How to Become a Software Tester With No Experience? [9 Steps]

In this guide, I have shared a complete roadmap for becoming a software tester even with no experience.

Whether you’re a fresher or in the final year of college, this learning path will help you learn about software testing and get a high-paying job with our career courses.

💡 If you enrol in our software testing course, you will get hands-on project experiences, coding tests, and even placement assistance.

Learn more about our course: Software testing training in Hyderabad with placement 

For other locations, contact our team.

How to start your career in software testing?

Step 1: Learn manual software testing 

I believe manual testing skills will remain in demand for many years to come. This is mainly because humans make better decisions and pay closer attention to details than robots.

Learning manual testing comprises multiple topics, such as:

• Systems development life cycle (SDLC)
• White box and Black box testing
• Defect management
• Agile methodologies
• Creating test plans and test cases
• Software testing life cycle (STLC)

When you have a clear understanding of these core concepts, you can smoothly execute test cases, report bugs and issues, and create test documentation. 

Also, manual testing encourages software testers to think from a user’s perspective and focus on the product’s functionality, usability, reliability, and user experience. 

Step 2: Gain knowledge of automation testing tools

To enhance your testing abilities, you need to implement automation testing tools. These tools help you design and execute test cases, manage resources, meet test requirements, and more. We have included a Selenium tool in our syllabus, which we feel is suitable for beginner software testers. 

Here’s the overview of our software testing course syllabus:

Module name	Topics and subjects
Introduction To Manual Testing	SDLC
	White Box Testing & Its Types
	Black Box Testing & Its Types
	Defect
	Defect Life Cycle
	AGILE Methodology
	Test Plan
	Test Case
	STLC
Selenium	Introduction To Selenium
	Maven Introduction
	Web Driver Manager
	Locators
	X Path
	CSS Selector
	WebElement Methods in Selenium
	Wait in Selenium
	TestNG
Java Introduction	Java Basics & Introduction to Eclipse
	Operators & Expressions
	Control Statements
	Java Object Oriented Programming Basics of OOPS
	Inheritance
	Exception Handling
	Interfaces
	Multi Threaded programming
	Predefined Libraries
MySQL	Introduction to Database
	Working with Databases
	SQL Sublanguages
	MySQL Operators
	Comparison Operators
	Refining Selections and Working with MySQL Workbench
	Working with Aggregate functions and SQL FILES
	More on Data Types
	MySQL JOINS
	Project: Instagram Database Clone
HTML	Introduction of HTML language
	Formatting Page content
	Creating Lists
	Creating Links
	HTML Forms
	Form Controls, Attributes and Elements
CSS	CSS Core
	Typography
	Layouts
	Advanced layout

Step 3: Be proficient in a programming language 

You need to be proficient with at least one programming language. This allows you to understand bugs or errors in codes and communicate efficiently with the IT team and software developers. Knowledge of programming languages is also useful for writing automation scripts.

We believe Java is still a good programming language for beginner software testers, and it works in sync with the Selenium tool. Here’s what we have included about Java programming in our software testing training course in Bangalore: 

You can also enroll in our online Java training session to get in-depth knowledge of the programming language and work on live projects. 

Step 4: Have knowledge of web development technologies and MySQL

As a software tester, you will require knowledge of web development technologies like HTML and CSS to have a clear understanding of how web pages are built. It will help you identify and debug errors related to incorrect HTML structure and missing web elements, as well as have basic knowledge of designing web pages. Our HTML syllabus included in the software testing course is given below:

Similarly, knowledge of CSS will help software testers properly understand the visual presentation of web pages, including their style, font, layout, colors, and page responsiveness. CSS allows you to test a web page’s cross-browser compatibility, responsiveness across multiple devices, and location of different elements on the web page.

On the other hand, knowledge of MySQL will help software testers ensure data integrity. It allows you to directly query the database and verify your test data. You can either enroll in our software testing training course that covers the basic knowledge of MySQL or complete our online MySQL course.

