QA Course

Manual Testing from Scratch +
AI-applications Testing
+ | Internship in 🇺🇸 tech company

Why do only up to 30% of all students who complete some courses get jobs in tech,

while 69% get jobs after completing others?

Is your aim not just to complete a QA course but to actually get a tech job? Then let's talk about the important aspects of QA education that critically affect the launch of an tech career. They are never mentioned on mass tech course websites, and students only discover them when looking for a job.

Let's talk about them in depth, as QA engineers should (some students joke that they learned more from this landing page than from the entire previous course they took).

1. Is QA easy?

(spoiler alert: no)

The World Economic Forum projects that while 92 million legacy roles will be displaced by 2030, 170 million new positions will emerge in their wake. Employment growth is most pronounced within high-tech and AI-driven sectors.

However, as technological complexity scales, the barrier to entry for prospective talent is rising. Consequently, securing a role in the tech industry has become significantly more challenging than it was a decade ago.
Are the doors to tech open for me?
Yes and no.
The software development market continues to face a critical shortage of qualified professionals.

This talent gap is particularly acute within the quality assurance (QA) sector. Their role is mission-critical, as the stability and reliability of the final product depend entirely on their oversight. Notably, a traditional technical degree is not a prerequisite; a comprehensive, high-quality QA training program is often sufficient for entry.

Read about 20 pros of working in tech.
Then what's the catch?
The profession of a QA engineer, like any other, is not suitable for everyone. Employers want to see only those who really have a knack for tech in general and testing in particular.
But I was told that QA is the easiest way to get into tech, and anyone can master this profession without any problems.
That's not true. It's really easy to become a QA engineer who “checks that buttons are displayed and pushed correctly.” But it's difficult for such a specialist to find a job later on.

Conversely, developing expertise in Linux, debugging three-tier architectures, or testing AI-driven applications requires a significantly higher level of technical proficiency. However, the long-term career trajectory for professionals with these advanced competencies is significantly more promising.
Oh, then it's probably not for me. I'm already 35 and I've never had any experience with computers.
There is no need to make hasty decisions. The average age of our students is 35. And according to our experience, former teachers and accountants make the best QAs.
So how can I tell if QA is really good for me?
Take a free vocational guidance course “Should You Become a QA-engineer?” It is an honest career counseling course. Only 10% of students pass it successfully.
Therefore, if you hear “Yes, QA is a good git for you” as a result, it really is.
But because of the crisis and competition from thousands of students taking “platform” courses, isn't it harder to find a job in tech now than it used to be before?
Yes, there has been an increase in the number of QA course graduates in recent years. However, very few of them are truly qualified. As before, companies find it challenging to recruit prospective QAs.

Students with tech skills who have received high-quality education have no problem finding a job in tech after graduation.
It would be weird if the tech course website said otherwise. How can you prove it?
You can check the facts yourself. Mentorpiece is the only tech school that openly displays its results and publishes lists of all enrolled students and their final educational results: which tech company they now work for. Using these lists, you can personally check what percentage of enrolled students ultimately get a job.

2. Postman, Java, Python, Git, Docker, Charles, Linux, Selenium, Cypress, Playwright?

What core competencies are essential for securing your first role in tech? Conversely, which topics should you skip during your QA studies to avoid wasting time on material that rarely appears in interviews?

And, most importantly, what is the outlook for the emerging field of AI applications testing?
To pass an interview successfully, you need to know as many different tools and technologies as possible, right?
No. Bruce Lee said: "I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times".

Undoubtedly, there is a certain expected level of knowledge and technology that employers want to see. But it's more important to them what you already know how to work with rather than a superficial familiarity with dozens of different tools.
But if I don't know everything, won't I fail the interview?
The employer is trying to assess your tech skills. If they see that you are well acquainted with eight to ten tools and technologies, they will understand that you can learn the rest as well.

If you know a little bit about everything, it won't show your employer that you can master at least one tool to a sufficient level.
Okay, what is the minimum knowledge and skills required?
Here is the list:

Testing theory, processes, and documentation:

Applied testing and bug tracking systems:

Technologies and tools:

And what won't be needed?
Here is a list of things that a junior employee will definitely not need at their first job:
  • Test planning
    This is what leads do, not juniors.
  • JMeter
    Load testing is a separate field. It makes sense to study it after gaining some initial experience.
  • Prometheus, Kubernetes, Grafana, Kafka, RabbitMQ, Kibana
    Required in rare companies and for rare juniors.
  • AWS, Power BI, CAD, ERP (1C), CRM (Bitrix, SalesForce), BI, cryptocurrencies, Firebase, Appsflyer, Applovin, Appmetrica
    Required for specific companies, less than 10% of cases.
We're also cutting out the next thing:
  • Java Script, Java, Python, Selenium, Cypress, Playwright
    A novice QA does not need to try to master everything related to automation at the same time as manual testing. They already have dozens of technologies and tools to learn (see the list above).
What about mobile apps testing?
Mobile application testing is a separate segment of the tech market, occupying less than 20% of it. It only makes sense to study this type of testing if you want to focus specifically on mobile development.
But I saw a course that covers the basics of manual testing, automation and mobile application testing.
Tech schools often bundle manual testing, automation, and mobile development into a single curriculum to inflate course pricing.

