Another Fascinating Story of Completing the Galaxy QA Course!

Hi everyone! My name is Alexey! I'm 28 years old! I've been planning for a long time to write to you, students and veterans of the Galaxy QA Academy course, and share my story of how I went through this course back in the day!

Well then, let's go! I'll be honest: I finished it on my second try! Yes, yes, you heard that right! My first attempt (winter 2017 – spring 2018) was unsuccessful. I barely made it to level 8, and then dropped the course altogether... That happened because I approached it aimlessly! On top of that, I had no discipline: I took breaks between studying and doing the practical assignments for the course levels. Part of the theory got forgotten, and everything started from zero! I did the course in my free time outside my main job.

A year later (in 2019), I started thinking about where to develop next and what to try my hand at, and decided to take the course! I bought a 12-month premium subscription again and set out to reach my goal! This time I set myself a deadline and told myself I'd work at least 2 hours a day! I also wanted to build a habit of keeping a log where, after each session, I noted what I'd done that day and how much time it took! At first I was close to quitting because of the tracking, but then, thanks to Habit!, this log started to energize me and motivate me to work harder! I still did the course in my free time outside my main job.

Before the course, I only had a vague idea of what a software tester's job actually involves; I worked as an NDT specialist (quality control of metal structures). So you could say I came here with a complete zero in this field!

After 4 months I finished the course, passed the exam, and received my Junior QA certificate!!!

Now I want to answer those who ask: how long does the course take? And how long does it really take to finish?

Afterward, I analyzed and totaled the statistics from my log: completing the course, including passing the exam, took me 86 days (210 hours)! On average I studied 2.44 hours a day! (This kind of analysis is a very handy thing!)

The hardest levels for me turned out to be 16 (automated testing) and 17 (load testing) (I think that's no surprise, but still)! I spent several days on each of these levels!!! (Maybe you'll manage to get through them faster!)

About the course, I want to say the following: there is a LOT of practice in this course! It's great when you can immediately back up your theoretical knowledge with practice! The instructors answered all my questions and gave me hints wherever I got stuck! I'm grateful to them for that! Rest assured, by going through this course you will definitely figure out whether this is your thing or whether you should keep looking for yourself elsewhere...

Thank you very much to everyone who read all the way to this point!

I'll leave links to my calendar and my tracking log below, for anyone who's interested — go check them out!

It's all here:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1cQzt4mof2uqLbfy2Iv-HI7uREhA7wk7v?usp=sharing