Step 5: Implement knowledge into practice

After acquiring all the necessary technical skills and knowledge, you need to apply them in practice. Either work in a team where developers assist with coding, and you test applications and report to the developers, or look into GitHub repositories that allow you to contribute. 

I believe testing these open-source applications is better than doing individual projects. When you report any bugs or errors to the developer, and they fix them, you can be enlisted on their contributors list, which acts as proof of your work later. 

Step 6: Get certified

You must enroll in certified software testing courses from reputed institutions. These institutions provide authentic, industry-accredited certificates that can help you land better jobs. 

However, to enhance trust and credibility, you can apply for any global certification exams, such as

Step 7: Join an Internship program

As a fresher with no experience, I understand it is hard to get a job, but why don’t you try internship opportunities? They only see your qualifications and knowledge of software testing. If you have hands-on training on real-life projects during your course, that would be a plus.

Look into traditional platforms for internships like Internshala. These can be paid or unpaid and are usually 2-6 months long. During these, you can learn industry practices from professionals.

I am sharing with you a QA internship opportunity where you can see the responsibilities and skills required of a QA intern. 

Step 8: Expand your network  

You need to expand your network of professionals to access more learning and job opportunities. For that, I recommend you create a LinkedIn profile, which is currently the most trending tool for connecting with professionals worldwide. You can share your thoughts, engage with expert posts, search for job opportunities, learn about trending tools and technologies, and connect with potential recruiters. 

I am sharing with you the login page of LinkedIn, where you need to create your new account or provide your credentials to enter into your existing account.

Once you create the account, you can share your qualifications and work experience details, skills, achievements, project works, and a brief description of yourself on the account. Start connecting with people in your domain and enter into the networks to meet other professionals.

Step 9: Prepare for an interview 

Make sure your resume has all the essential skills required for getting a software testing job. Then, prepare yourself for the software testing job roles you prefer. Look into these job posts’ responsibilities and skills requirements, search for general interview questions and answers, develop essential soft skills, and practice with mock interviews. 

---

Tips to become a software testing engineer

1. Enrol in a beginner-friendly software tester course

To become a software tester, you need to have the fundamental concepts and necessary skills.

Here are the key concepts and topics you should learn:

Module	Topics
Core Software Testing Concepts	Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC)
	Understanding different models (Waterfall, Agile, Spiral, etc.)
	Phases of SDLC and their significance in testing.
	Software Testing Life Cycle (STLC)
	Stages of testing from requirement analysis to test closure.
Types of Testing	Manual Testing
	Automation Testing
	Functional vs. Non-functional Testing
	Black Box vs. White Box Testing
	Regression, Integration, System, and User Acceptance Testing (UAT).
Testing Techniques	Test Case Design Techniques (Boundary Value Analysis, Equivalence Partitioning, etc.)
	Static vs. Dynamic Testing
Defect Lifecycle	Understanding defect identification, reporting, and tracking.
Technical Skills	Programming Languages
	Basic knowledge in languages like Java, Python, or JavaScript for automation testing.
	Automation Tools
	Familiarity with tools like Selenium, Appium, or TestNG.
	Understanding of scripting for test automation.
	Version Control Systems
	Proficiency in tools like Git for managing code changes.
	Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD)
	Knowledge of tools like Jenkins for automating the testing process.
	Database/SQL
	Understanding of databases and ability to write SQL queries for backend testing.
	Test Management Tools
	Familiarity with tools such as JIRA, TestRail, or Quality Center for managing test cases and defects.
Advanced Topics	Performance Testing
	Tools and techniques for load and stress testing (e.g., JMeter).
	Security Testing
	Basics of identifying vulnerabilities in applications.
	Mobile Testing
	Understanding mobile application testing and tools like Appium.
	API Testing
	Familiarity with tools like Postman or SoapUI for testing APIs.

