Need some serious career advice from the elders here?
I have recently graduated with a Software Engineering degree. I have found a job as a Test Automation Developer writing frameworks in ruby/cucumber to test other applications that have been developed. I will be doing a 6 month contract, but I do not want to be a test engineer for the rest of my career. I would like to move into actual development and start my career being SDE instead of SDET. I would like to know anyone's input on this and how well I would be able to transition to SDE.
I'm only doing the automation (SDET) job for a contract of 6 months. In that time I hope to learn and excel my programming skills. What I'm saying is, I don't want employers to stick me in the test developer category and not give me a shot at development. I feel that the Tester role is looked down upon slightly. Does anyone have any experience with this? Transitioning? What can I do to keep my programming skills sharp during that 6 month period? What is the growth opportunity within the Test engineer role. What is the SDET vs SDE salary gap, or is there one?
Just a little overwhelmed here, any advice would be much appreciated.
Thank you.
My suggestion is to create your own projects on the side while you work on the 6 month contract. This will do two things. First, it will help you develop your programming skills. Second it will give you something to show potential employers during the networking and job application process as you are looking for SDE jobs. Getting pigeon-holed is a real thing and does happen. That is why it is extra important not to rely solely on the work you are being paid for in order to demonstrate and grow your skills. As far as the salary gap, a great resource is the salary tool on Glassdoor.com (https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/index.htm). There you can look up the average salaries for each role and see the distribution curve for each in your area. SDE salaries do tend to be slightly higher on average but the gap is not massive.
