My Transition from QA Leadership position to only Hands-on projects

As professionals, it is everyone’s goal to reach leadership positions, but what would you do if after being there you should move backward? Well this is my case! After managing more than 8 people, I had to start in another position, which many of you would say is on a smaller scale than where I was.

You will think that it is wrong or that it was not the right step to move from QA lead to QA engineer, however, from my perspective, it is always good to give yourself the opportunity to restart and acquire new experiences. Although I do not deny it, it was a struggle with my ego, which always wants more and tries to convince me that “it is not what I deserve” or it is not for “what I am prepared for.”

However, I must confess that when I moved to a different country, and when looking for new opportunities, this position of leadership overvalued me and because of this my job search was a bit more complicated.

Why ? Well, I’m not entirely sure, but normally recruiters understand that if you have occupied a position leading a team, so it means that you don’t know or can not perform the tasks of a technical position.

While applying and receiving calls from recruiters, the first question was always: Do you have any problems with working hands on project? or Can you adapt again to be a member of a team?My answer has always been the same to those questions, the title of my position does not define me, maybe one includes more responsibilities than the other, but as a professional I see it as different ways of collaborating in a company. b

I have received many questions and comments about how I adapted after being Lead and now being a QA engineer; It has not been complicated at all; The only difference is that I currently do not have to attend more than 8 daily meetings.

When you move to a developed country, the best way to adapt is to start where you have to start.Take the opportunity that the market of your interest presents you.

In these months I have learned many things that a single blog would not give me to detail, but here are some:

* Always be willing to learn new technologies, something you didn’t like years ago, maybe now if you like it. (In my case test automation)

* Identify what is the most fun and passionate way to collaborate in a company.

* Always trust you and be willing to give more than you think to reach your goals, although that includes sleeping only 3 or 4 hours a day.

I have many saved messages from people who live in this country (USA) and who studied the same career as me, telling me that it would not be possible to get a job in my area, that I had to forget about that, that I did not waste my time … I mean, that It was practically impossible to get an IT job for an immigrant.

And I will not deny that for a moment I believed them, and even got a job in a restaurant, because I was asking myself : that if there are so many local professionals, why would they hire me? , Thanks God I reacted and identified the pattern I was following and how were the people with whom I was surrounding. And they definitely weren’t who I want to become.

PD: Now those people who told me that I could not and would never get an IT job, are the first to ask me how I got it. 😊

In conclusion, do not let a title define you, it’s ok to move backwards as long as you learn from that “setback” and use that knowledge to reach higher levels. Mentalize, project your self and work to get everything you want. And surround you with people who have achieved the things you want to achieve.