The starting point could be enrolling in an online or classroom (our recomemndation) software testing training program that can introduce you to the key knowledge of testing and provide hands-on training on real projects.

As a software tester, you not only need testing knowledge but also work with databases, programming languages, automation tools, and knowledge of web development tools like HTML and CSS. 

I understand that software testing topics are regularly updated with new issues and market trends. Therefore, I prefer coaches who update themselves and help beginners prepare for the present market. 

The picture below shows what we start our software training course with:

Next steps:

👉 Enroll in our software testing classroom training in Hyderabad, Bangalore, and Vijayawada.

2. Work on multiple projects using software testing skills

I believe reading from online resources and articles or watching YouTube videos may not be effective for beginner software testers. It is because 

• They won’t give you hands-on training on real projects
• Sometimes, these courses aren’t interactive, so you can’t ask questions 
• Recorded sessions are often made generic, which makes it difficult to understand 
• Some YouTube videos were made long ago and aren’t updated with the latest trends, which makes them unsuitable for the current market

You can solve all these problems by enrolling in a course that aligns with a practical training approach. We prefer providing practical sessions and hands-on training for all our students throughout the course. 

Learning testing theoretically is important, but implementing it into real-life projects is a must. This will allow you to face different challenges while testing a product and train you to develop better solutions. 

Start by testing an e-commerce website. Check the website’s functionalities to see if they meet user requirements, its usability, and performance. Then, create a report on your findings. If you practice software testing in a group with software developers, report the bugs to the technical team. 

Find the source code for E-commerce website testing

You can visit a public repository on GitHub named “the internet.” It is an example application that captures different functionality found on the web and allows software testers to perfectly write automated acceptance tests. 

Here are a few more software testing project ideas that you can implement:

1. Derive Sanity test scenarios for the admin interface.

I recommend you do this project to learn how you can create sanity test cases for an administrative website interface. You need to understand the core functionalities of the application’s admin interface and develop required test cases to validate them against user requirements. 

Find the source code.

2. Building and testing blog in HTML

We teach our students to build their favorite blogs using HTML codes and style them with CSS. This helps them understand the functionalities of each component and create essential test cases to verify the blog’s usability, reliability, and performance. It also helps them develop their web design skills and make necessary changes to any issues or bugs found while executing the program.

You can perform thorough testing on the blog application, such as unit testing, functional testing, compatibility testing, usability testing, etc. 

Find the source code. 

3. Resume building with HTML and CSS and manual testing 

This is an easy project where you will use HTML and CSS skills to build a professional resume and then perform manual testing. It will not only sharpen your testing skills but help you create an attractive resume and stand out from beginners’ competition. 

The resume can have sections for personal information, education, work experience, skills, contact details, etc. You need to test the entire resume for content accuracy, link functionality (if you include links to any of your professional accounts like LinkedIn, GitHub, Twitter, Facebook, etc.), layout consistency, and compatibility across different devices and screen sizes. 

Find the source code.

4. Online education platform testing 

You can do this under the mentorship of software testing training course experts. They will provide you with an application and ask you to create test scripts for its different features and functionalities, usability, compatibility, and performance. It’s the best project for learning automated testing skills, like setting up Selenium, JUnit, and TestNG tools. 

Students get to know how to integrate automated tests into a CI/CD pipeline using modern tools like Jenkins or GitLab CI. You can automate performance and load testing with tools like JMeter or LoadRunner. 

Find the source code.

3. Build a software testing portfolio. 

Software testers need to showcase their testing skills to potential recruiters. In that case, you can create a GitHub account and share your testing-related code snippets. 

Here’s how you can showcase your expertise in the domain.

Firstly, create a GitHub account.

Consider looking for some top software tester profiles on GitHub to understand how you can create one for yourself. Check out this account.

You can then search for a public repository that allows you to test their codes and send reports. I am sharing the link for one such public repository. 