Experience proves that this approach leaves graduates unable to perform manual, automated, or mobile testing at a professional level.

It is akin to a musician trying to learn every instrument simultaneously, or a doctor training in both dentistry and neurosurgery. No clinic would hire such a generalist for specialized care.

We recommend starting to learn automation or mobile apps testing after 6-12 months of working as a manual tester. Ultimately, this will be both more effective and cheaper.
But without knowledge of automation it's impossible to find your first job as a QA these days.
What is a realistic learning outcome within a three-to-four-month timeframe, assuming a 20-hour weekly commitment? You can acquire foundational proficiency in test design, requirements engineering, documentation, testing levels, databases, three-tier architectures, Linux, networking, service layers, development methodologies, and core automation principles.

To streamline your job search and increase competitiveness, you must also prioritize the most relevant, emerging technologies—above all, AI application testing.
What about AI testing?
Oh, this is a rapidly developing field! AI applications testing is one of the most promising areas at the moment. Most likely, in the near future, AI QA engineers will replace traditional ones.

It is, therefore, essential to acquire foundational knowledge in this domain, specifically regarding the fundamental differences between AI-driven systems and deterministic software, as well as the various categories of AI applications. Furthermore, gaining exposure to "vibe coding" is increasingly advantageous. Since 2024, Mentorpiece students have been completing internships at AI-focused companies, allowing us to build extensive, battle-tested expertise in the practical realities of AI application testing.
May I see an overall list of what needs to be studied?
Of course! Here is a detailed program of what is studied at Mentorpiece in the course “Manual Testing from Scratch + AI-applications Testing + a 4-month internship at a tech company.”

Please note that the program covers topics in depth that are not covered in other courses for beginners. For example, defect localization in three-tier applications or AI application testing practices.

 

The course also includes:

Duration: 4 months
Real business project: yes
Hours spent working on the project: 200+
Amount of standups: 40
Lead mentor: yes
Lead intern: yes
Opportunity to become the lead intern: yes
The opportunity to add experience to your resume: yes
The internship is not included in the course and its cost.
Internship is provided separately and free of charge.
FINAL EXAM-INTERVIEW
Individual: yes
Feedback: instantly
INDIVIDUAL MENTORSHIP ON INTERNATIONAL EMPLOYMENT
SDL Employment Course Interstate 60: yes
Assistance in preparing a resume: yes
Assistance in preparing cover letters: yes
Individual mentorship on employment: yes
Duration: until an offer is received

Course in numbers

80 / 160 / 200+ hours
theory / practice / internship
4 + 4
months
main course +
internship
15
students
maximum amount of
students in the group
71
years
experience of tech course mentors: 24+20+14+13

3. How to become a QA engineer in

🇺🇸🇨🇦🇳🇱🇵🇱🇦🇹🇭🇺🇭🇷🇷🇸🇨🇾🇮🇱🇦🇪🇬🇪🇦🇲🇰🇿🇰🇬🇦🇺?

The job search for tech immigrants does not differ fundamentally from country to country—the technical requirements for tech specialists are roughly the same everywhere. On the other hand, almost every country has its own characteristics that need to be taken into account when studying.

🇺🇸 USA, 🇨🇦 Canada, 🇳🇱 Netherlands, 🇵🇱 Poland, 🇦🇹 Austria, 🇭🇺 Hungary, 🇭🇷 Croatia, 🇷🇸 Serbia, 🇨🇾 Cyprus, 🇮🇱 Israel, 🇦🇪 UAE, 🇬🇪 Georgia, 🇦🇲 Armenia, 🇰🇿 Kazakhstan, 🇰🇬 Kyrgyzstan, 🇦🇺 Australia—tech companies in these countries now have our graduates working for them. And with each of them, during our employment mentorship, we had to dive into the nuances of how to find a QA job in the US, Europe and other regions.
What are the nuances?
Not all countries require only English language skills to work in tech. For example, one of our graduates found that it is practically impossible to find a tech job in Japan without a good knowledge of Japanese.
And what level of English is required to work in other countries?
B1 may be sufficient for performing technical duties as a junior QA. A more diverse vocabulary is required to pass interviews, so it is better to have B2.
How else do countries differ?
In certain regions, it is more advantageous to secure local, on-site employment. For instance, residing in the US while earning a non-domestic salary often makes it difficult to maintain an adequate standard of living.

