Manual testing fundamentals are still valuable — but automation is now table stakes for SDET and senior QA roles. This roadmap gives manual testers a concrete plan: what to learn, in what order, with what projects, over roughly six months.
Phase 1 (Month 1): Pick a language
Choose Java or Python. Java dominates enterprise testing (TestNG, Selenium, REST Assured). Python dominates data and AI testing. Don't try to learn both — go deep on one.
Phase 2 (Months 2–3): Master one automation framework
- Web — Playwright (modern) or Selenium (broad). Pick Playwright if you're starting fresh.
- API — REST Assured (Java) or requests + pytest (Python).
- Unit — JUnit 5 (Java) or pytest (Python).
Phase 3 (Month 4): Build a portfolio
- Automate a real open-source app (e.g. RealWorldApp, TodoMVC variants).
- Build a small CI/CD pipeline (GitHub Actions) that runs your tests on every PR.
- Add API tests for a public API (GitHub, JSONPlaceholder).
- Write a 1-page README explaining the architecture.
Phase 4 (Month 5): Production-grade patterns
- Page Object Model + custom fixtures.
- Test data factories + environment isolation.
- Reporting (Allure, ReportPortal).
- Parallel execution + flaky test triage.
Phase 5 (Month 6): Specialise
- Performance testing (k6, JMeter).
- Visual regression (Playwright, Percy).
- Contract testing (Pact).
- Cloud device farms (BrowserStack).
Further reading
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