We have hundreds of testimonials coming from former graduates, QA Managers and recruiters. Almost every day we are getting emails with sincere words of appreciation.
Here is the link below to the dedicated site where we are bringing all the testimonials together from many sources. That is the most complete collection with links pointing to where testimonials are coming from.
So, read 100+ testimonials on the QA Career Change site and Facebook
I really liked studying at Portnov School. Program is intense, but you get all support from teachers. They do care about each student to succeed. Do you want to know the secret? If you learn at least what you are given during classes, you will get a job. You will get a job if you are passionate, curious and proactive. I came to school in the hardest time, when Covid hit and market went down. Despite pandemic, school never left me behind and I got internship with their help. I am very happy my career in QA officially stated. The only thing I regret is that I didn't come to school earlier.
- Anna, Feb 8, facebook.com/PortnovComputerSchool/reviews/
This the school where will give you chance to career change and better life opportunity! Happy to be the student of Portnov who got two offers from Bay Area top ranked software companies. And also happy for my group mates who inform me about their new career job after we graduate the school. After their course and internship which is valuable I would say you will have enough QA mindset how to practically to use in your future job. Make sure you take their automation course too to be strong and valuable in the job market. I highly appreciate my teachers efforts ( Janna, Sofia, Olga, Tanya, Galina) . They will support you till the end of your journey until you get job. Thanks Michael for creating such a nice environment for us!
- Nur Shukur, Jan 10, facebook.com/PortnovComputerSchool/reviews/
My name is Sajitha K. I was in the March-Jun 2019 Express QA batch. And also completed an internship at PracticalSQA in Sep 2019. Just wanted to share the good news that I accepted a position at Amazon, Sunnyvale as a QAA. Joined yesterday.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for the wonderful course and experience I had with Portnov. The interview was over 3 weeks. There were 6 rounds of interviews- Amazon recruiter interview, Phone interview, 4 rounds of virtual interview including a Bar raiser interview.
Thank you so much for the great work that you all are doing.- Sajitha K., Dec 8, facebook.com/PortnovComputerSchool/reviews/
My experience with Portnov Computer School has been very positive. Their QA career change program is well designed with exposure to latest technologies and tools and many opportunities to practice testing with real applications. The materials also include numerous popular interview questions. Their teachers are very knowledgeable in the QA area and genuinely care about the students. They really focus on equipping the students with the right knowledge and preparing them for job interviews. Their support for students to find an internship position (either external or internal one) right after graduating from the program is particularly helpful. Their good relationship with some of the companies in the Bay area has proven to be an invaluable asset. The external internship position that I just landed on is a great example for that. If you are planning to change your career to Quality Assurance, Portnov definitely is a right place to start.
- Kenneth, Oct 4
I believe that I was lucky when I got into PCS. Our group was one of the last who studied on campus before COVID19. All students and staff look like a big family, the school environment is very friendly and I enjoined every single day when I was in school. I would say that career change is not an easy path and first of all, you need to rely on yourself rather than anybody else. Teachers always help you but they cannot do your job. I had to study not only in lessons but after lessons and after the course. It took me a lot of time to get into everything but I finally to get a job as QA Automation Engineer. I really appreciate the help and guidance I was provided. Guys, you all will be in my heart forever.
- Svetlana K., Sep 3, qa-career-change.blogspot.com/2020/09/i-believe-that-i-was-lucky-when-i-got.html
There are just not enough nice words I can say about Portnov and the training I have received in Express QA, the Internship they provided, and our Test Automation Bootcamp. I have been at Bootcamp on Mon and Thurs, and we are supported by additional team "homework study group" meetings on Tue and Friday.Training is done in "Portnov style" which means technical theory, backed by extensive practice with commercially used tools and methods. As always I have also received really good career and job searching assistance. I'm currently working with the school on interviewing practice (i.e. Job Clearance), and I have received great help with resume work and establishing online job searching profiles. Until I pass clearance, I will not be actively applying to many positions because I need the interviewing practice (it's been 14 years), but even if I didn't, because of the time it takes to do Bootcamp. ;-)Nevertheless, just passively having my resume and LinkedIn profile out there, has already generated a recruiter screening and coding assessment. My thanks to Slava, our Bootcamp teacher. I received 100% on the WebDriver coding assessment. Even though I have not heard back from Tesla or the recruiter, that is the best proof I can offer that this program is worth the cost and effort. We're not even finished with Bootcamp, and I aced a staff level QA automation assessment.As far as status, sorry for being scarce. I'm really just slammed with coding work and occasional job searches.Once again, thanks to NOVA for making all this possible. :-) Please call me if you have any specific questions.