Testers can report a bug and get onto their contributions list, showcasing expertise and skills. 

When you are applying for your first software testing job, the recruiter will want to know your skills and expertise in dealing with real-life challenges.

I have seen interviewers being dissatisfied with people mentioning only what they have learned during a course, but when they could show how their knowledge had an impact on the quality of a product, they got selected. 

Therefore, always try to share your project experiences, knowledge of version control systems, managing remote repositories, and other skills with recruiters before and during an interview.

👉 Find related project ideas with source code that you can try:

• Software testing projects for final year
• Python projects for beginners 
• Java final year projects for beginners with source code
• Best machine learning project ideas

4. Get an entry-level job

After building an attractive portfolio, your next task is to start applying for entry-level software testing job roles. When I searched on LinkedIn, I found 427+ Junior software tester vacancies in India.

Now, let me show you the company requirements for Junior software testers in job posts.

You might not find many vacancies with higher salary ranges, but over time, you can gain better work experience and land high-paying job opportunities.

The image below illustrates the average annual salary of a junior software tester in India. 

If you are career-focused, you can become a QA lead after 3-4 years. The graph below shows the average annual salary of a QA lead in India, where newcomers can earn around ₹6.7 lakhs per annum and senior testers earn ₹27.0 lakhs per annum. 

Applying for an entry-level job is good for beginner software testers. Here are a few reasons behind it.

• Earn while you learn: You can learn by sitting at home and watching software testing through YouTube videos, but you won’t earn anything. 
• Hands-on experience under industry experts: Junior software testers work under the mentorship of senior testers which exposes them to hands-on experience on real world challenges. You can work on different types of projects which broadens your ideas and industry knowledge.
• Build reputation: By working in a company and creating a good impression, you can not only develop work experience but also build a reputation, which is important for landing better jobs in the future.

5. Build authority 

As a software tester, you can start building authority in the market. This will help you earn the trust of potential recruiters and get placed into top companies. This is the best way to demonstrate your diverse skills with testing tools and methodologies, add weight to your resume, broaden your networking, and apply for leadership opportunities.

There are multiple ways by which you can build authority, such as

• Use open-source software for your testing. This includes creating bug reports, pull requests, change requests, documentation contributions, and creating tutorials on the software. Most of these contributions remain public, and you can use it as a proof of work. 
• Gather and curate different testing-related resources from GitHub repositories and create your own collection to showcase your expertise in the domain.

I have researched for an expert tester account on GitHub who shared the different types of testing practices in top companies. You can also create a similar type of repository. 

• Write articles and guides on different testing principles and practices performed in the industry.
• Contribute to existing codes on GitHub by identifying and reporting bugs, and your name will be showcased on their contribution list.
• Create multimedia presentations on different testing-related topics and queries and share them on social media to attract audience attention. 
• Convert your learning into online study notes and publish them on platforms like Notion, OneNote, and GitHub.

6. Keep learning and upskilling yourself!

I always recommend that software testers have a knack for continuous learning and upskilling themselves. This is because you need to fit into the changing market scenario. It will ensure they don’t lose themselves in the competition due to skill gaps. 

Here are a few things you can consider to upskill yourself 

• Join an advanced-level software testing course
• Solve complex technical problems within different open-source applications available on GitHub. 
• Attend local software tester and QA team meetings to discuss the latest trends in the software testing domain.
• Enroll in different software testing seminars and webinars that also assist you in networking. 
• Engage with software testing communities for support with necessary resources, code knowledge, and guides to use modern testing tools.
• Listen to different software testing-related podcasts and subscribe to similar newsletters. 
• Follow top software testers on social media channels, including Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube. 

I can recommend a few websites that you can follow to learn trending methodologies and principles of software testing. 

1. Software Test Professionals
2. Ministry of Testing
3. UTest
4. Testing Excellence 
5. Sticky Minds

What are the skills needed to work in software testing by specialty?

