§ 01

THE FLOOR

Skills you can't skip. Below this floor your resume doesn't get opened.

8MUST-HAVE SKILLS
Skills · ranked by prevalence
01Test Automation58.6%The job. Selenium-flavored.
02Python44.3%Test scripting language.
03Selenium42.6%The dominant UI tool.
04Java42.0%Test harness language.
05API Testing40.2%Backend-side test layer.
06Manual Testing38.0%Standard QA baseline.
07Agile35.6%Process baseline. Standard.
08Problem Solving35.0%DSA / interview gate.
On the bubble
Functional TestingTest Case DesignDefect TrackingPerformance TestingRegression TestingUI TestingIntegration Testing
Floor skills derived from validated qa & testing postings on the astrid.postingmeta collection at JUNIOR + ENTRY seniority.
§ 02

PICK YOUR TRACK

Sub-tracks within this profile. Picking one is non-optional.

01

TEST AUTOMATION

← THE DEFAULT
FA share63.9%of FA postings · n = 389
Salary14± ₹7LPA · mean ± SD
Company mix
Established SME~36%
MNCs & GCCs~29%
Unicorns & Indian Product~13%
Hires at
UplersScout Inc.InfosysCrossoverUPS
Add to the floor
PlaywrightFunctional TestingGitREST AssuredUI TestingTest Case Design
02

MANUAL TESTING

← THE ENTRY PATH
FA share23.3%of FA postings · n = 142
Salary12± ₹6LPA · mean ± SD
Company mix
MNCs & GCCs~38%
Established SME~27%
Lala Companies~25%
Hires at
Scout Inc.UPSAQM TechnologiesWiproBirlasoft
Add to the floor
Defect TrackingTest Case DesignFunctional TestingRegression TestingSQLIntegration Testing
03

EMBEDDED QA

← HARDWARE-SIDE
FA share5.1%of FA postings · n = 31
Salary18± ₹9LPA · mean ± SD
Company mix
MNCs & GCCs~49%
Established SME~16%
Lala Companies~13%
Hires at
Akamai TechnologiesAmazonNVIDIACiscoHARMAN
Add to the floor
Kali LinuxC#System TestingUnit TestingTest Automation FrameworksTest Case Design
Small fresher sample, treat as directional only.
04

PERFORMANCE QA

← THE SRE BRIDGE
FA share4.8%of FA postings · n = 29
Salary17± ₹5LPA · mean ± SD
Company mix
MNCs & GCCs~51%
Established SME~20%
Unicorns & Indian Product~14%
Hires at
CiscoInvestCloud Inc.NatWest GroupviamagusAccenture
Add to the floor
JMeterPerformance TestingLoad TestingTest Case DesignAWSStress Testing
Small fresher sample, treat as directional only.
05

MOBILE QA

← VERY SPARSE
FA share3%of FA postings · n = 18
Salary20± ₹9LPA · mean ± SD
Company mix
MNCs & GCCs~34%
Established SME~29%
Unicorns & Indian Product~23%
Hires at
SwiggyANSRAdobeInstamartActalent
Add to the floor
AppiumMobile TestingSDLCEspressoFunctional TestingPerformance Testing
Small fresher sample, treat as directional only.
Track shares and salary statistics (mean ± SD) derived from validated qa & testing postings on the astrid.postingmeta collection at JUNIOR + ENTRY seniority.
§ 03

THE SKILL ARC

What ramps with seniority. What travels if you leave the profile.

A

Senior skew — what ramps with seniority.

Rising · FA → SR
01Azure
FA7.1%
SR18.8%
+11.7 pp
02AWS
FA10.6%
SR21.6%
+11.0 pp
03Jenkins
FA20.6%
SR31.2%
+10.6 pp
04Debugging
FA12.5%
SR22.5%
+10.0 pp
05Kubernetes
FA5.0%
SR13.5%
+8.5 pp
06Docker
FA6.6%
SR15.0%
+8.4 pp
07Agile
FA35.6%
SR43.5%
+8.0 pp
08Test Automation
FA58.6%
SR66.4%
+7.8 pp
09Azure DevOps
FA13.3%
SR21.0%
+7.8 pp
Fading · FA → SR
01Manual Testing
FA38.0%
SR25.5%
-12.5 pp
02Defect Tracking
FA30.8%
SR20.0%
-10.7 pp
03Functional Testing
FA32.5%
SR25.4%
-7.1 pp
B

Portability — what travels if you leave the profile.

