Early days of career as a Intern or Fresher
Hello Readers,
2025 has already begun, and two months have passed. I’ve been wondering whether time is moving fast, or if we are the ones speeding up, but I still haven't found an answer but we will running with the flow and work hard.
I was considering a topic for my next blog that I could write quickly, as I’m currently working on a blog about Cypress and playwright, which will take some time to finish. I wanted to find something that would allow me to keep up with my blogging routine in the meantime. Yesterday, an intern from my team was officially confirmed as a permanent employee in the organization and we also hired a new QA for our upcoming project. At that time, I thought we could discuss this as a topic in the blog so that everyone who is starting their journey as an intern or a newbie in any field or especially in QA can quickly find the path to reach their goal.
When we complete a degree or any course from a prestigious institution, we have a lot of enthusiasm to work in that industry and that same enthusiasm helps us to achieve our goals. Almost everyone starts their journey as a newbie in the industry after completing their required education but they face many problems while starting out because the environment in the organization and the projects we work on in the organization are a bit different from the actual projects that are developed in the industry. Interns can sometimes be disturbed by challenges they encounter at work place, and a lack of support can cause them to lose sight of their objectives. In my team, one intern was frequently absent due to such issues, taking 1–2 days off regularly. We were unaware of the underlying reasons for these absences, which negatively impacted their performance record and ultimately hindered their chances of securing a permanent position after the internship.
Expectation Vs Reality
Internships are an amazing opportunity for you to build up your resume, gain some first-hand experience, and figure out if the career path you’re currently imagining is the right fit for you. But, often times we build up our first internship experiences to be perfect, when in reality, they might not be. Other times, you might think that your days will be nothing but getting coffee and making copies when actually, you’ll be working on some really exciting things. Everyone goes into their first internship with a lot of expectations, when the reality is completely different.
Sometimes a fresher or intern is used as the official coffee getter, coffee maker, and person answering incoming calls.” yes, you might be asked to make the office Starbucks run, print out dozens of papers before a meeting, and transfer calls, but that doesn’t mean the work you’re doing isn’t important.
Also, sometimes you might be surprised by the fun (and important) tasks you’re asked to do! If you feel like you aren’t getting enough to do, remember that most of the time people are just busy with their own jobs and might not be thinking, so while it can be scary to think about, your supervisor will probably appreciate it if you offer to take on more work. At such times, the intern should talk a little and discuss their interests in the work and try to demonstrate your skills through your communication. Build a relationship with colleagues and discuss their work journey, discuss their problems they face at work. discuss new technology they are learning and also discuss about their goals.
Expectation from Intern or Fresher
The organization or your manager may not think you fully understand the work, but at least they see whether you are interested in it and how you can handle any problems if they arise. In any technology company we want how they utilize their knowledge in the work. How they knowledge convert into the skills.
- Git Understanding: The organization or as a manager wants the intern to be familiar with Git because it is very important when working on real projects in an IT company.
- Technology Interest: When you start your journey as a newbie in the industry, you don’t enter the company with any tag like Developer, QA or Business Analyst or Data Scientist, but the knowledge you have gives you an idea of the area in which your career will flourish. Take an interest in new technologies, try to embrace them deeply when you like them.
- Proactive Attitude and communication: Employers appreciate interns who take initiative — whether it’s asking questions, seeking out tasks, or contributing ideas. Being proactive demonstrates engagement and enthusiasm. Communication plays a key role in showing your proactivity, so work on your communication first.
- Attention to Detail and Feedbacks: Accuracy in work is vital, especially when dealing with data, reports, or client-related tasks. Being meticulous and careful shows professionalism and reliability. I always tell candidates or interns starting a new career that the handbook you receive should be filled out completely upon completion of the internship so that the experience in the handbook stays with you for the next 5 years. Ask your managers, your colleges for feedback so that you can share your thoughts with them on the same things.
- Professionalism: Interns should adhere to the company’s code of conduct, dress appropriately (depending on company culture), and respect workplace norms and etiquette.
Early career mistakes to avoid.
- Don’t act as a collage going days: As you start your career and journey towards earning, you need to develop some good habits, some discipline in your life.