Conversely, in many other regions, the most viable strategy is to target high-compensation remote opportunities. Take, for example, a recent graduate from Japan who secured a role at an Australian tech firm; the position required only English proficiency, leveraged favorable time-zone alignment, and offered compensation double that of the local Japanese market.
What other issues might there be?
In some countries, tech employers pay particular attention to formal education and certifications, while in others this is considered a low priority.

Due to cultural differences in some countries it is better to adapt your first and last names in your resume to sound more local.

Technical requirements for applicants may also vary from region to region.
I am specifically interested in the situation in country N.
A detailed analysis of the specifics of tech employment for relocates in all popular countries would fill a large book.

If you have a question about a specific country, you can contact us using the form at the bottom of this page. If we have alumni (employed graduates) in that country, we will share their stories with you.

4. Why do employers dislike tech courses?

Because they don't need passive onlookers, they need skilled workers. Employers expect you to contribute tangible value to the company within the first month of your probationary period.

Most QA training programs, whether free or paid, rely heavily on passive formats like webinars and pre-recorded lectures. While these are the most cost-effective formats for providers, they typically result in theoretical knowledge rather than actionable, practical skills. This is the number 1️⃣ out of three main reasons why most students of an average course fail to find tech jobs.
But after online lectures, you have to do homework—won't that help me acquire necessary practical skills?
It's difficult to make something more or less complex on your own the first time around if you've never done anything like it before.

When you watch a lecture, everything seems to be clear and easy. When you try to do it yourself later, it turns out that you do not understand anything.

Consequently, lecture-based courses typically assign overly simplistic homework, prioritizing rote memorization over the development of robust, practical skills.

Employers recognize that such candidates require extensive on-the-job training, which often makes them less attractive as entry-level hires.
What are the options?
Here are three main formats for online QA education:
  • Lecture
    The mentor demonstrates how to do the task and the students are watching.

    The result for the student: “I thought I understood everything during the lecture, but when it came to doing the homework, I had to consult ChatGPT.”

    ❌ practical skills
  • Webinar
    The mentor demonstrates how to do the task and the students ask questions.

    The result for the student: “I was able to question the mentor, but I did not complete any tasks myself.”

    ❌ practical skills
  • Workshop
    The mentor gives the assignment, the students do it while mentor is watching and giving hints.

    The result for the student: “We talked about different ways of solving the task, I tried to do it myself, we figured out the problems, the mentor checked how well I did it, then I answered the mentor's questions and now I'm ready to do a difficult homework assignment to reinforce what I've learned.”

    ✅ practical skills
There are combined formats as well. For example, a master class is basically a webinar + workshop.
So, in terms of results, is a workshop the best educational format?
Yes, because this is the only format where you perform real tech tasks on your own. Your mentor observes your decisions and gives you immediate feedback.

Other educational formats will not build real practical skills and will not make you more valuable for employers.

It is unlikely that you would be willing to undergo surgery performed by a doctor who studied through online lectures and has never performed a single operation.

Another analogy can be made:
If driving schools taught how to drive the same way as
QA courses do:
Lecture
"Today I am going to show you how to use the steering wheel, pedals and gearbox. Your homework assignment will be to find a car and try to do it yourself".
Workshop
"Now everyone gets into the car and, under the guidance of an instructor, practices starting the engine and shifting into first gear".
When it comes to driving a vehicle for a transport company, they don't need someone who knows how to drive.
They need someone who can drive.
Okay, but how will the mentor be able to observe each student's work and give them feedback if there are 30, 50, or more students in the study group?
Great question! That's exactly why courses don't like to organize workshops.

An online lecture can be attended by up to 100 students at the same time.
But in order for a mentor to be able to devote time to each student during a two-hour practical workshop, there should be no more than 15-20 people in the study group.

This means that online lectures can attract several times more students (and money) than workshops. That's why online lectures are such a popular format of education.
I see. So, the workshop format isn't beneficial for the course, but it is beneficial for me as a student.

But what about knowledge? If the mentor immediately gives us a practical assignment to do in the workshop, where do I learn the theory—what to do and how to do it? So, lectures are necessary after all?
No, it is possible and necessary to study without online lectures entirely.

The reality is that the information density of spoken communication is remarkably low. Lecturers articulating complex technical concepts typically speak slower than in casual conversation, often at a rate of 100 words per minute or less. A two-hour lecture typically yields only 90 minutes of actual instruction—roughly 9,000 words—after accounting for breaks and tangents.

9,000 words equate to approximately 20 pages, which a student can process in roughly 30 minutes. Furthermore, variable speaker diction, frequent repetition, and off-topic questions often lead to significant inefficiencies. Is this time well spent?

Would it not be more effective to deliver theoretical foundations in written modules, while reallocating all classroom hours to mentored practical application?
Maybe.

How do they usually do it on real tech projects? How do experienced middles and seniors pass on their knowledge to newbies?
They teach according to the “theory in text form + practice under the supervision of a lead mentor” scheme.

