Software Testing Skills Training with automation and AI
Build testing capability in your development team – without hiring dedicated QA specialists
Most SME dev teams don’t have enough testers – and most testing training assumes you do. This 15-18 month programme is different. It builds testing capability into your existing team through real projects and monthly group learning. Hire in an apprentice or upskill a developer, PM, or technical team member to strengthen your quality processes. Cost-neutral for most SMEs through skills levy funding.
15-18 months ~6 - 8 hours/month interactive group training and 1-1 coaching plus supported work on real projects
Fully funded through the skills levy for most SMEs - typically cost-neutral with levy transfer arrangements
Cost-neutral
for most SMEs via levy transfer
Monthly model
just 6 hours/month formal training
First cohort
starts Jan/Feb 2026
Real work focus
learning through actual projects
Why Most Testing Training Doesn't Work for Small Teams
Enterprise testing training assumes you have dedicated QA teams, expensive test automation tools, and formal processes. Most SMEs don’t.
The reality for smaller dev teams:
- Testing is everyone's job (but no one's specialty)
- You need practical testing skills, not enterprise frameworks
- Bugs slip through because testing isn't systematic
- Automated testing feels out of reach
- You can't justify hiring a dedicated tester (yet)
What you actually need
Testing capability embedded in your team. People who understand quality, can write effective tests, and improve your processes – without requiring a whole QA department.
That’s what this apprenticeship builds.
Businesses Who Benefit
This apprenticeship is designed for SME development teams who:
- Ship software but testing feels inconsistent
- Need better quality processes without enterprise overhead
- Want to upskill existing technical team members
- Can't justify (or afford) dedicated QA specialists yet
- Use agile/lean processes and need testing that fits
- Build products or services that need systematic quality checks
People Who Thrive
This apprenticeship works brilliantly for:
- Developers (junior or senior) who want to specialize in testing
- Project managers with technical background
- Technical support people ready to move into QA
- Operations staff who handle deployments and catch issues
- Anyone in your team who's detail-oriented and wants to own quality
They don’t need to be expert testers already – they need aptitude, curiosity, and willingness to learn systematic approaches.
Core Testing Capabilities
- Test strategy and planning for different contexts
- Manual testing techniques and exploratory testing
- Test automation fundamentals (suitable for SME budgets)
- API testing and integration testing
- Accessibility and usability testing
- Security testing basics
- Bug tracking and quality metrics
- Working within agile/lean development processes
Practical skills for real teams – not enterprise test management frameworks.
How Training Works:
Monthly learning rhythm:
- Group session at start of month (3 hours) - new testing practice, tool, or approach
- Apply it at work during the month - on your actual projects and codebase
- Group coaching at end of month (2 hours) - share what worked, learn from others
The rest of their time is “off-the-job training” – which means practicing these skills through real testing work in your team.
They’re improving your quality processes while they learn.
Testing Training That Fits SME Reality
Most testing apprenticeships are designed around enterprise contexts – dedicated QA departments, expensive tools, formal processes, and large teams. Ours is different.
- Practical testing approaches that work without enterprise tools
- Monthly rhythm that doesn't disrupt sprint cycles
- Learning through real projects, not theoretical scenarios
- Peer learning from other SMEs solving similar challenges
- Focus on building systematic quality, not checkbox compliance
From the team behind industry-leading technical apprenticeships. We know how testing fits into high-performing development teams because we work in those teams. Our trainers are active testing and development professionals, not career educators.
This isn’t academic testing theory. It’s the practices that actually ship quality software in resource-constrained environments.
Partnering with The Coders Guild has not only upskilled our team but ingrained a culture of innovation and agility in our operations. Our turnover increased significantly thanks to their funded training programs.
Sam Raife
Brand Ambition
The Coders Guild offered clear and practical insights into generative AI, which we’ve started applying in our business. The course was well-structured and relevant to our needs, making the learning process straightforward and effective.
Michelle Stubbs
Delemere Manor
How It Works
This is government-funded workplace learning. Maximum funding available is £18,000 per apprentice.
If you pay the skills levy, it comes from your levy pot.
If you’re an SME (most tech companies), you may pay up to 5% – but we typically arrange levy transfer to make it cost-neutral.
