We talked about lack of talent and qualification when it comes to hiring for the QA role in the previous chapter. The greatest contributor to QA professionals arriving at interviews with degraded skills is when QA professionals themselves allow their employment experiences to stall their growth. When they work in teams that treat QA as an afterthought and never engage or develop them, and they don’t own developing themselves and step up, they stop learning and developing, and over time they lose the muscle of being a skilled QA. I’ve seen firsthand the struggles some QA professionals face in such environments. I’ve also seen how strong QA professionals withered under those routine conditions to find themselves losing their skill over time. It is growing through these conditions that shape what we look for in QA professionals when we’re hiring. We want someone who is skilled, but also someone who knows how to push through resistance and still do the right thing. We want someone who feels empowered and makes others feel the same. And yet, so many QA professionals succumb to suboptimal career experiences and come to interviews carrying the weight of these past struggles.