Organization: Mentor the Young Mentor: Alexander Slavchev Mentee: Kamen Asenov
✅ STATUS: COMPLETE - All 11 weeks of tutorial content now available!
QA Fundamentals Mentoring Program - 11 weeks of structured practice covering QA processes, testing methodologies, test design techniques, and automation basics.
🔍 Two-Phase Learning Design:
- Weeks 1-5: Research-focused (build self-sufficiency, sparse curriculum by design)
- Weeks 6-11: Execution-focused (FAANG-level standards, comprehensive curriculum)
📖 See Week 1 tutorial for full explanation of the two-phase structure and why it's designed this way.
By the end of this program, your mentee will be able to:
- ✅ Understand and apply all major testing types
- ✅ Use systematic test design techniques
- ✅ Create professional test plans, test cases, and test strategies
- ✅ Work effectively in Agile and traditional SDLC environments
- ✅ Write effective bug reports and manage defects
- ✅ Apply risk-based testing approaches
- ✅ Use Python for basic test data manipulation and API testing
Junior QA Engineers who need:
- Structured practice with QA processes
- Systematic testing approaches
- Hands-on experience with test design
- Portfolio work examples
- Duration: 11 weeks
- Weekly Time: 10-12 hours per week
- Mentor Sessions: 2-3 hours per week
- Self-Study: 7-9 hours per week
| Week | Topic | Status | Grade | PR | Merged |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | QA Foundations | ✅ Complete | 85/100 | #3 | Nov 13, 2025 |
| 2 | Test Levels | ✅ Complete | 82/100 | #5 | Nov 13, 2025 |
| 3 | Functional Testing | ✅ Complete | 82/100 | #7 | Nov 17, 2025 |
| 4 | Non-Functional Testing | ✅ Complete | 78/100 | #8 | Nov 27, 2025 |
| 5 | Test Design (Basic) | ✅ Complete | 87/100 | #9 | Dec 2, 2025 |
| 6 | Test Design (Advanced) | ✅ Complete | 76/100 | #10 | Dec 7, 2025 |
| 7 | Test Planning & Strategy | ✅ Complete | 85/100 | #12 | Dec 14, 2025 |
| 8 | Test Case Management | ✅ Complete | 90/100 | #13 | Jan 4, 2026 |
| 9 | Agile Testing & BDD | ✅ Complete | 94/100 | #25 | Jan 11, 2026 |
| 10 | Defect Management | ✅ Complete | 89/100 | #26 | Jan 26, 2026 |
| 11 | Python Basics | ✅ Complete | 89/100 | #27 | Feb 9, 2026 |
Progress: 11/11 weeks complete (100%) 🎓 | Average Grade: 85.2/100
Week 1 ████████████████████████████████████████████ 85/100
Week 2 ████████████████████████████████████████ 82/100
Week 3 ████████████████████████████████████████ 82/100
Week 4 ███████████████████████████████████ 78/100
Week 5 ███████████████████████████████████████████ 87/100
Week 6 ██████████████████████████████████ 76/100
Week 7 ████████████████████████████████████████████ 85/100
Week 8 █████████████████████████████████████████████ 90/100
Week 9 ██████████████████████████████████████████████ 94/100 ⭐
Week 10 █████████████████████████████████████████████ 89/100
Week 11 █████████████████████████████████████████████ 89/100
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Average: 85.2/100 | Highest: 94 (Week 9) | Lowest: 76 (Week 6) | COMPLETE 🎓
| Week | Topic | Focus | Key Deliverable |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | QA Foundations & SDLC | QA role, SDLC models, quality concepts | SDLC comparison chart |
| 2 | Test Levels | Unit, Integration, System, Acceptance | Test level analysis doc |
| 3 | Functional Testing Types | Smoke, Sanity, Regression, Exploratory | 15+ test cases (SauceDemo) |
| 4 | Non-Functional Testing | Performance, Security, Usability | NFR checklist for SauceDemo |
| 5 | Test Design Techniques (Basic) | EP, BVA, Decision Tables | Test scenarios using techniques |
| 6 | Test Design Techniques (Advanced) | Pairwise, Risk-Based, Error Guessing | Complete test design doc |
| 7 | Test Planning & Strategy | Test plans, risk assessment, estimation | Full test plan for SauceDemo |
| 8 | Test Case Design & Management | Effective test cases, traceability | 50+ organized test cases |
| 9 | Agile Testing & Methodologies | Agile testing, BDD, TDD, Scrum QA | BDD scenarios (Given-When-Then) |
| 10 | Defect Management | Bug lifecycle, reporting, triage | 10+ well-documented bugs |
| 11 | Python for Test Data & APIs | Python basics, test data, API testing | Python test data scripts |
Throughout the 11 weeks, your mentee will progressively test the same application - SauceDemo - applying each week's concepts to build a comprehensive test portfolio.