We handle all funding admin, compliance, and reporting.
What You Actually Pay
The training: Typically £0 for SMEs (via levy transfer)
Their salary: You pay their existing wage (they’re already working for you, or you’re hiring them in)
Your time: Minimal – monthly check-ins, support for their testing projects
Most teams find the quality improvements (fewer bugs, faster releases, better processes) justify the time investment within months.
Build Testing Capability Into Your Team
Build Testing Capability Into Your Team
First cohort starts January/February 2026, with rolling enrolment after that.
Talk to our team to:
- Confirm levy transfer eligibility (usually cost-neutral)
- Identify which team members would benefit most
- Understand how this fits your development process
- Register for the next cohort
Want to Become a Software Tester?
Want to Become a Software Tester?
If you’re interested in this apprenticeship, you’ll need to either:
- Be employed by a tech company willing to support you through it, or
- Apply through our recruitment process to be matched with an employer
What Your Team Gains
For Your Team Member
- Structured testing expertise across manual and automated approaches
- Nationally recognised Level 4 qualification
- Experience improving quality in a real development environment
- Understanding of testing strategy and risk-based approaches
- Peer network of testers from other SME tech teams
- Career progression in quality engineering
For Your Business
- In-house testing capability and quality advocacy
- Fewer bugs reaching production
- Faster, more confident releases
- Systematic testing processes that scale with you
- Reduced reliance on external QA contractors
- Team member who understands both your product and quality practices
FAQs
FAQs
Do I need to know how to code to be a software tester?
You can start in testing without coding skills, but you’ll need to develop some technical capability for career progression:
Entry-level manual testing: No coding required initially. You can learn testing fundamentals, execute tests, and document bugs without programming.
However, coding becomes important because:
- Test automation requires programming skills
- Understanding code helps communicate with developers
- Technical testing roles pay more than manual testing
- Pure manual testing roles are declining
- Career advancement increasingly requires technical skills
What you actually need:
- Initially: comfort with technology, willingness to learn technical skills
- Within 1-2 years: basic programming for test automation
- For senior roles: solid programming ability, automation expertise
Think of coding as something you’ll develop over time, not something you need day one. Many successful test automation engineers started with zero coding knowledge and learned through practical application.
Languages used in testing: Python, JavaScript, Java, C# are most common. Python is good starting point for beginners.
What's the difference between QA and testing?
The terms are often used interchangeably, but technically they’re different:
Software Testing: The activity of executing software to find bugs. Testing checks whether software works correctly by running it and comparing actual behaviour to expected behaviour.
Quality Assurance (QA): Broader concept covering all activities that ensure quality. QA includes testing but also covers processes, standards, reviews, prevention activities, and quality culture.
In practice:
- “QA Engineer” and “Software Tester” job titles often mean the same thing
- Both roles involve testing software and finding bugs
- “QA” sounds more strategic and often pays slightly more
- Modern QA emphasises building quality in, not just testing it in
Quality Engineering: Newer term emphasising engineering approaches to quality – automation, continuous testing, metrics, quality infrastructure. Quality engineers are more technical than traditional testers.
Don’t worry too much about terminology. Read job descriptions to understand what role actually involves rather than focusing on whether it’s called QA, testing, or quality engineering.
Is manual testing dying? Should I focus on automation?
Manual testing isn’t dying but it is evolving:
What’s declining:
- Repetitive manual regression testing (automation does this better)
- Scripted manual testing following detailed test cases
- Manual testing completely separate from development
- Pure manual testing roles without any technical skills
What remains valuable:
- Exploratory testing – humans thinking creatively about what could go wrong
- Usability testing – understanding user experience
- Testing new features before automation exists
- Edge case investigation requiring human judgment
- Accessibility testing requiring human evaluation
The future is combination:
- Modern testers do both manual and automated testing
- Manual testing focuses on areas requiring human judgment
- Automation handles repetitive, predictable testing
- Technical skills increasingly necessary
Career advice:
- Start with manual testing fundamentals – they’re important
- Develop automation skills within first 1-2 years
- Aim for T-shaped skills – broad testing knowledge, deep automation capability
- Don’t ignore manual testing skills, but don’t rely on them exclusively
Pure manual testing without technical skills provides limited career progression. Combining exploratory testing skills with automation capability creates strong career foundation.