Portable · cross-profile spread (out of 15)
01Agile
15/15
Fullstack Development47%Enterprise Platforms43%Generalist SWE40%
02Problem Solving
15/15
Mobile Development41%Data Analytics & BI40%Enterprise Platforms40%
03Troubleshooting
13/15
Enterprise Platforms36%DevOps & Platform32%Generalist SWE21%
04Debugging
13/15
Systems & Embedded36%Mobile Development27%Generalist SWE25%
05Java
12/15
Backend Development59%Fullstack Development42%Security Engineering42%
06SQL
12/15
Data Analytics & BI63%Data Engineering57%Fullstack Development45%
07SDLC
12/15
Generalist SWE38%Enterprise Platforms22%Domain-Specific Development19%
08Python
11/15
Data Science & ML78%AI & LLM Applications66%Data Engineering57%
09AWS
11/15
DevOps & Platform48%Security Engineering43%Backend Development41%
10Azure
10/15
Security Engineering40%DevOps & Platform35%Data Engineering33%
11Git
10/15
Frontend Development38%Mobile Development35%Fullstack Development34%
12JavaScript
10/15
Frontend Development68%Fullstack Development46%AI & LLM Applications21%
13Docker
9/15
DevOps & Platform34%Backend Development31%Fullstack Development24%
Locked · stays inside the profile
01Selenium1/15
02API Testing2/15
03Performance Testing1/15
04Test Automation Frameworks1/15
05Test Case Design1/15
06UI Testing1/15
07Manual Testing1/15
08Functional Testing1/15
09Regression Testing1/15
10Integration Testing1/15
11Defect Tracking1/15
12Mobile Testing2/15
13Load Testing1/15
14REST Assured2/15
15Playwright1/15
Skill arc derived from validated qa & testing postings on the astrid.postingmeta collection. FA = ENTRY + JUNIOR seniority; cross-profile spread computed at the 10% prevalence threshold across all 15 profiles.
§ 04

TARGETING YOUR COMPANY POOL

Hiring volume splits across two distinct company pools with different skill profiles.

MAANG & Tier-1 Tech

n = 53borderline
CompaniesGoogleMetaAmazonMicrosoftApple
Skill skew · MAANG & Tier-1 Tech vs IT Services & BPO
% in MAANGSkill% in IT ServicesSkew
83.6%
Java
13.4%
+70.2 pp
70.5%
Penetration Testing
9.2%
+61.3 pp
68.9%
Security Testing
9.4%
+59.5 pp
60.7%
C#
4.4%
+56.2 pp
65.6%
Performance Testing
14.7%
+50.9 pp
60.7%
Accessibility Testing
9.9%
+50.8 pp
63.9%
API Testing
14.0%
+50.0 pp
60.7%
Functional Testing
10.8%
+49.9 pp
59.0%
Regression Testing
10.4%
+48.6 pp

IT Services & BPO

n = 566usable
CompaniesTCSInfosysWiproCognizantHCLLTIMindtree
Skill skew · MAANG & Tier-1 Tech vs IT Services & BPO
% in MAANGSkill% in IT ServicesSkew
14.8%
Test Case Design
70.8%
-56.1 pp
6.6%
Defect Tracking
48.9%
-42.4 pp
0.0%
UAT
33.9%
-33.9 pp
3.3%
Software Validation
35.7%
-32.4 pp
4.9%
SDLC
37.3%
-32.4 pp
0.0%
Requirements Analysis
31.8%
-31.8 pp
0.0%
Report Generation
26.3%
-26.3 pp
13.1%
Troubleshooting
36.9%
-23.8 pp
1.6%
Usability
14.3%
-12.7 pp
Company-pool skills derived from validated qa & testing postings on the astrid.postingmeta collection, scoped to the MAANG + Tier-1 Global and IT Services & BPO company classes.