QA Engineer: Manual Testing vs. Automation Testing – Which to Choose?

The IT job market is dynamic, and the profession of QA Engineer is one of the most promising. Statista research indicates that the worldwide software testing market is estimated to be more than $40 billion, and the number is on the rise. Industries such as fintech, where security and functionality are not only desirable but also essential, are particularly important to test.

Today, a question arises before the aspiring specialists: choose manual testing or automation? We will discuss what each of these directions implies and what direction will be the best in your career.

What is a QA Engineer and What Role Do They Play in Development?

A QA Engineer (Quality Assurance Engineer) is a specialist who performs software testing at every stage of development. Their primary role is to identify mistakes and flaws before the product is delivered to final consumers.

For a QA engineer, one should view the system as a whole. They know that alteration in one aspect of the program may influence the functioning of other functions. It is dominoes – touch one tile and the response runs through the whole chain. This is why a tester should be able to think logically and predict potential outcomes.

In practice, this would appear as follows: a group of internet banking developers introduces a new quick transfer option. The QA engineer does not only test the transfer function itself but also interaction with the account balance, transaction history, push notifications, and the security system. One missed bug can cost the company millions and undermine customer trust.

Features and Advantages of Manual Testing

A Manual QA Engineer is an expert who performs software testing without the help of special automation software. They imitate the actions of real users, including even the mistakes that a person might make accidentally.

The work of a Manual QA Engineer:

Analyzes documentation – studies project requirements and technical specifications;

Plans testing – determines types, scope of work, and verification methods;

Develops test cases – creates detailed algorithms and checklists for verification;

Conducts testing -manually checks every function of the program;

Documents results – creates bug reports for developers;

Verifies fixes – retests corrected errors.

Manual testing is especially effective when you need to evaluate interface usability, user interaction logic, or find non-obvious errors. For example, an automated test might not notice that the “Pay” button on a mobile app is positioned so inconveniently that users constantly press the wrong thing. But a manual tester will immediately detect this.

What a Manual QA Needs to Know:

• Testing fundamentals: classification, methods, scenarios;
• Basic programming knowledge (HTML and CSS);
• Principles of database operation;
• Version control systems (e.g., Git).

Good news – you can start a career in Manual QA even without in-depth programming knowledge. This is an excellent start for those who want to enter the IT field.

QA Automation as the Future of Testing

A QA Automation Engineer is a more advanced specialist who develops automated tests in the form of scripts. When Manual QA is an artisan who inspects each detail manually, then Automation QA is an engineer who creates robots to do the routine job.

QA Automation responsibilities:

Planning test scenarios – determining what needs to be automated;

Writing automated tests – creating scripts in programming languages;

Analyzing results – interpreting data from automatic checks;

Updating code – maintaining the relevance of automated tests;

Technical documentation – explaining the logic of automation operation.

The World Quality Report states that organizations that automate their tests save 30-40% of time-to-market and save up to 50% of testing costs. That is why the demand for automation specialists is always increasing.

Technical Stack of Modern QA Automation:

Programming languages: Java, Python, JavaScript/TypeScript;

Web automation: Selenium, Cypress, Playwright, Puppeteer;

Mobile automation: Appium (critically important given the growth of the mobile market)

API testing: Postman, REST Assured, Karate;

No-code/Low-code tools: Katalon Studio, TestComplete, Ranorex (intermediate stage between Manual and full Automation);

CI/CD integration: Jenkins, GitLab CI, GitHub Actions.

An automated test is used in a large e-commerce company to verify the order process after every update of the code. In the past, a manual QA took 2 hours to check all payment, delivery, and discount options manually. Now it is done in 10 minutes by the automated test and can be repeated dozens of times per day.

A tester in automation spends about 75-80% of working time writing code. It is no longer testing but a full-fledged infrastructure development to control quality.

AI Tools in Testing

The artificial intelligence revolution has not bypassed the testing field. AI assistants are actively used by modern QA engineers to enhance productivity and the quality of work.

AI Assistants for Writing Test Cases and Code:

GitHub Copilot – auto-completes automated test code, proposes ready-made patterns to common testing situations, creates test cases depending on the context;

ChatGPT/Claude – assists in creating test cases, describing complex concepts, creating test data, and debugging;

Tabnine – specialized AI assistant for developers that learns the team’s code style.

Usage example: A QA engineer describes the desired test scenario to GitHub Copilot in a natural language comment, and the tool generates complete automated test code with the correct structure and assertions. This saves up to 40% of the time in writing routine tests.