What's the best test automation tool to learn?
The “best” tool depends on context, but here’s practical guidance:
For web automation, start with Selenium WebDriver:
- Most widely used web automation tool
- Most job postings mention Selenium
- Large community and resources
- Works across browsers and languages
- Free and open-source
Consider Cypress or Playwright if:
- Working with modern JavaScript applications
- Want faster test execution and better developer experience
- Willing to invest in newer tools with growing but smaller job market
For API testing:
- Start with Postman – accessible and widely used
- Learn REST Assured (Java) or requests library (Python) for automated API testing
For mobile:
- Appium is most common for mobile automation
- Consider Espresso (Android) or XCUITest (iOS) for native apps
Practical approach:
- Learn Selenium with Python (good for beginners) or JavaScript
- Once comfortable with one tool, learning others is faster
- Don’t get paralysed choosing – pick one and start
- Understanding automation concepts matters more than specific tool
Most important is learning automation thinking – how to write maintainable tests, design frameworks, handle waits and synchronisation, debug failures. These concepts transfer across tools.
Can I become a tester without a degree?
Yes. Testing is one of the most accessible tech careers without degree requirements:
Why degrees matter less in testing:
- Practical skills and experience valued over academic credentials
- Portfolio and certifications can demonstrate capability
- Many successful testers don’t have degrees or have unrelated degrees
- Testing fundamentals can be learned through online resources and practice
What matters more than degrees:
- Demonstrable testing skills through portfolio projects
- ISTQB or other testing certifications
- Practical experience, even if volunteer or personal projects
- Understanding of testing concepts and techniques
- Good communication and analytical skills
Getting started without degree:
- Take online testing courses (many free)
- Build portfolio by testing open-source projects or websites
- Get ISTQB Foundation certification
- Learn test automation basics
- Apply for junior testing positions emphasising your practical skills
Reality check:
- Some large corporations prefer degrees for initial screening
- Startups and SMEs often more flexible about education
- Once you have experience, degree matters even less
- Technical testing roles sometimes prefer degrees but practical skills can compensate
Many testers successfully built careers without degrees by demonstrating capability through certifications, portfolio work, and practical experience. Focus on building demonstrable skills rather than worrying about lack of degree.
What does a typical day look like for a software tester?
It varies by organisation and role, but might include:
Morning: Daily standup with development team. Review overnight test runs and investigate failures. Check bug reports and verify fixes from developers.
Mid-morning: Review requirements for new feature being developed. Work with product manager and developers to understand expected behaviour and identify test scenarios. Write test cases or plan exploratory testing approach.
Midday: Execute tests for feature ready for testing. Find bug in edge case – try to reproduce consistently, document steps clearly, attach screenshots, log in bug tracking system. Discuss with developer to ensure they understand the issue.
Afternoon: Work on test automation – write automated test for recently completed feature. Debug flaky test that sometimes fails. Update test documentation. Participate in sprint planning, providing testing estimates and identifying testing risks.
End of day: Regression testing for upcoming release. Review pull requests from developers, checking for testability issues. Update test metrics and test coverage reports.
Mix varies by role:
- Manual testers spend more time on exploratory and scripted testing
- Automation engineers spend most time writing and maintaining test code
- Quality engineers spend more time on strategy, metrics, and process improvement
Most days involve mixture of planned testing, investigating bugs, communicating with developers, and maintenance work. Variety keeps work interesting but can also mean frequent context switching.
How do testers and developers work together?
The tester-developer relationship is crucial for effective quality:
Traditional (problematic) model:
- Testers as gatekeepers saying “no”
- Adversarial relationship – testers find problems, developers defend their work
- Testing happens after development is “done”
- Tension and finger-pointing when bugs are found
Modern collaborative model:
- Shared responsibility for quality
- Testers involved early, reviewing requirements and designs
- Testing integrated throughout development, not after
- Testers and developers pair on complex features
- Focus on preventing bugs, not just finding them
Good working relationships involve:
- Mutual respect: Developers respect testing expertise, testers respect development challenges
- Clear communication: Good bug reports that help developers fix issues quickly
- Collaboration: Working together on testability, automation strategy, quality goals
- Constructive focus: Discussing “how can we improve quality” not “whose fault is this bug”
In Agile teams:
- Testers embedded in development teams
- Daily interaction and collaboration
- Shared team goals and metrics
- Cross-functional approach to quality
Best tester-developer relationships feel like partnership working toward shared goal of quality software, not adversarial relationship of QA police versus developers.
