I spent three years writing server code but never really understood how users actually experienced the apps I helped build. The testing concepts felt overwhelming at first – so many frameworks, so many edge cases to consider.

My breakthrough came in month four when our team found a critical memory leak in a food delivery app. Seeing how our testing prevented real user frustration made everything click. I realized testing isn't about finding problems – it's about protecting user experiences.

Coming from marketing, I understood user needs but had zero coding experience. The first month was intimidating – everyone seemed to speak in technical acronyms I'd never heard. I almost quit during week three when I couldn't get a simple automation script working.

Everything changed when I started focusing on the user stories behind each test case. My marketing background actually became an advantage. I could spot usability issues that pure developers missed, and I became the person teams came to for user-centered testing approaches.

Fresh out of university, I knew theory but had never worked on a real app with actual users. My code was clean but I had no idea how to systematically verify it worked across different devices and scenarios. University projects never prepared me for the complexity of real-world testing.

Working with career-changers in our cohort opened my eyes. They brought perspectives from healthcare, retail, logistics – industries I'd never considered. I learned that great testing requires understanding the business context, not just the code.

I'd been doing freelance web development for two years, mostly small business websites. Mobile apps felt like a different universe – performance considerations, battery usage, network connectivity issues I'd never encountered. I joined because I wanted to expand beyond basic websites.

The collaborative environment was crucial for me. Working alone for so long, I'd developed some bad habits and missed industry best practices. Having peers review my testing approaches and suggest improvements accelerated my learning tremendously.