- ✅ Free, always available, designed for testing practice
- ✅ Realistic e-commerce flows (login, cart, checkout)
- ✅ Intentional bugs for defect management practice
- ✅ Simple enough to master, complex enough to apply all techniques
- ✅ Has UI and API endpoints for Python exercises
- Week 1-2: Understand the application, map features
- Week 3: Create initial functional test cases
- Week 4: Add non-functional test scenarios
- Week 5-6: Apply systematic test design techniques
- Week 7: Create comprehensive test plan
- Week 8: Organize all test cases with traceability
- Week 9: Convert test cases to BDD format
- Week 10: Find and document real bugs
- Week 11: Build Python scripts for test data and API validation
qa-mentorship-program/
│
├── README.md (this file)
├── SETUP.md (mentee getting started guide)
├── CONTRIBUTING.md (submission guidelines)
├── LICENSE (MIT)
│
├── .github/
│ ├── pull_request_template.md
│ └── ISSUE_TEMPLATE/
│ ├── config.yml (template chooser)
│ ├── 01-bug-report.yml
│ ├── 02-test-case.yml
│ ├── 03-feature-request.yml
│ └── 04-question.md
│
├── curriculum/
│ ├── week-01-qa-foundations/
│ │ ├── tutorial.md
│ │ ├── checklist.md
│ │ ├── exercises.md
│ │ └── resources.md
│ │
│ ├── week-02-test-levels/
│ │ └── [same structure]
│ │
│ ├── [... weeks 3-11 follow same structure ...]
│ │
│ └── templates/
│ ├── test-case-template.md
│ ├── test-plan-template.md
│ ├── test-strategy-template.md
│ ├── bug-report-template.md
│ ├── test-summary-report-template.md
│ ├── traceability-matrix-template.md
│ └── risk-assessment-template.md
│
└── mentee-work/
├── week-01/
├── week-02/
└── [... weekly submissions ...]
New to the program? Start with SETUP.md for initial setup instructions!
-
Start of Week:
- Read
curriculum/week-XX-topic/tutorial.md(2-3 hours) - Watch recommended videos in
resources.md - Review templates in
curriculum/templates/
- Read
-
Mid-Week:
- Complete
exercises.md(5-7 hours) - Apply concepts to SauceDemo project
- Document work in
mentee-work/week-XX/folder
- Complete
-
End of Week:
- Complete
checklist.mditems - Submit work via Pull Request
- Prepare questions for mentor session
- Complete
-
Weekly Mentor Session:
- Demo completed work
- Get feedback
- Clarify concepts
- Plan next week
All weekly work must be submitted through Pull Requests (PRs) for review.
📘 Complete Guide: See CONTRIBUTING.md for detailed submission guidelines and quality standards.