- Paul C., Sep 2, qa-career-change.blogspot.com/2020/09/there-are-just-not-enough-nice-words-i.html
There was a time in my life when I needed to change everything, career path included. I wasn't young and bold; starting everything anew was kinda scary. When I heard about Portnov Computer School, I liked what I heard. First, I always wanted to be in IT, but I didn't feel programming was exactly my thing, so SQA felt just right. Second, they said in Portnov's School they really care what happens to the people they teach. I'm glad to say it appeared to be true. I could tell you about great teachers (there are great people working there, indeed), but what makes the School special is that they are really trying their best to put you in the industry, not just give you the specified amount of lessons in hours. Of course, a lot still depends on you. What I mean, if you really wish to reach your goal, they are always willing to assist you. I am a living proof: I managed to find a job in SQA during these unhappy COVID times. I owe it to Portnov School. Many thanks!
- Alexandr V. , Sep 2, facebook.com/PortnovComputerSchool/reviews/
Portnov Computer School has helped me tremendously in getting a job. I graduated from a UC university in Computer Science, but I was unable to find a job for almost a year. I had to take a lot of classes and while many of them were useful and interesting, few of them were practical in getting a job as soon as possible. I also could not find internships while I was in university which hampered my job search even more. I started to get frustrated, and that was when I heard about Portnov Computer School from my family friends. I was sceptical at first, but I decided to try it anyway, and I have to tell you that I don’t regret it. Instructors helped me realize that even though I might have had technical knowledge, I wasn’t good at impressing an interviewer and presenting myself. Janna in particular helped me in understanding how to conduct myself during an interview, and what topics I should focus on to show off my technical skills. After just 4 months of schooling and practice I was able to get an internship in a Silicon Valley company. And I got it a week before the Coronavirus lockdown, right in the nick of time. Three months after my internship I got a full time position.Thanks to Portnov Computer school my future looks bright and I couldn’t be happier.
- Dan, July 30, facebook.com/PortnovComputerSchool/reviews/
Joining Portnov was the best decision I made. Portnov gave me a chance to get in the IT market .Thanks to janna, Tanya and Olga, I gained lot of knowledge and confidence during classes, Along with the curriculum they made sure how to prepare for interview. Its definitely a wonderful place to start your career. During this pandemic Sofia got me an internship which helped me with hands on experience in QA. I would especially like to thank Sofia and Mikhail to go above and beyond to help me with my first job during this pandemic. I am fortunate enough to get an offer in Fortune 500 company. Thank you Portnov, I would like to really recommend this school. You go Portnov!!!
- Shreya, July 11, facebook.com/PortnovComputerSchool/reviews/
Just want to say that when I started a basic course of Mikhail, I did not have any knowledge about QA. Unfortunately for some personal reasons it took 1,5 years for me to go to a job market after graduation. Mikhail not only teaches how to be a good tester, but also how to be well prepared for an interview and gives a lot of inspiration and self-confidence to his students. The main idea you should follow his recommendations, to be 200% committed and continuously learn the tools you want to add to your resume - this is enough to get a job offer as a manual QA. When I entered the job market, with each call I was gaining an experience of how to talk to recruiters and potential employers, of course, I had fails, but I took them as an experience and a reason to continuously improve my skills and my knowledge. That pushed me to take Galina’s Bootcamp. Galina’s course is amazing! For 6 weeks, we have learned how to work with test management and bug tracking tools, to write test cases and bug reports, got basic knowledge of REST API in Postman, SQL, were familiarized with GitHub, Jenkins and Test Automaton tools and how to write a code for test automation and also touched a lot of important interview questions. A good point that because of limited people in Bootcamp, you get all your questions answered and a lot of practice. After this course, you will be comfortable not only to pass an interview but also it will be easier at the job place in the first stressful days. I would like to thank Mikhail for his course, motivation, and great tips for interview skills, and also I want to thank Galina for this outstanding course, your efforts, teaching, and patience!