When you first join a project, you will be asked to read the technical documentation for it—that is, to study the theory.

After that, the lead or one of the middles will ask you to complete a real task. They will give you guidance on how to proceed and then provide feedback on what you did well and what could have been done differently.
Okay, I understand—it's better to spend as much time as possible in class doing practical work with a mentor, and I can read up on the theory myself beforehand.
That's right. And in order for the mentor to be able to devote time to you, there should be no more than 15-20 students in the group.

For example, this is how it is organized at Mentorpiece:
    1. Interactive textbook with online tests and simulators
    Includes all the necessary theory about testing.

    The students prepare for a practical workshop by reading the theory in the following chapter of the interactive textbook.

    ❓ If they have a question while reading the chapter, they can ask it in the study group chat or send a direct message to the mentor. In both cases, the workshop mentor will respond, not a curator/assistant/tutor/reviewer.

    Then, 24 hours before the workshop, each student must take an online test in the textbook.

    ❓ If the test is not passed, the mentor receives a notification about this in LCS (learning care system) and the mentor writes to the student to find out if they have any questions or need any help.

  • 2. Practical team workshop
    In Mentorpiece, absolutely all lessons of the course are exclusively practical workshops.
    A maximum of 15 students, one mentor and real QA tasks.

    At each workshop students work in teams, just like on a regular tech project—they look for ways to solve the problems with their classmates, while the mentor, acting as the project lead, guides and helps them. This gives students the practical skills that employers need so much.

    ❓ If a student still has questions at the start of the workshop, they can ask the mentor via Zoom at the beginning of the session.
    ❓ If they have a question while performing one of the practical tasks, they can also ask it aloud and the mentor will answer.
    ❓ If, at the end of the workshop, a student has questions about the homework assignment, they can also ask them.
    ❓ Asking questions is encouraged by the mentor, who makes sure that every student asks or answers a question during the workshop.
  • 3. Homework
    After the team workshop, students have 7 days until the soft deadline (or 14 days until the hard deadline) to complete their homework assignment.

    Since by this point the student not only knows how to do the assignment but also has practical skills, the homework is not just educational but as close as possible to real tech tasks.

    ❓ If a student has a question while doing their homework, they can ask it in the study group chat (where the mentor who led the workshop will respond) or directly to the mentor in a private chat.
    ❓ If a student has not submitted their homework after soft deadline, the mentor will contact the student to ask if they need any help.
    ❓ If a student suddenly has a lot of questions and doesn't know what to do, the mentor can answer their questions in a one-on-one Zoom call (unlimited and free).
    ❓ If several students suddenly have a lot of questions, they will receive answers in an additional session for the whole group—via Zoom voice chat.
    ❓ If the mentor's help is not enough, the student can contact the educational director any time for assistance via anonymous feedback, which can be filled out at the end of each study block (analyzed by the educational director on a weekly basis).
  • If you count the ❓, you can quantify how often a student receives direct guidance from a mentor with over a decade of industry experience throughout the program.

    This figure excludes the internship phase, where engaging in active inquiry is essential for bridging the gap between theory and real-world application.
    Do students enrolled in lecture-based online courses have equivalent opportunities to ask questions?

    In free courses, students are often limited to guidance from AI tools like ChatGPT, which are prone to occasional hallucinations.

    Conversely, paid programs often feature large cohorts, sometimes spanning hundreds of students. Consequently, live interaction is minimized; during homework, inquiries are typically fielded by junior teaching assistants rather than the senior mentor delivering the core content.
  • All of the above is done under the guidance of QA mentors with at least 10 years of tech experience.
    The minimal tech experience required for a Mentorpiece mentor is 10 years. There are no curators/assistants/tutors/reviewers (some of whom typically have no tech experience whatsoever).

    An experienced mentor works with a group of up to 15 students:
    The mentor makes sure you understand the theory
    The mentor answers all your questions
    The mentor conducts workshops with you
    The mentor helps you acquire skills
    The mentor checks your homework
    The mentor gives you feedback
Four QA mentors with 10+ years of tech experience answer the questions of 15 students.
  • Lilia Urmazova
    Founder of Mentorpiece, Chief QA Expert Mentor (AM)

    QA engineer since 2001,

    QA mentor since 2004.

    Worked in Star Software, Exigen Services, Grid Dynamics; worked as a mentor in Luxoft, Grid Dynamics educational centers. See more.

    I like QA because this profession allows me to participate in the entire software development process from A to Z and work with a lot of people at once.

    I am a good QA mentor because I am good at explaining complex things using simple examples, pictures, diagrams and tables.

  • Alexander Alexeev
    QA Expert Mentor in Test Design, DB, API, and WebUI / QA Lead at Dataloft

    Works in QA since 2011.

    Worked in Ontarget, Bank PSB PJSC.

    I like QA because it offers well-rounded professional development and requires me to constantly learn new things.