Should I get ISTQB certified?
ISTQB certification helps in some situations but isn’t essential:
ISTQB helps when:
- You’re early in testing career with little experience
- Applying to organisations that specifically request it
- You want structured way to learn testing fundamentals
- You’re in country/region where ISTQB is widely recognised
- You need something to demonstrate testing knowledge on CV
ISTQB matters less when:
- You have practical testing experience and portfolio
- Applying to startups or tech companies (often don’t care about certifications)
- You have strong test automation skills
- Your experience speaks for itself
Benefits:
- Provides structured learning of testing fundamentals
- Common vocabulary and concepts
- Some organisations require it
- Relatively inexpensive and can self-study
- Recognised globally
Limitations:
- Doesn’t guarantee practical testing ability
- Theory-heavy, light on practical skills
- Some find content outdated or not relevant to modern testing
- Doesn’t teach automation or technical skills
Recommendation:
- If starting out and it’s affordable: yes, get Foundation level
- If already working as tester: probably not priority
- If employers you’re targeting request it: yes
- Don’t pursue higher levels (Advanced, Expert) unless you have specific reason
ISTQB Foundation can help early career but practical skills and experience matter more long-term. Don’t let lack of ISTQB stop you applying for roles – many testers succeed without it.
Can software testers work remotely?
Yes, testing is generally very remote-friendly:
Testing works well remotely because:
- Most testing tools cloud-based or accessible remotely
- Test execution, automation, and documentation happen digitally
- Async work possible for much testing
- Bug tracking and test management tools designed for remote collaboration
Some considerations:
- Device testing: Testing across physical devices sometimes easier in-person, though cloud device labs help
- Junior testers: May benefit from in-person mentoring initially
- Collaboration: Discussing complex bugs or pairing on automation easier in-person but works remotely with good tools
- Time zones: Working with distributed teams requires coordination
Many testing roles now offer:
- Fully remote positions
- Hybrid arrangements (remote most days, in-person occasionally)
- Flexibility for experienced testers
Remote testing requires:
- Self-direction and time management
- Good written communication for bug reports
- Proactive communication about progress and blockers
- Comfortable working independently
Testing was one of first tech functions to widely adopt remote work. Many testers work remotely successfully, and remote testing positions are common in job market.
What's the career path after testing?
Testing can be long-term career or stepping stone to other roles:
Progression within testing:
- Junior Tester → Tester → Senior Tester → Test Lead/Architect
- Manual Tester → Automation Engineer → SDET → Test Architect
- Tester → Quality Engineer → Head of Quality
- Individual contributor or management track
Adjacent career moves:
- Development: Many testers transition to developer roles, bringing quality mindset
- DevOps/SRE: Testing background valuable for reliability and monitoring
- Product Management: Testing teaches deep product understanding
- Business Analysis: Testing develops requirements analysis skills
- Project Management: Testing provides understanding of delivery risks
Specialisation paths:
- Performance testing specialist
- Security testing specialist
- Test automation architect
- Quality engineering consultant
Common progressions:
- Many testers move into development or DevOps for better compensation
- Strong technical testers become SDETs or automation architects
- Some move into test management or quality leadership
- Others specialise in particular testing domains
What helps progression:
- Developing strong technical skills, especially automation
- Understanding development practices and tools
- Building strategic thinking and business awareness
- Specialising in valuable areas (performance, security)
- Leadership and mentoring skills
Testing provides solid foundation in software development and quality. How far you progress depends largely on technical skills you develop and direction you choose to take. Many successful developers, DevOps engineers, and product managers started in testing.
Next Cohort Starts January 2026
Next Cohort Starts January 2026
If your dev team needs better testing but you can’t justify dedicated QA specialists, this is how you build that capability cost-effectively.
Talk to our team to confirm eligibility, discuss which team members would benefit, and register for the first cohort.