- Valentina, July 5, qa-career-change.blogspot.com/2020/07/just-want-to-say.html
Dear student or anyone who is looking for a career change,
My experience with Portnov Computer school was a big step in my life, and I deeply appreciate the choice. All the teachers are very professional and kind, they are not just teachers - they are real QA engineers and Project Managers, some of them even business owners in a technology stack. They make you feel important and give you a confidence when you need it the most. All programs are up to date and the knowledge you get is in real-life demand. Everybody who is persistent and pursues a personal learning goal gets to the point. Support and practice on real projects are guaranteed. After finishing school everybody is getting an internship to practice even more in development teams where there is a big chance to get hired. I have no other words but thank you to Portnov school and wish them prosperity and success!- Oksana, July 6, qa-career-change.blogspot.com/2020/07/dear-student-or-anyone-who-is-looking.html
Hi Mikhail! Last week the bootcamp with Tatya ended and I am still impressed. It was a great energizing program, also working in a team with nice people real products and clients - I really enjoyed it. I’m now very confident and actually answering recruiter’s questions. Thanks! Make this camp mandatory for all, it really helps.
- Masha, June 30, qa-career-change.blogspot.com/2020/06/hi-mikhail.html
I love Portnov!! I would like to thank Portnov Computer School. I gained lot of knowledge from Portnov. Instructor Janna, Olga, and Tanya trained us very nicely. These great instructors will think about our future and give lot of advice how to become an experienced QA.Portnov is a great place to start our career. I got the internship immediately after my graduation with the help of Portnov.Their curriculum is very good. They taught us basic automation, SQL, SQA, mobile testing,Unix, RestAPI, HTML, Javascript, CSS. Sofia is a very great and kind person. She will help us to find the good internship.Even though there is a shelter-in-place, I am still continuing my internship by working from home for the company. They changed my internship from unpaid to paid. Thank you so much Portnov!! You are my home to start my career.
- Retna, June 29, facebook.com/PortnovComputerSchool/reviews/
If you are looking for a job as a QA Engineer, with/without prior experience, then Portnov Computer School is the best institute in Bay area that you could rely on. They have a structured curriculum and are well aware of the present industrial needs, which keeps the students up-to-date and relevant to QA field. My background was in Electronics and Communication. But after gaining QA knowledge from Portnov, I easily got into a company as an intern and then into a permanent position in the same company. All thanks to God and of course Portnov for helping me achieve what I needed. All the best to Portnov and their aspiring QA candidates.
- Tessy M. June 24, facebook.com/PortnovComputerSchool/reviews/
Dear Portnov Team,
Today my internship transitioned into a 6 months contract position with the company and what a coincidence - this week also marks one year anniversary of my career change from Business Administration to Software Quality Assurance! I couldn't do it without you All, THANK YOU! I'm so glad that a year ago I stopped by and enrolled in the summer class. Didn't know it was possible to learn so much in a short period of time, but I did it - we did it. Here is an encouraging note to my fellow students: You can spend years trying to learn about software on your own, or you can come here to learn, practice and get it the right way. Personally, I gained as much as I could from the school. Because of that, I'm in such a better place in my life now, especially considering the situation out there these days.
