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This is the starting point of my journey in finding my career path. After several years of studying Graphic Design, I found myself stepping into a completely different world — software and hardware testing. Now, I’m figuring out what comes next.
My background
I graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Graphic Design from UCA, and I have no regrets. I had an amazing time learning new techniques such as typography, lino printing and letterpress, as well as more technical software like Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and After Effects.
When I finished university, I took on my first role as a Social Media Associate in the charity sector. I created email content for donors and managed daily posts reaching thousands of people, growing the organisation’s follower count by almost 7,000.
On Sundays, I worked at Boots on the tills — I know, nightmare! We had our good days and our bad days, but it taught me a lot. I developed patience, resilience, and the ability to work as part of a team, especially in stressful situations.
💻 How I ended up in tech
Tech wasn’t something I originally planned to go into. My earliest exposure was GCSE ICT — which, looking back, I really enjoyed.
Coming from a design background, I’ve always been curious about how products are created and what it takes to bring an idea to life. Working as a Manual Tester gave me a glimpse into that process from a completely different perspective.
Seeing the final product out in the real world is exciting. To most people, it’s simply something that works and serves its purpose — but for me, it represents much more. I see the challenges behind it, the problem-solving, and the amount of effort it took to get there.
In August 2024, I joined Sparta Global, where I trained as a Manual Tester before being placed with a client that manages London’s largest transport systems. Over the past 1.5 years, I’ve gained hands-on experience working with the hardware systems, writing and executing test cases, and managing defects within test environments. It’s been a steep learning curve — but an incredibly valuable one.
What’s next
After finishing my time with my first client, I finally had the space to reflect on what I want to do next. Do I continue down the path of a Manual Tester — the path I was initially placed into — or is there something else out there that might suit me better?
Right now, I don’t have a clear answer. I’m not sure whether I’ll continue purely as a Manual Tester or branch into something else or revert back to design👀, but this blog is where I’ll document that process — the decisions, the learning, and everything in between.
This is the beginning of that journey.