Getting Started in Testing
A guide to start your journey: what testing is, who can be a tester, key skills, fundamentals, where to practice and a 90-day roadmap.
Testing is not just finding bugs: it is a discipline that validates a product works, prevents risks before reaching the user, improves the final experience and provides key information for decision-making. Getting started does not require perfection, it requires intention, curiosity and consistency.
What is Testing really?
- Validate that a product works correctly.
- Prevent risks before they reach the user.
- Improve the final experience.
- Give the team key information to make decisions.
- Testing = quality + value + continuous learning.
Who can be a Tester?
Anyone with intention and curiosity. Many testers come from areas like technical support, development, UX/design, product, customer service, administration, education, or even fields unrelated to technology. Testing has open doors.
Key skills of a potential tester
- Critical thinking: question, analyze, explore.
- Natural curiosity: eagerness to understand how things work.
- Clear communication: explain risks and findings.
- Empathy for the user: think from their experience.
- Continuous learning: technology changes fast.
Fundamentals to learn first
- Basic testing concepts.
- Test types: functional, regression, exploratory, smoke, UAT and non-functional.
- Software development life cycle (SDLC): Agile, Scrum, Kanban, Waterfall.
- How to design test cases.
- How to report bugs clearly.
- Practice on real applications.
Recommended resource
ISTQB Foundation Level certification (CTFL v4.0): istqb.org
Testing is not only the tester’s job
- Development produces better code.
- UX designs with more depth.
- Product decides with more clarity.
- The business reduces risks.
- Quality is collective: the tester facilitates the conversation.
Where to practice manual testing
| Site | URL |
|---|---|
| SauceDemo | saucedemo.com |
| DemoQA | demoqa.com |
| Ministry of Testing | ministryoftesting.com |
| OrangeHRM Demo | opensource-demo.orangehrmlive.com |
Where to practice automation
| Site | URL |
|---|---|
| UI Testing Playground | uitestingplayground.com |
| LambdaTest Selenium Playground | lambdatest.com/selenium-playground |
| The Internet (Herokuapp) | the-internet.herokuapp.com |
Where to practice bug reporting
| Site | URL |
|---|---|
| Mantis Bug Tracker Demo | mantisbt.org/demo.php |
| Bugzilla Test | landfill.bugzilla.org |
| Jira (guides) | atlassian.com/software/jira/guides |
Suggested exercise
Test a simple website and report a bug using the format: title, steps, expected result, actual result and severity.
Recommended roadmap for your first 90 days
📅 Month 1 — Fundamentals
Test types, test cases, bug reporting, manual practice and SDLC + Agile.
📅 Month 2 — Going deeper
Exploratory testing, basic API testing and tools: Jira, TestRail, Postman, GitHub.
📅 Month 3 — Specialization
Choose your path: Manual, Automation, Analyst or Junior Lead.
Community and sisterhood
Learning is easier when you have company. Find your community: Mujeres Testing Latam, testing communities, Ministry of Testing, mentorships and practice challenges. The doors are open.
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