I believe software testing is not a child’s play. To become an efficient software tester, you need to adopt multiple technical and soft skills. I have mentioned only the essential ones below:

1. Knowledge of software development lifecycle

Testers must know the entire lifecycle of the software development process so that they can create and execute testing plans throughout it. This helps them identify and rectify defects and bugs early, creating high-quality products. 

The picture below illustrates the software development life cycle that every tester must know.

We recognize that learning only a single software development model is insufficient. So, we have added at least five types of software development models to our course.

The picture below illustrates a few software development models.

2. Proficiency in at least one programming language

You don’t need to have in-depth programming knowledge like developers do but to understand the application, you must have basic knowledge of at least one programming language. This can be Python, Java, JavaScript, C#, Ruby, etc. Now, if you are working on a Python-based project and developing its test cases, you must have Python programming skills. 

Python is among the most used programming languages by developers in 2024, which makes it suitable for beginner testers. The graph below depicts the rise of Python users in the last ten years according to the TIOBE index. 

Java has always been a good programming language for software testers. It has been in the industry for more than 28 years and, therefore, is used by most companies to develop larger enterprise edition software. 

If you are a software tester mastering the Java programming language, here are a few topics you must know.

3. Learn different types of testing. 

Software testers need to know the different types of testing required at different phases of the software development lifecycle. Software testing is mainly divided into white-box and black-box testing. Under these categories, you need to learn various types of testing, as described in the picture below.

The most common types of testing that you are required to perform are

1. Unit testing: You need to examine individual components of software to validate each unit function as mentioned in the SRS.
2. Integration testing: Each individual component is then integrated together and tested in a group to validate that integrated units work properly. 
3. System testing: When a complete system is ready, you need to perform an end-to-end test to validate that it meets the user-specified requirements. 
4. Acceptance testing: At the final stage, testers perform this testing to ensure a system satisfies the user acceptance criteria and is ready to be delivered to end users.

4. Experience with basic SQL knowledge 

Software testers often need to verify the integrity of data during the software development stages. This requires a basic knowledge of SQL to query the database directly and verify whether the data matches the expected result. SQL is mainly useful for back-end testing, validating data transformation, and checking data integrity. It also helps software testers manipulate data, analyze database performances, and create better test cases. 

Knowledge of SQL is required in automated testing scripting to retrieve data for test assertions, set up a test environment, and make the automation testing process more efficient and reliable. 

5. Understanding of agile software development 

I believe that agile software development principle knowledge is essential for today’s software tester. Why? It is because more and more companies are looking for customer-centric product development. It is where software developers need to continuously get in touch with customers, look for regular feedback, and make necessary changes to the software. 

Agile testing aligns with the Incremental and iterative model of software development. In this model, software requirements are gradually developed by end users or customers and testing teams. Agile testing follows four core principles: adaptive planning, faster delivery, constant improvement, and ease of change.

Company are hiring software testers who can help with the testing process throughout the sprint and provide early feedback. You can learn using some agile testing tools like Selenium WebDriver, Katalon, JIRA, JunoOne, QMetry, Testsigma, etc. 

6. Automation testing knowledge 

Manual testers will always be demanded as robots can’t make judgments like Humans. But to make your task easy, you need to know automation testing. These modern tools can streamline the testing process from early development stages, enhance accuracy, provide faster feedback, eliminate human errors, and reduce expenses. Learn automation testing tools like Selenium, Apache, JMeter, Cypress, Appium, etc., to land a good job. 

7. Practice of basic Linux command 

As multiple applications are deployed in the Linux environment, manual or automatic software testers must have basic Linux command knowledge for efficient testing task execution. You should learn simple commands for tasks like transferring a file from one folder to another, moving folders between machines, finding a machine’s IP address, taking backups of logs or other files, installing or uninstalling applications on Linux devices, etc.

