Netherlands vs. Czech Republic
Writing a blog about how to become a QA Engineer/Software Tester and whether a tech degree is necessary for it is helping me to make new friends around the world. I love it! It opens up space for more discussion and exchanging experiences on how each of us started our journey.
I was talking with my new software testing friend Bram van der Reijen about our start in QA engineering. Neither of us have a tech degree but both of us found our own respective way into tech in two different countries. That brought us to an idea to compare our journeys to tech in this blog post. In case you are deciding in which country you would like to enter the tech industry (if you can choose) you might find some useful tips.
So without a further ado, let’s dive in…
1. Why did you decide to go into IT with a non-technical background?
Bram
I have to be honest and admit that financial stability was a big, if not the biggest appeal for me. I was always interested in technology and how it impacts people. But that’s not what I expected to find when I decided to go into software testing. I expected a regular stream of work, the possibility of building a career, and a decent salary. Those practical expectations have been met. However, the longer I am in the field, the more I find out that there is much, much more to it than pushing a button and seeing what happens.
The immediate prompt for me to go into IT was because a friend of mine asked me: “is IT not something for you?” It was at a party and I needed a new job after my contract as a manager at the Amsterdam Cheese Museum wasn’t extended. I was in a clinch with the owners because they did not pay my colleagues and me the legally obliged bonus for unsocial hours. It wasn’t my goal to make it big in the cheese game anyways. So I sued the owners after (and won the case one year later). With that bridge burned it was time to look somewhere else.
Helena
I have been playing with the idea for a longer time. I felt like having tech skills would be always wanted and I could easily find a job anywhere around the world (comparing to the law which was very geographically limited). Couple of years back, when I worked for the Yukon Government, I did not have that much to do – a typical government job. So, I learned how to code and redid the website of our department. I enjoyed coding because of its creativity but never thought about it as a job I would want to do. Fast forward a couple of years, I was trying to figure out what kind of career should I do since I was over law. And multiple people suggested IT. When the third person suggested it, I started to learn to code on free code camp. I also signed up for a course on Udemy and later went for coding Bootcamp.
So, in short, why I decided to go into IT even if I did not have a tech background is I was looking for a career that would give me geographical and financial freedom. I wanted to be in an industry where job offers would come to me rather me having to hunt them down. I also wanted to be able to work from anywhere while having a job and not having to run my own business (which I tried but found too stressful).
2. How did you start in IT/land your first job?
Bram
Another friend of mine whom I know from my faculty was a software tester at an insurer at the time. He studied Russian and so just like me had a background in a language. I have an English MA and I wondered how I could get into IT without a tech degree, so I asked him. He had some experience with graphic design and front-end coding, so he was already more experienced than I was.
“Why don’t you try and see if there’s a traineeship available?” is what he asked me. I checked, got in touch with some secondment company, got invited to an interview, did an assessment company and failed. Then I went to another secondment company, got invited to an interview and it turned out they had the same test and I passed. A couple of days later I started a month of onboarding in which I learned about TMAP, IREB and Scrum and got the accompanying certificates. My first assignment was with the secondment’s biggest client, namely the department of infrastructure (Rijkswaterstaat) here in the Netherlands.
Helena
Right after the Bootcamp, I got a couple of jobs for frontend development. I choose to work for a small startup in Vancouver (my other homeland). It was quite an interesting experience, working for a startup. We were only four people there, so a lot of work. Unfortunately, the product did not take off and the startup ran out of money. So, I decided to look for a more corporate job. At that point, I was not sure about coding as much. I found it too tedious. That is why I went for QA Automation Engineer instead since I enjoyed using cypress in that little startup. I like QA is much more because I am more of a big picture person. I visited my family in the Czech Republic in the summer of 2020 and KLM (damn Dutch haha) canceled my flight back to Canada. So I found a software testing job in Czechia.
3. What do you like about working as a QA in your country?
Bram
The Dutch are famous, or infamous, for being direct or blunt. We like to get to the point which is good when you are dealing with murky things like requirements and acceptance criteria. I also really like that there is a ton of work. I am sure that it’s not exclusive to the Netherlands, but there is a huge demand for QA here.
Because there is such a big demand there are also a lot of possibilities to get into the field. Even though you are not technical, companies are willing to invest time and money to train you. This does come with a word of warning. A lot of companies just want you to meet a bare minimum so they can place you with a client for a high tariff.
Finally, the software testing community is fairly small in the Netherlands. After a couple of years you start running into people at a conference, a meetup or what-have-you. This makes networking a lot easier and it is always fun to run into an old acquaintance.