    I’m a good QA mentor because I love seeing people achieve what they set out to learn.

  • Nikolai Gladnev
    QA Expert Mentor in Linux, API Testing, and WebUI / QA Engineer at Exness (CY)

    Works in tech since 2011.

    Worked in Arrival, Aplana, Nexign, Humans Engineering.

    I like QA because it involves dealing with complex technical issues.

    I am a good QA mentor because I really love tricky questions from students.

  • Fedor Kulishov
    Network Expert Mentor / Lead Security Expert at Acronis (CH)

    Works in tech since 2005.

    Worked in several startups, NIIVOSKHOD, Positive Technologies.

    I like tech, especially security, because you always have to stay on top of things and there's always something interesting to explore. Plus, I'm surrounded by talented professionals who are passionate about their work.

    I am a good QA mentor because I enjoy seeing the excitement in my students' eyes, noticing their progress and receiving gratitude and kind wishes.

  • Maxim Usmanov
    Expert mentor in Git, Docker and AT / Lead QA Automation Engineer at Semrush (US)

    Works in tech since 2012.

    Worked in Deutsche Bank, Motorola Solutions, Digital Design.

    I like tech because it allows me to satisfy my inner perfectionist and contribute to improvement, since we are discussing QA.

    I am a good QA mentor because I like to explain complicated things in simple terms. This is the only way I know.

COMPARISON TABLE

  • To sum up, students will only acquire the maximum amount of practical skills when performing tasks that are as close as possible to real tech tasks in conditions that are as close as possible to tech conditions.
    Not as a result of watching lectures or completing homework assignments.
    But by working in a small team under the direct supervision of an experienced lead mentor.

    As one student said:
I got a call from some course offering to watch webinars for money. I asked, “Why would I do that? I can find that stuff for free on the internet.” I need practical experience.

5. You need experience to get a job, but you need a job to get experience?

Today, employers increasingly mandate prior technical experience, even for junior-level roles. Recruiters typically expect a minimum of three months of commercial experience, as anything less implies an incomplete probationary term.

Many QA programs advise candidates to list their training as professional work experience. Others suggest misrepresenting brief internships as comprehensive commercial engagements, or even fabricating a false employment history. All of this is deceiving the employer, which often gets discovered.
This is reason number 2️⃣ for low employment rates after most courses.
Why do even juniors need to have commercial experience in tech?
As we mentioned above, employers expect you to be able to do something useful for the company during your probationary period.

Candidates who rely solely on online coursework often lack the operational readiness required, forcing the company to invest significant time and resources into remedial training. Conversely, experience working on active technical projects significantly alters the hiring calculus.
But where can a junior get practical experience if they first need to get their first job?
This is a question for the courses, not for employers. Courses now teach many QAs, therefore employers have plenty to choose from.

Some courses give students full commercial experience.
However, most courses are physically unable to provide it.
Why not?
To answer this question, let's first look at what employers mean by full-fledged experience working on a commercial tech project:
  • 1. COMMERCIAL PROJECT
    Not a pet project, not a non-profit organization, not an open source project.

    Why: unpaid ventures rarely enforce rigorous performance standards. Consequently, low-skilled contributors or those with limited availability are frequently tolerated, which fails to simulate a professional environment.

    In contrast, commercial projects operate under vastly different expectations, primarily because stakeholders are financially accountable for the final outcome.
  • ✅ 2. WORKING WITHIN THE DEVELOPMENT TEAM OF A TECH COMPANY
    Not testing separate functionality “on the side”.

    Why: understanding complex technical requirements is nearly impossible without direct access to stakeholders. Similarly, grasping implementation nuances requires active, ongoing communication with developers. Lacking this collaborative loop, a QA engineer misses critical opportunities for professional development and project insight.

    In practice, at least half of a QA role involves navigating cross-functional collaboration with product owners, stakeholders, and the development team.
  • ✅ 3. FULL TECHNICAL STACK
    And not just testing some single part of the application.

    Why: testing solely the user interface (UI) results in insufficient exposure to back-end processes, leaving candidates unprepared to discuss API or database testing during interviews.

    In professional tech projects, QA engineers are typically responsible for testing the entire stack, spanning the UI, business logic, API endpoints, and database layers.
  • ✅ 4. MINIMAL DURATION IS 4 MONTHS
    Not a few weeks or a month or two.

    Why: the standard probationary period for new hires is three months. Experience totaling less than this often signals to recruiters that a candidate failed to clear their probation. This serves as a significant red flag for hiring managers and recruiters.

    Furthermore, firms are unwilling to invest time integrating an intern into the development team or training them on a full technical stack if their tenure is only a few weeks. The cost of onboarding often outweighs the potential productivity gains for short-term hires.
So why are most courses unable to organize a four-month internship within a commercial tech project with the entire stack?
This structural preference stems from the same economic constraint: the high cost of scaling practical, workshop-based instruction in mass education.

