Get hands-on with Microsoft Playwright. You will use the Codegen feature to record your browser actions like a macro, allowing Playwright to write the JavaScript for you. Then, you will review the generated code in VS Code to understand how it works.

Recorded macros are a great start, but they are brittle. Learn how to manually write and refine Playwright scripts using robust CSS and text locators to automate a core "happy path" user journey.

Code only matters if you can share it. Instead of memorizing complex terminal commands, you will learn how to use the intuitive VS Code Source Control GUI to visually branch, stage, commit, and push your automated test to GitHub, culminating in a Pull Request linked to Jira.

UI tests can lie; the database doesn't. Learn the foundational SQL commands every tester needs to query databases, verify backend data exchanges, and ensure the UI is telling the truth.

Automated tests run while you sleep. Learn how to act as the "Morning Triage" QA, reviewing failed CI/CD pipelines in GitHub Actions, reading test runner logs, and turning stack traces into actionable bugs in Jira.

APIs are the nervous system of modern software. Learn how to bypass the UI entirely using Postman to send direct HTTP requests to an API, validate status codes, construct Collections, and analyze JSON payload responses.

What happens when 50 people log in at exactly the same time? Learn the principles of load testing, build a Thread Group in Apache JMeter to simulate heavy user traffic, and log execution results in Zephyr.

Codebases have memory. Learn how to feed historical defect logs into an AI model to detect patterns, highlight "hotspots" of high-risk code, and predict where your testing efforts should be focused in the next sprint.

A common struggle for Junior QAs is explaining technical failures to non-technical Project Managers. Learn how to prompt Microsoft Copilot to instantly translate raw Jira bug tickets and confusing test run logs into clean, readable "End-of-Day Status Updates."

Synthesize your technical engineering skills in a capstone automation simulation. You will write a SQL query to check data state, author a Playwright script to automate a UI workflow, visually commit your code via the VS Code GUI to GitHub, link it to a Jira ticket, and finally use Generative AI to analyze messy GitHub Actions test logs and author a clean End-of-Day status update.