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Avoid being an SDET if you can

Software Development Engineer In Test (SDET) II
Current Employee
Has worked at Microsoft for less than 1 year
January 13, 2010
4.0
RecommendsDoesn't Approve of CEO
Pros

Microsoft is a great place to learn technical skills and how huge software projects are run. (It is not as organized and deterministic as you may think.)

The benefits are great, especially the medical insurance.

Cons

The review system depends on power balance between the different managers. So, it is very easy to get your promotion delayed if you have a weak manager.

Manual Testers (Test Engineer Role) have been eliminated from most parts of the company, so SDETs have to balance writing automation and doing manual-type testing. This causes many SDETs to compromise in one of them to get to the other, which causes bad bugs to slip and low-quality automation code.

The turnover rate in Test is so high that you always have more work than what you can do.

Advice to Management

Eliminate the SDET role and make automation a part of SDEs deliverables.

Get back Software Test Engineers to fill the gaps not covered by automation.

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