Most online training programs enroll cohorts spanning tens or hundreds of students. Conversely, commercial technical project teams typically consist of 5 to 15 specialists, including project managers, developers, QA engineers, analysts, and designers. A single project might accommodate five to ten interns, but certainly not fifty; most teams lack the capacity to effectively "onboard" and support a large influx of novices.

Consequently, a mass-market course would require dozens of concurrent technical projects to provide every student with authentic, full-cycle commercial experience. Sourcing these projects, negotiating partnerships, and managing months of intensive mentorship for each student represents a massive logistical burden.

No mass-market provider is likely to undertake this; it is far more cost-effective to simulate the work environment internally—essentially, creating an emulation of a real project.
What are the options then?
If there are no more than 15 students in a single study group, it is much easier to find a tech company that would be ready for a long-term commercial project with full onboarding of juniors.

Here's how it looks like in Mentorpiece's case:
1. COMMERCIAL PROJECT
✅ Only commercial projects—in 🇺🇸 American tech companies.

2. WORKING WITHIN THE DEVELOPMENT TEAM OF A TECH COMPANY
✅ Interns work as full-fledged QA engineers within the team.

3. FULL TECHNICAL STACK
✅ Testing of the UI, API, business logic layer, database and, as usual, AI functionality.

4. MINIMAL DURATION IS 4 MONTHS
✅ All Mentorpiece students must complete an internship. It lasts for a minimum of 4 months in either a “2 months during studies + 2 months after studies” format or a “4 months after studies” format, depending on the student's preference.

Outcome: students gain 4 months of legitimate, high-value commercial experience, which enhances their resumes and significantly improves their ability to clear initial HR screening processes. During interviews, candidates shift the narrative from theoretical academic knowledge to demonstrating how they personally implemented solutions within an active technical project. This significantly increases their success rate, often enabling them to secure their first technical role within two months of an active job search.

OVERALL COMPARISON

Want to see for yourself how internships are conducted?
✓ Video recordings of final retrospectives during internships
✓ Video reviews from managers of companies hosting internships
✓ Detailed reports from students and leads on the progress of internships
✓ Students' personal impressions of the challenges they faced
See reviews of Mentorpiece internships on the page.

6. When do students need help the most?

Attending classes and completing homework assignments is the easiest part of starting a tech career.

The true challenge emerges post-graduation: navigating a cycle of sending countless applications with minimal response rates, followed by high-pressure interviews that often fail to yield job offers. At this juncture, pre-recorded lectures offer little value, and even AI tools like ChatGPT provide insufficient support. Consequently, many graduates conclude that they have miscalculated their career pivot and ultimately revert to their previous field of work.
What kind of help did those who have made it to the offer stage receive ↴
I am not going to have any problems finding a job—I'm considering a course that guarantees employment.
It is essential to carefully review the course’s terms of service and public offering. Frequently, "guaranteed employment" is narrowly defined as simply arranging three interviews for the graduate. Even if those interviews fail to result in a job offer, the provider considers their contractual obligations satisfied.
So, is this a scam?
It is only considered a scam if the offer contains conditions that are obviously impossible to fulfill—for example, guaranteed employment requires completing all homework assignments with the highest possible grades.

In reality, most training providers lack the actual capacity to guarantee employment. Without rigorous entrance screening or standardized quality control during training, how can a provider credibly ensure that an underperforming or unmotivated student will emerge as a competitive job candidate?
Don't the career tracks offered by the courses help?
In most cases, career tracks only help you prepare your resume and cover letter. This is a useful activity—as long as the course doesn't encourage you to fake experience on your resume or “teach” you how to cheat during interviews.
What's wrong with making up fake additional experience?
Experienced interviewers can easily tell when a candidate has exaggerated their experience or is attempting to cheat. If a course encourages this behavior, it indicates that the student initially chose a low-quality education.
What other help could there be besides preparing resume and cover letter?
There should be someone who will work with you individually until you receive an offer. Someone who knows your strengths and weaknesses in terms of hard and soft skills and can guide you in the right direction based on this knowledge.
So, is this someone like my personal mentor?
That is accurate. While rare athletes have reached the Olympic podium without formal coaching, the vast majority rely on a mentor to excel. A coach sets the strategic pace, provides guidance, and offers essential support during critical moments.