8. Implementation of API testing 

Software developers often use an application programming interface (API) to link between their program and an external source. It enables them to employ the features of another program within their code. 

For example, you want to have a weather feature in your application. Instead of writing code from scratch, it can save some time and stress by using readily available weather APIs. 

If your team is using APIs in their application, you must test them before the product’s release. Most publicly or privately available APIs have bugs that you need to fix for enhanced security and effectiveness of the final product. 

For API testing practice you can visit SWAPI – Star Wars API Integrations that offers thousands of triggers and actions across multiple applications. 

9. Use of UI Testing 

UI testing refers to the process of testing an application’s user interface. The interface allows users to communicate with the software. For example, you can implement UI testing on an application’s Sign-up or registration page to check if it is correctly accepting user inputs, your submit button is functional, and other UI features are working properly. 

10. Understanding of non-functional or performance testing 

You need to perform this testing to check the product’s readiness for the market. For example, you can consider doing volume testing and security testing. 

Volume testing checks the strength of your application in handling different data volumes. If the software is not functioning with large databases, you can do volume tests to avoid breakage. 

With the rising security concerns, software testers must learn security tests that include input validation testing, data encryption testing, cryptographic testing, social engineering testing, network security testing, etc. 

11. Knowledge of bug advocacy 

Software testers must know how to identify bugs and report them properly to developers. This report must have all the necessary information to allow developers to understand which bug to prioritise. After completing the bug detection and removal, you need to retest the process and make a detailed report on the bugs found, solved, and the current status of the product.

12. Soft skills

For all IT jobs, having technical skills is a must, but soft skills are necessary as well. They ensure the tester can survive any situation in the workplace and provide their best efforts. Here’s a few skills you must develop within yourself to become a software tester

1. Attention to details: You must have attention to detail so that you can identify even the smallest defects and bugs within a software.
2. Effective communication skills: Clear communication is essential for software testers to report defects and communicate efficiently with developers and other technical team members.
3. Problem solving and analytical thinking: You must have the skills to analyse complex technical systems, identify potential issues, find the root cause for a problem, and suggest proper solutions. 
4. Time management: Software testers often work on multiple projects at a time or may have tough deadlines. Therefore having proper time management skills is essential so that you can prioritize and complete work within time. 

Can you become a software tester with no experience?

Yes you can become a software tester with no experience but you need to earn a certificate after completing a software testing training course from a reputed institution and have a good portfolio of real life projects. This will make you stand out of the queue and attract potential recruiters. 

Another great way of getting into the software testing profession is by acquiring ISTQB certification. The image below is taken from an expert discussion on Reddit about how to get hired as QA with zero experience.

Whenever you join a software testing job as a fresher, recruiters know you can’t show them work experience, but your project works can illustrate your skills and expertise. 

How long is the software testing course?

The software testing course is 100 days or three months long. You will learn everything from manual to automated testing and other special subjects like programming language, SQL, and web technologies (HTML and CSS). This duration may not be similar for all certificate or degree courses. 

Get your first high-paying software testing job with our training course

At Codegnan, we provide a practical approach to training, where students get theoretical knowledge and hands-on practice under industry experts within 100 days. Our mentors prepare you thoroughly for real-world challenges and assist you in making better solutions. 

While online software training courses are available for global students, you can also join our offline software testing training courses in Bangalore, Vijayawada, and Hyderabad. 

On successful completion of these courses, we provide industry-recognized certificates that help our beginner testers build trust and credibility. More than 2,800 of our students have successfully been placed in top companies, and you can be the next one. 

How long does it take to become a software tester?

It takes 3 to 6 months to become a software tester. However, to become a professional software tester, you may require regular practice for more than a year, constantly upskill yourself with trending methodologies, and work under senior testers in the industry. 

The timeframe for becoming an expert software tester can vary depending on the course syllabus and duration, frequency of classes and their timeframe, amount of time dedicated to learning, hands-on training duration, internship opportunities, etc.