What Changed in the Software Testing Job Market This Year

# pip install pytest-playwright && playwright install chromium
from playwright.sync_api import Page, expect

def test_search_shows_results(page: Page):
    page.goto("https://demo.playwright.dev/todomvc/")
    page.get_by_placeholder("What needs to be done?").fill("Write API tests")
    page.keyboard.press("Enter")
    expect(page.get_by_test_id("todo-title")).to_have_text("Write API tests")

-- Verify that every order shown as "PAID" has a payment record
SELECT o.order_id
FROM orders o
LEFT JOIN payments p ON p.order_id = o.order_id
WHERE o.status = 'PAID'
  AND p.order_id IS NULL;
-- Expected result for a healthy system: zero rows

import requests

BASE = "https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com"

def test_create_post_returns_201_and_echoes_fields():
    payload = {"title": "QA", "body": "contract test", "userId": 1}
    r = requests.post(f"{BASE}/posts", json=payload, timeout=10)
    assert r.status_code == 201
    data = r.json()
    for key, value in payload.items():
        assert data[key] == value
    assert "id" in data

name: tests
on: [pull_request]
jobs:
  test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: actions/setup-python@v5
        with:
          python-version: "3.12"
      - run: pip install pytest requests pytest-playwright
      - run: playwright install --with-deps chromium
      - run: pytest -q

Title: Cart total ignores coupon after quantity change
Environment: Chrome 1xx, staging, test user qa01
Steps:
  1. Add item A to cart (price 500)
  2. Apply coupon SAVE10
  3. Change quantity from 1 to 2
Expected: Total = 900 (1000 minus 10%)
Actual:   Total = 1000 (coupon removed silently)
Severity: High   Priority: High
Attachments: screen recording, console log

ID    | Scenario                         | Expected
------|----------------------------------|--------------------------
TC-01 | Valid email + valid password     | Dashboard opens
TC-02 | Valid email + wrong password     | Error, no account details
TC-03 | Empty email field                | "Email is required"
TC-04 | Password at max length (64)      | Accepted
TC-05 | Password one over max length     | Validation message
TC-06 | 5 wrong attempts                 | Temporary lock message

Month: ______  Posts reviewed: ___ (aim for 20)
Titles: QA Engineer ___  SDET ___  Automation ___  Manual ___
Tools: Selenium ___ Playwright ___ Cypress ___ Postman ___
Languages: Java ___ Python ___ JavaScript ___
Also asked: SQL ___ CI/CD ___ Performance ___ Mobile ___
Domains mentioned:

Top 3 gaps from this month's posts:
1.
2.
3.
Project to close gap 1:
Project to close gap 2:
Practice for gap 3 (e.g. 20 SQL questions):
Deadline:

Phase 1: Programming basics (Python or Java)
Phase 2: One UI framework + page objects
Phase 3: API testing in code + SQL checks
Phase 4: CI pipeline + reports; polish repo
Keep using your manual testing strengths:
domain knowledge, test design, exploratory testing