I had the privilege of doing my internship at Qlik in Lund, a company that develops software for collecting, organizing, and drawing insights from data. Finally, I was going to see how things are done in the “real world”.

I soon discovered two things:

1. Things are exactly like I’ve been taught.

2. Things are nothing like I’ve been taught.

How can those coexist?

Well both can be true at the same time. The basic meaning of testing was the same — the thinking behind it and the way we talked about it. The ways of working, however, were different. But then again, in school we were always told that there are as many ways of testing as there are companies — or maybe even testers.

I noticed that what I enjoyed the most was trying to think like the end user — what they need, what might confuse them, and what could improve their experience. After all, if it’s not working in a way that feels intuitive for them, what’s the point?

But I was afraid to step into actual coding. Writing automated tests felt like a huge step and something I wouldn’t manage. I did some, but in hindsight I wish I had had more courage. After all, I was there to learn.

Talking about learning, I also struggled with finding the balance between trying to figure things out on my own and not waiting too long before asking for help. I often found myself trying to solve things independently, but also learning when it was better to just reach out.

Looking back, I realized I had actually picked up quite a lot of test theory during my studies — more than I gave myself credit for at the time. It didn’t feel complete yet, but it was there in the background, helping me make sense of things.

Pretty quickly, I started to feel like I had made the right choice. There was something about testing that just made sense to me, and Qlik was a perfect place to discover that.

After the internship, I stayed at Qlik and worked over the summer. A few months of actually working with testing. I loved it — now I just had to find a more long-term job.

In this point in time i still didn't know how hard it would be

Testing

I recently heard someone explain software testing as a detective job for computers, and I agree — almost. The difference is that these detectives start their work before a “crime” has even been committed. They both prevent and investigate. What can go wrong here, what mistakes are likely to happen, and is there a way to prevent them? If a crime is still committed, how can I help the police to solve it, and what information can I find for them? I loved that part of the studies — trying to step into the mind of the person using a product and see how it could be the best possible for them. I also loved finding these silly bugs that just made no sense at all.

We talked about why, what, and when to test. Waterfall and Agile, functional and non-functional testing, and test heuristics among many other things.

I learned about thinking and talking like a tester, test strategies, test plans, test cases, test charters, reporting, and so much more.

This resonated with something in me. I really enjoyed it and thought that I was on the right track. While this part made sense… another didn’t...

Programming

The part that scared me. Sure, I completed the basic prep course, but I never had that “aha” moment I thought was supposed to come. I still struggled with everything but the simplest tasks. Bigger projects towered over me like a mountain, and I became afraid of taking that first small step.

It got a little bit easier when I came across the concept of pseudocode. The practice of creating an overall picture of what the code was supposed to do before going into the details. This combined with the realization that code is rarely written from the top down, I could start with the bits and pieces I actually knew how to write and build from there helped me take those first steps.

And also, I began to understand that Googling the parts I didn’t know wasn’t cheating. I’m not supposed to know everything by heart — maybe no one does.

I managed, but programming never became the favorite part of my education.

The last thing that was gonna wrap it all together was the internship...

So I found a two-year-long online studies but before applying I had to take a basic course in programming. I’m of that age where that wasn’t something everyone did in school.. This is where I started questioning my choice. I thought that programming was writing code from top to bottom and knowing what to write all the time. I wouldn't quite believe it when people said that they are still googling after 20+ years programming and that a program is written in bits and pieces. I was waiting for that coin to drop that would make me automatically know everything. It never came, and probably never will. But stubborn as I am I stuck it out and made it through.

Now I was supposed to be ready for the "real thing".

After my studies to become a software tester, I quickly realized that learning doesn’t stop at graduation — and honestly, that’s part of the fun. There’s still so much to figure out: how to turn theory into practice, think like a QA professional, and improve step by step. This blog, My Test-Driven Journey, is my space to share what I stumble upon along the way — the challenges, the experiments, and the small wins that make the journey feel worth it. I’ll write about testing, coding experiments, new ways of thinking and the mindset behind quality, all as I navigate my path from beginner to QA, while learning and trying to enjoy each step instead of chasing perfection from day one.

Before I get into where I am today, I’ll share a few short posts about how I got here. Just the key steps, not the full details — enough to set the scene for the journey.

Follow along if you like — here I go!