ASK HN: Slight Career Change

6 points·code_devil··9 comments

I am working as a QA Test/Automation Engineer in a Networking Company since ~2yrs, I'am now planning to move to a Web2.0 or Web App Company like Google, Facebook, LinkedIn as an Apps Developer. How/What should I prepare for the interview ?

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Make sure you can reverse a linked list in C++.

And know the differences (in structure and operation speeds) between arrays, linked lists, hash tables, etc.

Yes, I have started to brush up on those. I came out of school 2 yrs ago.

What are your skills? (What programming technologies do you know?)

I have programmed in C,C++,Java,Assembly. I also have some knowledge on PHP,Perl,Python. I am actually enjoying Python.

The way for a tester to move into development is to a) have a lot of experience writing automated tests and b) to have a reputation for writing bug reports that let developers quickly locate and fix problems.

Choose one of the web frameworks RoR, web.py or Cappuccino and write something cool on your own. Something small enough to show your future employers that you can write good software. It would help you to make the transition and also gives companies confidence that you are capable of making this career change.

I am actually playing with Django. What project would you call small enough to show to a prospective employee ?

Your could write your own blog, since your were in QA something related to that like a web application to view continious integration status or test results, a web app to show what web 2.0 sites are up or down.

Write down a few requirements for what you plan to do if you end up having more than 10 requirements for the project choose another.

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