QA / Testing certifications (2026): what shows up in job ads and how to use them

In QA/Testing, certifications are rarely a strict requirement, but they can help in two common cases:

• you’re early-career and want a standardized signal (especially for manual QA / entry roles),
• you want a shared vocabulary and structure (test design, defect lifecycle, risk-based testing).

For automation/SDET roles, the strongest signal is still practical: what you automated, how you handled flaky tests, how you designed a test strategy, and what you improved in CI.

TL;DR

• Look for explicit mentions in job ads (e.g., “ISTQB”, “CTFL”)—don’t assume.
• If you can do just one thing: build a small automation project with reporting and CI.
• In your CV, emphasize outcomes (what you prevented/improved) and specifics (frameworks, test types, pipeline).

What certifications show up in job ads (from active listings)

The list below is built from explicit mentions in QA/Testing listings on the platform.

When it’s worth it (and when it’s not)

Worth it if:

• you’re junior/switching tracks and want to show fundamentals (terminology, process),
• the companies you apply to explicitly mention certifications in listings,
• you want a structured learning path (test design, risk-based testing, reporting).

Not enough on its own if:

• you’re targeting SDET/automation and have no projects or concrete contributions,
• you only want to “collect” keywords (interviews make that obvious quickly).

Projects that validate it (manual vs automation)

Manual QA

A small but complete project looks strong when it includes:

• a test app (even a public demo),
• test cases (happy path + edge cases),
• clear bug reports (steps, expected vs actual, environment),
• a small test plan (scope, risk, prioritization).

Automation / SDET

A realistic automation project often shows:

• smoke vs regression (what runs always vs nightly),
• flakiness handling (retries, waits, deterministic selectors),
• reporting (junit, screenshots, logs),
• a CI pipeline (GitHub Actions, GitLab CI) that runs tests and publishes results.

Common mistakes

• Listing “I tested X” with no outcomes: add impact (“fewer prod bugs”, “faster releases”).
• Over-focusing on tool lists: what matters is how you reason about coverage vs cost.
• Saying “automation” without examples: include 1–2 links (repo, report, pipeline).

Quick checklist (test strategy)

• What must run before every release (smoke) vs what runs as regression?
• What are the top risks (auth, payments, data loss) and how do you cover them?
• How do you handle flakiness (retries, waits, selectors, environments)?
• How do you report failures clearly (logs, screenshots, artifacts, steps)?
• How do you use feedback (recurring bug classes and process improvements)?

Strong CV bullets (QA/Automation examples)

• “Reduced flaky tests via stable selectors and explicit waits, decreasing pipeline re-runs by X%.”
• “Introduced a smoke suite on every PR, cutting developer feedback time from X to Y.”
• “Built reporting (JUnit + artifacts) that made debugging reproducible for the whole team.”

How the list is built (short)

• Scans title + description of QA/Testing jobs on the platform.
• Counts explicit certification mentions only (codes/names), not general technologies.
• Shows how many listings mention each certification within a recent window.

Next steps

• QA/Testing jobs: /ro/cariere-it/rol/qa-engineer
• QA CV template: /ro/ghiduri/model-cv-qa-it-romania