Before Python, be solid on testing basics:
☐ SDLC and STLC
☐ Test case design: boundary values, equivalence partitioning
☐ Bug life cycle and writing clear bug reports
☐ Types: functional, regression, smoke, sanity, UAT
☐ Severity vs priority
Python makes you stronger; it does not replace these.

Weak:  'Knowledge of Python and automation.'
Strong: 'Built a pytest suite of 25 API tests for a public demo API,
         run in GitHub Actions on every push (link).'
Strong: 'Wrote a Python script that compares two CSV exports and
         lists mismatched records, used for regression data checks.'

from collections import Counter

def is_palindrome(s):
    s = "".join(ch.lower() for ch in s if ch.isalnum())
    return s == s[::-1]

def duplicates(items):
    return [x for x, c in Counter(items).items() if c > 1]

def second_largest(nums):
    unique = sorted(set(nums), reverse=True)
    return unique[1] if len(unique) > 1 else None

print(is_palindrome("Madam, I'm Adam"))   # True
print(duplicates([3, 1, 3, 2, 1]))          # [3, 1]
print(second_largest([5, 9, 9, 2]))        # 5

# Testers stand out by testing their interview code
import pytest
from solutions import second_largest

@pytest.mark.parametrize("nums, expected", [
    ([5, 9, 9, 2], 5),
    ([1], None),
    ([4, 4], None),
    ([-1, -5, -3], -3),
])
def test_second_largest(nums, expected):
    assert second_largest(nums) == expected

import csv

def load(path, key="id"):
    with open(path, newline="", encoding="utf-8") as f:
        return {row[key]: row for row in csv.DictReader(f)}

old, new = load("export_old.csv"), load("export_new.csv")
missing = old.keys() - new.keys()
added = new.keys() - old.keys()
changed = [k for k in old.keys() & new.keys() if old[k] != new[k]]
print("Missing:", sorted(missing))
print("Added:", sorted(added))
print("Changed:", sorted(changed))

import requests

ENDPOINTS = [
    "https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/posts/1",
    "https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/users/1",
]
for url in ENDPOINTS:
    try:
        r = requests.get(url, timeout=10)
        status = "OK" if r.status_code == 200 else f"FAIL {r.status_code}"
    except requests.RequestException as e:
        status = f"ERROR {type(e).__name__}"
    print(f"{status:12} {url}")

QA Job Preparation Plan
Testing basics: 1 topic per day (SDLC, STLC, test design, bug reports)
Python: 1 hour daily
  - Week A: syntax, strings, lists
  - Week B: dictionaries, functions, files
  - Week C: pytest and requests
  - Week D: one GitHub project + utilities
Coding problems: 3 per day
Mock interview: once a week

GitHub project for QA freshers
Repo: qa-portfolio
├── api_tests/        pytest + requests tests on a public API
├── utilities/        csv_compare.py, data_generator.py
├── test_cases/       manual test cases in a sheet or markdown
├── bug_reports/      2-3 sample bug reports from a demo site
└── README.md         what each folder shows and how to run

Interview Tracker
Company   Round          Questions asked              What I'll improve
_______   Online test    ______________________       ______________
_______   Technical      ______________________       ______________
_______   HR/Manager     ______________________       ______________