When you are a Junior/Mid QA, the job search process looks like a mystery.
And you don’t know whether AI will eat your job tomorrow.
But 2026 has proven that it’s simply like dating, a matching process that requires experience and certain skills.
Mohammad was a mechanic by day, Uber driver by night. Today he has a $125K offer, only 3 months after graduation.
He'd come to the US from Africa. Young wife, a newborn at home. Two jobs to keep them all fed - mechanic by day, Uber driver by night. 24/7, no days off.
The only window for studying his whole day had was between shifts. So he'd pull over on the side of the road, open his phone, and join the class. He did his homework in the middle of the night - once the baby was finally asleep and the apartment went quiet.
I've taught a lot of motivated people. This guy broke my sense of how much a person can endure for their family.
Then he called me. Almost in tears.
$125,000. An offer.
And you know what he said? «Sergii, this job was created for me»
Because the company was looking for a QA engineer who spoke Portuguese. And in his old life, he'd been a Portuguese teacher.
The thing he thought was useless baggage from a past life was the exact reason they chose him.
Here's what I take from this, and repeat to everyone:
Your past isn't dead weight. It's your edge. Teacher, mechanic, soldier, athlete that "irrelevant" experience is often the very thing that sets you apart from a thousand identical resumes.
He was just one skill short of making it all click into place.
If you're reading this from a car between two shifts right now, I see you. It can be done.
I almost cried when he started sharing his story about young babe and two jobs 😿
Sometime Life is not fair, until make it.