Quick Workflow:
# Create branch for your week
git checkout -b week-XX-your-name
# Complete exercises and commit
git add mentee-work/week-XX/
git commit -m "Week XX: [Topic] - [Your Name]"
git push origin week-XX-your-name
# Create Pull Request on GitHub
# The PR template will guide you through the submissionKey Guidelines:
- ✅ Follow templates from
curriculum/templates/ - ✅ Use branch naming:
week-XX-your-name - ✅ One PR per week
- ✅ Fill out PR template completely
- ✅ Review CONTRIBUTING.md for quality standards
Each week includes a checklist with:
- ✅ Tutorial content reviewed
- ✅ Key concepts understood
- ✅ Exercises completed
- ✅ Deliverables created
- ✅ Work committed to GitHub
- ✅ Reflection notes written
- 70% Hands-On Practice: Work on SauceDemo project
- 20% Learning from Others: Tutorials, videos, mentor sessions
- 10% Theory: Reading documentation and references
- Apply Immediately: Every concept gets applied to SauceDemo
- Build Progressively: Each week builds on previous weeks
- Document Everything: GitHub becomes your portfolio
- Reflect Weekly: What worked, what was challenging
- Ask Questions: Use mentor sessions and GitHub discussions
- ✅ GitHub account
- ✅ Markdown editor (VS Code, Typora, or any)
- ✅ Web browser (Chrome/Firefox + DevTools)
- ✅ SauceDemo access: https://www.saucedemo.com/
- ✅ Python 3.x (Weeks 11 only)
- ✅ Notion or Trello for personal task tracking
- ✅ Screenshot tool (Snagit free trial, or built-in tools)
- ✅ Mind mapping tool (XMind, Coggle)
- Bug tracking trial (Jira, Bugzilla demo instance)
- Test management tool trial (TestRail, Zephyr)
- ✅ Checklist 100% complete
- ✅ Deliverable submitted on time
- ✅ Concepts demonstrated in mentor session
- ✅ Can explain all testing types confidently
- ✅ Can apply test design techniques independently
- ✅ Has 30+ professional test cases documented
- ✅ Demonstrates systematic testing approach
- ✅ Complete test plan for SauceDemo
- ✅ 50+ well-organized test cases
- ✅ 10+ documented bugs with professional reports
- ✅ BDD scenarios covering key flows
- ✅ Python test data scripts working
- ✅ Portfolio-ready GitHub repository
Your mentee will have:
- Systematic testing foundations applicable to QA engineering roles
- Portfolio-ready work demonstrating test design and execution skills
- Practical experience with test planning, BDD, and automation basics
- Structured approach to quality assurance work
This program provides the fundamentals. Real-world application and continued practice are essential for role advancement.
- Complete ISTQB Advanced Level certification
- Begin test automation journey (Selenium, API automation)
- Specialize in one NFR area (performance, security)
- Practice on 2-3 more complex applications
- Contribute to open-source project QA
- Mentee creates branch for each week's work
- Commits work throughout the week
- Opens Pull Request at end of week
- Mentor reviews and provides feedback
- Mentee addresses feedback and merges
- Use GitHub Issue Templates (Bug Report, Test Case, Feature Request, Question)
- Templates provide structured format for faster resolution
- Mentor responds within 24 hours
- Use GitHub Discussions for broader topics
- Share interesting articles or findings
- Peer learning if multiple mentees
- 🏆 Week 1: First test case written
- 🏆 Week 3: 15 test cases completed
- 🏆 Week 5: First test design technique applied
- 🏆 Week 7: Complete test plan created
- 🏆 Week 8: 50 test cases milestone
- 🏆 Week 10: First professional bug report
- 🏆 Week 11: Program completion
Use GitHub Issue Templates for structured support:
Found an issue with curriculum materials or exercises? Use the Bug Report template.
Track your test cases using the Test Case template in GitHub Projects.
Suggest improvements to the curriculum or new exercises.
General questions about the program? Use the Question template.
Response Time: Mentor responds within 24 hours.
- Discuss during weekly mentor sessions
- Use GitHub Discussions for async conversations
This program focuses on practical, hands-on QA learning:
- Real-world testing processes
- Industry-standard methodologies
- Professional deliverables
- Portfolio-building approach
Program Version: 1.1 (Complete) Last Updated: March 2026 Content Status: All 11 weeks complete with comprehensive tutorials, exercises, and resources License: MIT - See LICENSE file for details
- Setup Guide - Initial setup for new mentees
- Contributing Guidelines - How to submit work
- Templates - Professional QA templates
- Week 1: QA Foundations & SDLC
- Week 2: Test Levels
- Week 3: Functional Testing Types
- Week 4: Non-Functional Testing
- Week 5: Test Design Techniques (Basic)
- Week 6: Test Design Techniques (Advanced)
- Week 7: Test Planning & Strategy
- Week 8: Test Case Design & Management
- Week 9: Agile Testing & Methodologies
- Week 10: Defect Management
- Week 11: Python for Test Data & APIs