- Elena I., qa-career-change.blogspot.com/2020/05/today-my-internship-transitioned-into.html
BootCamp
Great experience and valuable practical skills from BootCamp with Sofia. She is perfect teacher who spends time with each student, troubleshoot any issue, provides real examples. She is the best in role as project manager who well organize team, build strategy and structure, provide solutions and helps with any project’s issue within short time frames. I got practical experience how to use Jira, Confluence, IntellijIdea, Cucumber, Silenium, Java, Postman, Swagger, etc. with real web App. Clear understanding with real examples from Agile methodology, daily stand up meetings and scrum team. During 4 four weeks we have been working like a scrum team on our project, participate in grooming, sprints. We have been reviewed numerous interview questions. I became more confident with automation technologies and I could easier manage my job interviews. Afterwards this BootCamp was help me to get two job offers and join big company as QA Engineer.
- Student of Bootcamp, May 26th, qa-career-change.blogspot.com/2020/05/silver-bootcamp.html
Slava Skryabin
First of all, I would like to thank you and your team for sharing all this incredible information, for your patience and support!!! When I decided to take this course, I thought it might be impossible to finish with my level of experience in QA and programming. Fortunately, I was surprised because you explained, drew, demonstrated and repeated everything several times.Everything were perfect: the course material was presented in a clear and structured manner, handouts cover every single topic, home works were enough complicated for self-improving. It was very nice to have people with different experience level and background in group because they asked unexpected questions: from simple to very complicated. The bootcamp was dynamic, intense and super cool!
- Student of Silver Bootcamp, May 11, qa-career-change.blogspot.com/2020/05/silver-bootcamp_11.html
I joined the Portnov Computer school in the mid of February 2020 and few weeks later COVID-19 happened and our class was transferred online. School staff and students will definitely going to remember that time as one of the most difficult and challenging ones. Fortunately the school was able to organize learning process and deliver its promise for high quality education going above and beyond.
Despite that, considering job market fluctuations and unpredictable times I completed the program and two weeks later I was offered 3 months internship with one of the local Bay Area companies. I would definitely recommend considering Portnov Computer School as one of the most experienced schools in the industry for your biggest career shift to IT. They know what you need, what challenges you’ll face and all that experience is wrapped up in one of the courses of your choice.
Thank you and Portnov Computer School for great opportunity learning SQA.
I learned so much and was involved into real projects in school. I finished great internship were I become more confident and educated. I was a part of real agile environment in awesome scrum team. School helped me to find a job in this difficult time.Now in that hard time for all of us because of COVID-19 many students faced with issues in job search. Please don’t lose positive attitude and believe in yourself you all individual unique and talented. Your job search is your first project in testing, try to apply all your knowledge and experience to figure out how to achieve it. I wish you good luck, health and ending of COVID-19 pandemic.- Aleksey, facebook.com/PortnovComputerSchool/reviews/
The best opportunity for a quick career change. This school offers short but intensive courses that will help you understand the basics of testing theory and practice what direction to best move in. You can build a profession from scratch and practice on real projects that are given. After the course is completed, an internship is provided where you can put your new skills to practice and prove yourself by working in a team of professionals. It’s a very strong curriculum and offers a starting for any beginner to break into a new field and come out a strong candidate for employment.
- Oxana T., qa-career-change.blogspot.com/2020/04/the-best-opportunity-for-quick-career.html/
At the beginning of 2020, I completed the Full time course at Portnov Computer School and was delighted! With a good feeling that I was able to change my life for the better. I feel that I have received the key to the door to the IT industry. And even in difficult quarantine times, thanks to Portnov Computer School, I had an interview that I went with ease and now I am waiting for an offer for a job which I am more than satisfied with and which exceeded my expectations. And today I recommend this school with confidence to both my friends and everyone who wants to change their lives for the better.