Given that the job search process often spans several months, candidates require consistent support to navigate the path to the finish line.
What exactly does this mentor-coach do?
Here is the kind of assistance (we call it “individual employment mentorship”) that a mentor provides in the case of Mentorpiece:
  • At the beginning of individual employment mentorship, the mentor:
    Ensures that the mentee is ready to look for a job.
    Checks that the resume meets the required standard.
  • Furthermore, in each weekly sprint, mentor provides feedback on:
    Response strategies, profiles of companies to which the mentee responds.
    Тexts of individual cover letters.
    Networking, text of individual messages to interesting companies.
    Displayed artifacts.
    Completed test assignments (: Mentorpiece maintains a firm stance against completing test assignments on behalf of students—a practice unfortunately common in other programs. Instead, we treat the analysis of completed assignments as a vital concluding step in the learning process. Should a student have reservations regarding their work, they may review it with their mentor prior to submission. The mentor will then validate the underlying logic or indicate if the approach requires revision, without providing specific solutions).
    Analysis of interviews conducted (if the mentee recorded them), areas for improvement.
    Tactics for action after submitting a test assignment, passing an interview and so on.
  • Participants of the employment mentorship program receive:
    The mentor's accumulated experience with offers that have already been received (“this leads to an offer, this does not”).
    Protection in the company from the chief mentor through LinkedIn.
    Direct protection in the company from the chief mentor.
    Access to the job vacancy alert system.
    Answers to any questions from mentors and alumni.
    Sharing interview experiences with other mentees.
    Moral support from a mentor and other mentees (this is the simplest thing, but sometimes the most important when another rejection comes along).
  • Important: the coach-mentor is an experienced tech specialist (not HR).
    Mentorpiece does not rely on former HR professionals or inexperienced mentors for employment mentorship. any competing programs opt for HR personnel primarily due to cost efficiency, as their time is significantly less expensive than that of a senior QA mentor.

    While HR professionals are adept at guiding candidates through initial screening processes, their expertise is often limited to the administrative side of hiring. They frequently lack the depth of knowledge required for rigorous technical interview preparation and often fail to grasp the nuances of modern digital networking and technical job-search strategies.
What is the maximum duration of employment mentorship?
No time limit. The current mentorship record is six months. The student had a difficult situation and her choice of vacancies was limited.
But she and her mentor did not give up, and in the end everything turned out successfully—she received an offer for a remote position 6 months after joining employment mentorship.
Is individual employment mentorship available to all graduates?
Yes, everyone who successfully completes the course receives this opportunity.

7. How to waste money on a useless QA course?

✅ Good news - you can find many course reviews online.

❌ Bad news—about 30-40% of them are left by marketers.
How to check how many students on the course actually receive offers ↴
30-40%, seriously?
Unfortunately, according to various sources, around 30-40% of reviews posted online are fake. According to research by CHEQ and the University of Baltimore, fake reviews cause around $80 billion worth of damage to the global economy every year.

Since the online education market is competitive, the percentage of fake reviews about tech courses may be even higher.
So how can I find out what the course is all about and whether I will be able to get a job in tech after completing it?
Sharing our experience—a story of how we asked students to share their learning journey over the years:
  • 2016-2022—text reviews on our own website
    We previously published student success stories directly on the Mentorpiece website.

    Limitations of this approach:

    ❌ If a student leaves positive feedback saying “I got a job after completing the course,” this does not mean that other students got one too.
    ❌ Neutral or negative feedback is rarely volunteered by students, creating an inherent selection bias that undermines the credibility of the data, regardless of the company's willingness to publish it.
    ❌ Many QA courses began posting clearly fake reviews on their websites. As a result, applicants' trust in the reviews on the courses' own websites has dropped dramatically.
  • 2022—video reviews on YouTube
    To enhance the authenticity of our testimonials, we began requesting that students record video reviews.

    While this provided a temporary solution to the trust deficit, the subsequent rise of AI-generated content has made even video testimonials susceptible to fabrication. Furthermore, fundamental challenges persist: students remain hesitant to share critical feedback, and individual success stories still fail to address the broader performance metrics of the entire cohort.
  • 2023—feedback on review websites
    Because of these shortcomings, we started asking students to leave their feedback on review sites, since the course doesn't have access to it. It seems like they check if the reviews are real and everything is fair.

    We were, however, mistaken in our assessment of these platforms. Our findings revealed:
    ❌ Review platforms frequently monetize the ingestion of unverified positive reviews and the manipulation of aggregate ratings.
    ❌ Many providers engage in targeted negative campaigns against competitors, often bypassing the platform's verification mechanisms.
    ❌ Review sites themselves have been known to publish fabricated negative feedback to create a pretext for selling "reputation management" services to the affected courses.
In essence, low-integrity training providers often neglect educational quality, opting instead to "invest" in artificially inflated ratings. As an organization that prioritizes long-term student placement over aggressive marketing, we found this climate of unfair competition increasingly untenable.

We were eventually compelled to ask: how can we demonstrate the true efficacy of our curriculum with complete transparency? To address this, we transitioned to publishing full, transparent lists of our cohort, detailing the professional outcomes achieved by every graduate:
How to | any review about Mentorpiece
  • NA named list of all students enrolled in a specific academic group
    Our lists include every student who has attended at least one workshop.

