Ready to learn. From Social Work to QA automation

Career paths aren’t always straight. In this new series, we’re sharing the stories behind the roles, the doubts, the detours. This is Liana’s story.

THE SHIFT

She graduated in Social Work and spent over 12 years in a related field. Then, in 2018, while on maternity leave, something shifted. She realized she couldn’t go back to a job that required afternoon fieldwork. It no longer fit her life or —and it no longer challenged her in the way she wanted.

Friends working in IT kept telling her the same thing: “You’d be great at testing. You’re the one fixing our crooked picture frames.” So she decided to give it a try.

Every Saturday morning, for four months, she attended Manual Testing classes at the Informal School of IT. Soon after, she landed her first QA job. Then came automation courses. At one point, someone reached out about a Mid-level QA position at Yonder. She declined, honestly knowing she wasn’t there yet. Later, when she saw a Junior opening, decided to apply. That is how she joined our company.

THE LEARNING

Liana started with manual testing and slowly moved into automation, but from day one she knew she wanter to move info automation. Her Career Manager actively looked for projects where she could learn, not just deliver. A colleague encouraged her to write a few automated tests. Later, a client explicitly asked for automation testing. Having already experimented—even on a small scale—made all the difference.

“From the outside, it might sound like a smooth career transition. But it wasn’t. What helped me adapt were clear expectation and colleagues that helped. I wasn’t very technical, and I wasn’t afraid to say it, I never tried to pretend otherwise. Being open about what I knew and what I did not helped everyone around me calibrate: what to expect, how to explain things, how fast to move. More than that, my mentor stayed closely involved – reviewing my code, sharing learning resources, and giving concrete feedback. My teammates made time, explaining concepts, answering questions, and walking me through decisions I didn’t yet know how to make.”

KEEPING THE MOMENTUM

Project by project, things started to change. Since joining Yonder, Liana has worked on seven different projects across insurance, healthcare, school management, and data analysis. Today, she’s continuing to grow in automation—writing better tests, uncovering defects more effectively, improving product quality, and, just as importantly, becoming more confident in her own abilities.

This year marks her fifth anniversary at Yonder.