There is far more Programming as Art to found in testing as opposed to Production code, because often, you're having to figure out just enough of a contortions to pull off the test you want and setting up your frameworks to be readily accessible and relevant to the System Under Test rather than fitting into the opinionated development framework of the week. Nowhere else have in IT/CS have I seen where you can truly discover what it is that makes a business/system tick. You learn to do more with less, effectively communicate with people, debug like nobody's business, and after you've hit about 4 or 5 different businesses, you start to pick up the kind of knowledge about how things work that basically turns you into a walking test framework.
The hardest parts to bear though, are that yes, there is a certain stigma attached to QA (what, you some sort of failed developer or something?) that only really gets dispelled by being damn good. You will also probably not get paid anywhere near as well as a favour the gate until you can basically cough out frameworks in your sleep. Culture issues will become your greatest enemy, and striking a balance between wanting everything at your fingertips, and letting go so others can do that part, and you can insure the working parts of the human machine remain well oiled and operating smoothly.
However, when you hit the point of being good, and you'll know when everyone thinks that, because you'll end up becoming a nexus everyone leans on; you'll not find a more rewarding position in my opinion. Furthermore, when you find the place where everything just goes right, you'll never want to leave.