With automation, continuous integration, agile, and a slew of other testing innovations, the field has evolved into something new. However, one of the major issues that many testers are running into is that while the occupation itself is expanding, their own personal growth isn’t keeping pace.

If you’ve been in software testing for a while, you’ve likely seen the major shifts the industry has taken. Melissa Tondi identifies a couple of them in the history of testing and talks about their impact on the discipline, on jobs, and on what skills are sought after, as well as how to continue adding value.

Job titles are useful for giving a quick idea of a person’s skills and responsibilities. But nowadays in the tech world, a job title alone does not say as much as it used to. Some titles are ambiguous, and some can even encourage a kind of false hierarchy based on how fancy they are. Is there a better way?