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Being a computer science student i chose to go for web development, i learned basics of it and started working. In past six months i had worked with an IT startup where i worked on products using latest web technologies (NODE REACT MONGO BOOTSTRAP). Now i got a college placement to one of the renowned and established testing company using these skills as they also have a developer wing. But now they are putting me into automation test engineering and assuring me that if they required any specific skill for any product they will transfer me to that. Now i am not sure to it and either if i should go for automation testing engineering or i should drop it as i wanted to be developer?

I am a fresher but have a good self learning capabilities. Please help me regarding this as i am so much confused.

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  • I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because We cannot help you make a specific career choice. These decisions are very personal and are beyond the scope of this stack. – Richard Says Reinstate Monica Jun 12 '18 at 16:24
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    If you know what an automation testing engineer does, that should help you figure out whether it's something you want to do or to which extent the skills you use there would be helpful for your future as a developer. If you don't know what an automation testing engineer does, you should ask one, or someone in your company who would know. Although I wouldn't recommend just refusing the transfer, as that could get you fired. – Dukeling Jun 12 '18 at 16:27
  • @Crossedtheriverstyx I think this is on topic if he was hired under false assumption. It's hard to determine if he was interviewed and selected for a dev role but was placed in a qa role. If that is the case, I think this is on topic but otherwise the OP never gave information if he was hired under a different assumption. – Dan Jun 12 '18 at 16:55
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I was faced with the same decision and I ended up picking test automation engineer position, because I thought I could easily switch into software development. I was very wrong. Test automation is very similar to, but not the same as software development. While you will be coding, you will be working on internal software rather than customer-facing software. The difference is subtle, but important, because the stakes are very high and the deadlines more aggressive in software development.

What's more important is that it can be difficult to convince other companies that you have what it takes to be a software engineer having only been in test automation. I ended up getting my graduate degree and making the switch to software engineer then.

My recommendation is that if your heart is set on being a software engineer/developer, then work hard to get that position! Because making the switch later might be actually harder than you thought.

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  • It depends where you are in your life. With no experience, your first two jobs can set the tone for your whole career. Sometimes worth taking less money to get on the right path. When you're 50, you have a long history to point to in order to convince people that your last job is not all that you are. – Wesley Long Jun 12 '18 at 16:49
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Now i am not sure to it and either if i should go for automation testing engineering or i should drop it as i wanted to be developer?

You should place your career first and decide what is the path you want to follow and go for it. One should never accept a job offer that you are not comfortable with, or that is not what you were looking for.

They say that if they need your skills they will transfer you there... but there is no guarantee that they will even have that need, or that they will indeed honor their word.

I suggest you give this a thought, and decide if you are willing to go for this with the hopes of one day being transferred to the area you prefer.

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