    In many programs, attrition is high, with as few as 10% of the original cohort reaching completion. When evaluating a program, it is essential to investigate the attrition rate and, if possible, reach out to former students to understand the barriers to completion.

    Mentorpiece provides transparent, named lists, allowing you to contact any student from any cohort—whether they have successfully transitioned into a tech career or are still in the job-seeking phase.
  • Program Outcomes
    We provide a detailed record of every student’s outcome. For those who have secured employment in the industry, we include the name of their current employer.
  • Contacting Alumni via Telegram
    Each list includes Telegram contact information for every student. You are encouraged to reach out to any member of our cohorts directly to ask questions about their experience.
  • Contacting Alumni via LinkedIn
    LinkedIn is the premier global professional network. It is unique in its ability to verify employment by displaying all registered employees on a company’s profile, which effectively prevents individuals from making unauthorized claims of employment. Furthermore, LinkedIn’s identity verification processes during registration significantly reduce the prevalence of fraudulent accounts.

    You can view the LinkedIn profile of any graduate to verify their employment status or send them a direct message to confirm their experience.
  • Placement Rates
    Industry-standard placement rates for tech bootcamps rarely exceed 30%. By reviewing our detailed student rosters, you can verify for yourself that Mentorpiece graduates achieve significantly higher employment outcomes.
You can reach out to any student in any study group to hear firsthand about their academic or career experiences. This way, you’re guaranteed to get information directly from a real student, rather than trying to figure out whether an online review is genuine or fake.

You can also easily see how many students from each study group have landed jobs in tech.


Mentorpiece is the only tech school that publishes such named lists.

On your lists, I see that 69% of all applicants were employed in 2024. And on the website of another course, it says that 90% of their students find jobs.
Unfortunately, you can write anything you want on a landing page.

8. How much does it cost to take the QA course that shows results (literally)?

Which path will you choose: passive consumption of pre-recorded lectures, or hands-on collaborative problem-solving on real-world technical projects?

While lecture-based programs are lower in cost, they often necessitate subsequent investments in supplemental training to bridge the gap between theoretical knowledge and the practical skills required to secure employment. Conversely, a practitioner-led model featuring an intensive, long-term internship represents a higher initial investment. However, it more than doubles your probability of job placement, ensuring the program pays for itself within 2 or 3 months of your professional career.
How much did students pay for their education and how much do they earn now ↴
Price for one place in a study group of 15 students
+ 4 months long internship in 🇺🇸 tech company
+ employment mentorship prior to an offer
Installment plan “no obligation”
$816 per month
• 6 equal payments with no interest, fees or insurance
• no obligations: Mentorpiece offers installment plans without any paperwork
• if necessary, simply do not make the next payment to interrupt your studies
with 100% prepayment
$4'410
• 10% discount for a 100% prepayment
• if you need to interrupt your studies, you will receive a refund for the classes you have not attended

And if you book early, you can economize:

Even cheaper: these discounts can be combined with the discount for 100% prepayment.

  • 10%
    for the first 5 places in the study group
    10% discount for places
    #1,2,3,4,5 in the group.
  • 5%
    for the second 5 places in the study group
    5% discount for places
    #6,7,8,9,10 in the group.
  • 5%
    cashback
    5% cashback for you and 5% discount for a friend.
What is the salary in tech for graduates?
Thanks to the quality of education, graduates receive salaries above the market average.

We know this because we keep in touch with all our former students and conduct annual surveys among them about their salary levels.

9. 50+ frequently asked questions

— I am 35 years old. Isn't it too late to learn QA?

— How does an internship differ from a traineeship?

— When should I start looking for a job?

10. Entrance testing = your

confidence!

We do not charge students for tuition until both they and we are 100% sure that their tech career will start successfully. After all, just as not everyone can become a doctor, not everyone can become a QA engineer. By the way, this is reason 3️⃣ why many course graduates are unemployed—they were initially promised that QA is suitable for everyone.

International universities have entrance exams. Mentorpiece has a mandatory tech abilities entrance test in the form of a free vocational guidance course called “Should You Become a QA-engineer?” Only 10% of applicants pass it successfully and get the opportunity to enroll in the program.

1. Get a code to enroll in a free tech vocational guidance course and ask any questions you may have.

2. Take the vocational guidance course “Should You Become a QA-engineer?” completely free of charge.

3. Pay for QA education only if, after an individual interview with the chief mentor, you hear: «Yes, QA is right for you».

Get a code from the bot to enroll

in a free vocational guidance course:

or leave your contact details

(we will text you; we work seven days a week):

Author—Lilia Urmazova. 2001-2024—QA Engineer (Manual QA, Automation QA & Lead, QA Manager). 2024-Present—ML Evaluation Engineer & AI QA Engineer; currently Senior Staff ML Evaluation Engineer at a major international tech company. Additionally, 2004-Present—Mentor: helping hundreds of mentees secure offers in tech. Read more.