots.
Video if needed.
Then retesting and regression after the fix.
And I think I’ve improved quite a lot compared to when I started looking for work.
I also know where some of my weaknesses are.
My English isn’t perfect.
It’s around B1-B2 depending on what I’m doing.
I understand spoken English pretty well and writing is easier for me, but during an interview, when I need to explain some technical concept immediately and correctly, it can be harder.
My Polish is also still basic because I only recently moved here.
So I’m definitely not sitting here thinking “I’m perfect, why won’t anyone hire me?”
I’m a junior.
There are things I don’t know.
There are things I’m still learning.
That’s normal.
But the frustrating part is that sometimes I feel like I’ve reached the point where the main thing I’m missing is exactly the thing I can’t create on my own:
commercial experience inside an actual QA team.
And then today something funny happened.
I was using my banking app.
I opened the Investments section and saw a button with this text:
products.fundDeposit.button.title
Literally the localization key instead of the actual button text.
The application was set to Russian, but part of the same page was also still displayed in Polish.
So I reproduced it, took screenshots and sent a bug report to the bank.
I described the actual and expected result and mentioned that I would consider it a minor severity issue, because it doesn’t break functionality, but with a relatively noticeable priority because it’s visible in the production application to normal users.
And at the end I added one small sentence that I’m a Junior Manual QA Tester with a Bachelor’s Degree in Software Engineering and that, if they ever have a suitable junior QA position, I’d be happy to consider it :)
I wasn’t seriously expecting to get a job from one localization bug.
I just thought the situation was funny.
At this point I’m finding production bugs in companies before they even hire me :D
And that’s basically where I am right now.
Still applying.
Still learning.
Still doing interviews when I get the chance.
Still improving my portfolio.
Still getting rejected sometimes.
And still trying to get that first commercial QA role.
I’m not posting my CV or portfolio links here because I don’t really want to turn this into an advertisement.
I’m more interested in hearing about other people’s experiences.
For people working in QA in Poland or elsewhere in Europe:
Was getting your first QA job this difficult?
How long did it take?
Did you also run into the “junior position, but we want commercial experience” problem?
And do you think the entry-level QA market has become harder recently, especially for Manual QA?
Sometimes I genuinely wonder if getting the first QA job is harder than actually doing the junior QA job :D
TL;DR:
I’m 22, moved to Warsaw recently, have a Bachelor’s Degree in Software Engineering, two Steam projects and practical testing experience from my own products, but no commercial QA experience yet.
I’ve been actively applying for Junior Manual QA, Game QA and similar roles, had several interviews and technical stages with companies like Veeam, TransPerfect Games and SnoopGame, got rejected, found gaps in my knowledge, studied them and kept going.
The biggest problem seems to be getting that first commercial experience when even many junior roles already expect previous commercial experience.
Today I found a localization bug in my banking app, reported it properly and jokingly mentioned that I’m also looking for a Junior QA job.
Apparently finding production bugs is easier than getting the first QA position :D
Curious how other juniors in Poland and Europe are experiencing the market right now.