Self-Healing Tests:

Test fragility is one of the largest issues of automation – each UI change needs to be updated manually with selectors. Machine learning solves this issue with self-healing tools:

Testim – automatically corrects tests when locators of elements change;

Healenium – open-source Selenium solution that “heals” broken locators;

Mabl – platform with built-in self-healing mechanism and AI assistant.

These tools save 60-70% of automated test maintenance time, enabling testers to develop new test scenarios rather than repair old ones.

Comparison: Manual vs. Automation

The question of “which is better” is wrong. It is more appropriate to say “What is better for me now and my career goal?” Let’s consider a detailed comparison:

In reality, the most effective QA engineers are those who integrate the two methods. They know when it is worth automating and when manual testing will be more productive. As an example, manual testing of a new mobile app design is preferable, whereas API regression testing is to be automated.

Criterion	Manual Testing	Automation Testing
Entry barrier	Low. Can start without programming	High. Programming skills required
Salary (Junior)	$600-800	$900-1200
Routine level	High. Repeating the same tests	Low. Robots handle routine
Code requirements	Minimal (HTML/CSS understanding)	High (75-80% time on code)
Testing speed	Slow	Fast (10-12 times faster)
Best scenarios	UX/UI testing, exploratory testing	Regression, API, load testing

How to Start a QA Engineer Career?

Step 1: Learning the Basics

Begin with testing theory – this is the basis that everybody must have. Types of study testing, methodology, and software development lifecycle. Free resources are sufficient to begin with: online courses, YouTube channels, blogs of experienced testers.

Step 2: Practice on Real Projects

You should not wait until you get a job to start practicing! The following are legal testing platforms:

uTest (Applause) – worldwide crowdtesting platform where you can get a real experience and earn your first money. Companies pay for bugs found;

GitHub Open Source – search projects with labels “good first issue” or “help wanted”. Practice recording bugs and creating issues;

Test IO – another crowdtesting site that has earning potential;

Public test sites – DemoQA, Automation Practice, The Internet (Herokuapp) are created specifically for practice.

Create test cases, find bugs, describe them according to all rules. This will be your portfolio that you’ll show in interviews.

Step 3: Learning Tools

For Manual QA: master Jira, Trello, TestRail, Postman (for API).

For Automation: begin with a single programming language (Python is the easiest to learn) and a simple framework (Selenium/Pytest).

Step 4: Soft Skills for Remote Work

Since the IT field remains largely remote, these skills are critically important:

Asynchronous communication – the possibility to explain bugs in written form clearly without having to make video calls all the time. Your bug report must be clear enough that the developer can replicate the issue without further inquiries;

Self-management – the possibility to organize the working process independently, to set priorities, and to meet deadlines without being supervised all the time;

Text communication – most communication occurs in Slack/Teams. Capacity to formulate thoughts concisely and clearly;

Critical thinking – capacity to foresee potential issues and edge cases;

Attention to detail – not a single bug should escape attention;

Stress resistance – IT deadlines are the order of the day, you must be able to work under pressure.

Step 5: First Job

Look for Junior or trainee positions. Many companies are willing to hire beginners without experience but with a good theoretical foundation and examples of independent work. Your goal is to get into a team where there are experienced QA professionals who will teach you. 

Elena began her career as a Manual QA Trainee in a small outsourcing firm. During the initial six months, she was manually testing web applications, learning JavaScript at the same time, and learning how to use GitHub Copilot to learn code. A year later, she transferred to a Junior Automation QA role and started to write simple automated tests with Playwright. Two years later, she was already a Middle QA Automation Engineer who knew TypeScript, Cypress, CI/CD processes, and had experience working with Appium to test mobile applications. Her salary increased three times during this time.

Conclusions

The demand for QA Engineers continues to grow, especially in industries where security, functionality, critical. Choosing between manual testing and automation testing depends on your career goals, the specific project, and the stage of development. The most effective QA Engineers combine both approaches, leveraging the strengths of each.

Manual testing is an excellent starting point for entering the QA field without in-depth programming knowledge, allowing testers to focus on logic, usability, and identifying subtle bugs. Automation testing, on the other hand, improves efficiency, reduces testing time and costs, and modern AI tools make creating and maintaining automated tests much easier.

In our company, we occasionally have openings for QA positions, which you can explore on our vacancies page.

And if you need a team of professional QA testers for your projects, New Line Technologies provides dedicated QA services that ensure high-quality testing, smooth product delivery, and reliable results. Get in touch with us today to discuss your project and see how our QA experts can help you deliver flawless software.