Helena
I like that there are a lot of QA jobs available in the Czech Republic currently and all the companies I had interviews with liked my diverse non-tech background.
In my current company, I like that I have a great dev coach who is helping me to grow professionally. There is a big focus on continuous learning which I find super important in IT.
In the Czech Republic (comparing to Canada – my second homeland), we have 5 weeks paid holiday and usually some paid sick days. I also enjoy working remotely due to corona (and I will for sure stay remote even after).
4. Where do you see yourself in a couple of years?
Bram
I have two different pictures in my head for the future. One is where I am a software tester in the gaming industry. The other is where I am still in the same line of business, working for a (semi-)governmental organization or a bank.
Whichever direction I go, I hope I can combine my love for creating and analyzing narratives more with quality assurance. I try and do that by thinking more about what contributes to quality other than the software that a team produces. At one of my current assignments, the team is relatively new and they still have to find out more about who they are as a group. I find that process incredibly interesting and I hope I can contribute to making the group more of a cohesive whole with shared interests and goals.
In a couple of years I want to be able to implement the actions and activities needed to improve or create a great team. I feel that these actions and activities are not very different than an author rewriting a novel until it reaches an impressive stage.
Helena
I like to explore the tech industry more. I enjoy being a QA Engineer and I want to become good at software automation testing. Furthermore, I would like to get into QA management as well as product ownership/management in the future. I like improving internal processes and those are the positions where I can do so.
Being a QA Software Tester is allowing me to get an understanding of what each role in the agile environment does and what would be interesting for my future career growth. The great thing about the IT industry is the fact that there are multiple options for career growth. That will certainly keep my work super interesting.
5. How does your non-tech background help you in QA?
Bram
In literary analysis you have to be able to zoom into miniatous detail and see how that seemingly insignificant detail compares to the bigger picture. In quality assurance you have to be able to do a similar thing. You grab a piece of code or functionality and see how that part contributes to the whole. Of course you also check whether the part is doing what it is supposed to do on a functional level, but I am tempted to put that in second place.
When you have studied a language extensively, you inevitably start to get a grasp on how it works. Not only do you get an idea about the inner workings, but also about its usage. I don’t want to overstate its importance in my line of work though: I think it has accelerated my knowledge about topics I was already interested in and I wanted to know more about either way.
What I am trying to say is, communication is incredibly important in IT. It is very often the biggest bottleneck in projects or the hangman of failed ones. Learn how to listen, very important, and learn how to communicate better and you will be at an advantage. That has been the biggest advantage for me.
Helena
Having a legal/project management background together with my experience running my own business, allows me to look at software testing more holistically. It allows me to see connections where others might not see them. For example, when doing the accessibility testing, I am thinking about the user as well as the business which can encounter big legal penalties if their website/app is not accessible as required by the law.
I can also see the shortcomings of internal systems. This I learned when I had my own business. You learn how to streamline processes better because you have to. Inside corporations and startups/corporations they don’t see this and sometimes things are done very inefficiently.
6. What is the biggest disadvantage of having a non-technical background?
Bram
Exactly that: being non-technical. Even though communication is important, you can’t only talk the talk. I was actually aware of this disadvantage at my first job and promptly quit when they couldn’t provide me with a technical assignment.
In general, people love talking about what they are doing and how they are doing it. If you don’t know how something works, ask them. I still struggle a lot with this myself. I am often afraid to ask because I feel like I am being a nuisance and distracting someone else from actual work. But that is the thing: sharing knowledge is part of the job.
In the long run, I think you can adequately make up for lacking a technical background. If you want to head in a more technical direction, you should simply make it your priority. If you decide not to, make it your priority to understand what it can contribute to combatting non-technical challenges.
Helena
The biggest disadvantage is that I do not have those years of coding under my belt. I also don’t understand the theory in such depth as I would if I spent 3+ years at university studying computer science. Thankfully, these are all things that I can learn, it just takes time and patience. The time I have thanks to C19 and patience I need to train anyways :-).
Conclusion
There is a big demand for software testers in both countries. Also, companies in both countries pay well. In the Netherlands, there are free QA traineeships offered which makes it almost more tempting than the Czech Republic. Working as a software tester in both countries allows for career growth within the QA as well as with IT generally. And most importantly… In both countries, you can become a software tester even if you do not have a tech degree!
Let me know if we forgot any other perks of starting QA software testing job in these countries!
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