The course is incredibly rewarding. During this time I received a ton of knowledge and structured information, which I actively use after graduation. The staff working at Portnov Computer School is the most responsive of all that I have seen. During the training, I came across each of them and everyone was more than open to communication, always ready to help. Studying was very comfortable and interesting, thanks to highly qualified teachers who have real experience in the field of testing. After a course of lectures, I had an internship, the experience gained in which was invaluable to me! The atmosphere in the school is incredible, every student came with a willingness to change their life. Everyone is incredibly motivated. We managed to make friends with many during the course and continue to communicate. At Portnov Computer School, I see not even a school, but a club of people highly motivated for success, and if you are like that too, welcome!- Iurii, qa-career-change.blogspot.com/2020/04/at-beginning-of-2020-i-completed-full.html
I love Portnov!! I would like to thank Portnov Computer School. I gained lot of knowledge from Portnov. Instructor Janna, Olga, and Tanya trained us very nicely. These great instructors will think about our future and give lot of advice how to become an experienced QA.Portnov is a great place to start our career. I got the internship immediately after my graduation with the help of Portnov.Their curriculum is very good. They taught us basic automation, SQL, SQA, mobile testing,Unix, RestAPI, HTML, Javascript, CSS. Sofia is a very great and kind person. She will help us to find the good internship.Even though there is a shelter-in-place, I am still continuing my internship by working from home for the company. Thank you so much Portnov!! You are my home to start my career.
- Retna, qa-career-change.blogspot.com/2020/04/i-love-portnov-i-would-like-to-thank.html
I love studying at Portnov computer school. I found so many people from different parts of the USA. It’s a great place for students and always get help from the staff. They introduced new technologies and tools to students which mostly tech-companies use today in Market which students are not aware of. It’s so helpful while they get into the market after graduating from Portnov.Thanks to Portnov.
- Leena, qa-career-change.blogspot.com/2020/04/i-love-studying-at-portnov-computer.html
I want to thank the Portnov Computer School. They literally save me on that hard time. They helped me a lot in my attempts to find a company that can utilize my skills. They’ve done a great job. I got my internship interview right after graduation and started my decently paid job at the beginning of March. That job allowed me to earn my living when a week after that Northern California was shut on ‘Shelter in place’. Many friends of mine have lost their salary or even jobs but I kept working remotely and my pay didn’t change. I’m so glad I chose Portnov Computer School several months ago to start my education as an SQA engineer. It helped me keep me and my family warm and safe in that tough time. Again, thanks a lot, guys!
- Mikhail R., qa-career-change.blogspot.com/2020/04/i-want-to-thank-portnov-computer-school.html
The courses in Portnov are practical and useful. They may seem easier at the beginning, especially for those who have computer backgrounds. However, it covers those must-have knowledges that are essential for the QA jobs. After the beginning period, the courses cover more and more information in many different fields such as SQL, Linux, Mobile programming, Network, JavaScript, Java...etc. You’ll find there are many many things you can learn which is hardly you can do it if you are not taking the course in the school.
Secondly, the instructors are very good. They taught you in a simple way, easy to understand and encourage you. In addition, the instructor shared her own experience (Specially thanks to Jana, my highly respected teacher). As we know, those soft skill sometime is even more important than your programming/hard skills. This doesn’t mean that you just sit there, listen and you automatically become QA expert after finish the school. You need to take part in(This is the way Portnov teaching and one of the best of Portnov) and take your effort to learn(I think this is true for anything you learn).
Thirdly, I think Sofia Pravdina does very good job. Because, there are many students in the school, how to know each student and find a proper intern position is definitely not an easy job and will take lots of time and energy. Not only she needs to know what you are good at, but also she needs to look at for your future, your career path! This position requires to know many positions in many companies, many HR managers, each student’s ability, personal characteristics, etc. Most importantly, what is the best choice for you, for specific you! It likes to fit a piece in a puzzle, so it become a become a beautiful scene picture. This position needs to know people, to have enough life experience in addition to good HR skill. Many times, you don’t know what you need. It will be very helpful if someone can point you out what you need, especially for job seekers.
Finally, in addition to Janna and Sofia, I want to thank other teachers in Portnov as well: Tanya, Galina, Slava, Sofia, Olga, just to name a few. I also want to thank to Michael, because he has created a good school and has chosen a great instructor team. Thank you all!
- Daniel Y., qa-career-change.blogspot.com/2020/04/the-courses-in-portnov-are-practical.html