Symfa Team

What skills help QA engineers grow from Junior to Middle and Senior levels? 🤔

According to our QA team members, Dmitry, QA Lead, and Maria, QA Engineer, it’s not about the number of courses you’ve taken or certificates you’ve collected.

The key difference lies in the ability to think critically, make informed decisions, and solve real-life challenges. A Middle QA doesn’t simply follow test cases. They assess risks, determine what should be tested and automated, collaborate with developers to investigate issues, and take responsibility for product quality.

We asked Dmitry and Maria which books helped shape their approach and support their professional growth. Here are their recommendations:

📚 Just Enough Software Test Automation by Daniel J. Mosley
→ understanding what, when, and how to automate
📚 Agile Testing by Lisa Crispin
→ building a testing mindset and strong collaboration within Agile teams
📚 Explore It! by Elisabeth Hendrickson
→ exploratory testing and analytical thinking
📚 Lessons Learned in Software Testing by Cem Kaner, James Bach, Bret Pettichord
→ practical testing methods, risk assessment, and lessons from real projects
📚 Clean Code by Robert C. Martin
→ writing maintainable, readable, and scalable automation code

These books go beyond tools and frameworks. They help develop the skills that often define Middle and Senior QA engineers: critical thinking, decision-making, risk awareness, communication, and a deeper understanding of software quality.

What books would you add to this list? 📖

Earlier in our feed, we shared Part 1 of our fluffy IT team. Now it’s time for Part 2️⃣

We asked AI to turn our colleagues’ pets into IT professionals based on their photos. And honestly… some of them look very convincing 😄

Swipe through the carousel to meet:
🐾 developers
🐾 architects
🐾 managers
🐾 and some very unexpected roles 👀

Missed Part 1? Scroll down and check it out 😉