- Educate yourself about finance: Don’t spend the money you earn from your internship because these days are your learning days if you spend quickly then you will not understand the meaning of earn. Invest 50% of your money in shares, fixed deposits or gold and keep 50% with you until you will not get first salary.
- Don’t forgot your sports and other activities : You should not forget about your other activities like playing sports, spending time with friends, and many more. When starting your journey, consistency in life is very important and it helps in reaching the peak of the game. Wake up early and go to bed early, make your schedule, don’t be hard on yourself but bring discipline into your life.
- Fear of mistakes : Many freshers or interns feel a little scared while working on a project, so they make the same mistakes and stray from the goal. I will suggest understand that most respectable organizations design internships to engage you in projects that build knowledge and skills. They gain huge from your work productivity and channel resources into the internship program. Don’t assume that you will not have meaningful projects to complete, and ask during interviews what kind of work will be expected from the organization. Do some study about the domains and your interesting area. Focus on your communication and stay focused, keep an eye on the match score as it keeps updating. It’s okay if you don’t make a big innings, but do something that you like and you remember.
- Ask for WFH : At the beginning of the career, the work process is understood and the hard work done during this time is useful for the entire career. Nowadays, work from home or work from anywhere has gained a lot of importance over work from office and there is a lot of discussion on this in the final discussion of the interview. In my opinion, working from home completely means reducing the time for innovation in your knowledge as well career. Work from office in a organsiation you selected as much as possible. Try to get a solid ground report of your work so that you are always ahead of the rest.
Important for QA who is doing internship or starting a career as fresher
Today we will discuss some of the questions asked by candidates who are freshers or intern and are starting their career as QA.
I don’t have any project exposure, Will it be a problem ?
Of course, We know that you don’t have the real project experiences. So we won’t ask questions on that. But If you are applying for an internship, then you are probably a third year or fourth year university student. You should probably gone through couple of university projects. So expect questions from these projects/project related areas. Your contributions to the project / you’r role in the project will be a good starting questions for interviewers.
Do I need to know about QA terminologies ?
We don’t expect you to remember the ISTQB definition of testing terminologies. But basic level of understanding is expected. You are applying for a QA Internship, so you should know about test Cases, basic testing types, test designing techniques, defect life cycle.
Do I need to know about automation testing / performance testing ?
Depends. We don’t expect vast knowledge about automation / performance testing from a QA intern. But it would be a huge advantage for you, If you know anything about automation testing or performance testing. If you are passionate about the non functional testing or If you read about these testing types, do share your knowledge/ learning to the interview panel. Company would be much pleased to recruit you.
Testing, Automation testing is easy than development?
Look, This question is quite common during the first three months of a QA internship, and the interesting part is that candidates often get confused when they observe more experienced professionals working. Everything is hard until you try it and get success it. You may find swimming difficult until you get in the water and start swimming, but after that it will become easier for you.
Testing, Selenium, Playwright or Cypress
This question is also very common in the QA fresher community. The advice we usually give is to start with a tool that aligns with the language you’re most comfortable with. For example, if you’re strong in Java from your academics, go with Selenium. If you’re more comfortable with JavaScript, then consider starting with Cypress or Playwright. I’ll share some blogs that can help you choose the right tool.
ISTQB or any certification is important or not.
ISTQB is a testing certification that gives some power to QA but it is of limited help. The knowledge gained from an internship or a fresher on a single project is always better than a certification.
Manual Testing is dead in today’s AI driven life.
This question became quite popular with the rise of AI in testing. If tools like ChatGPT and Gemini are giving you ready-made scripts, then everyone is in the dark about what the next QA or development path will be like because this ultimately helps save time and also takes away the power of people to innovate. In the coming AI era, manual testing is not dead at all, it will undergo some changes and automation testing will also change and go AI-driven.
Final Thoughts
Everyone’s career journey may have similar stages but their journey is different. Enjoy this journey, talk less, absorb more and move forward with experience of everything. Make yourself presentable and don’t let anyone’s trust be broken. Wish you best luck in your journey. Relax and work hard for your goal.
Thank you,
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