Most people who learn software testing in 2026 start in manual testing, then need to move into automation to stay competitive, though that shift is rarely mapped out clearly. GROWAI EdTech, a Tamil Nadu firm, built its QA Automation course around this exact move, priced at ₹999. This article sets out that path, and shows how one live course structures it across three months.
Kavya Menon, a fresher in Kochi with no prior testing experience, adds a further data point: she got placed in a QA automation role at a large firm within a month of finishing the course, crediting the resume and interview prep module as a hidden strength of the program.
Manual testing remains a fair starting point, teaching basics such as test case design and Agile workflow tools like Jira. But automation has become key to career growth, since firms now expect testers to script and keep up automated test runs, not repeat manual checks each release cycle.
GROWAI EdTech's course is built around this shift: it opens with QA basics, SDLC, STLC, and Jira, then Python and Java programming plus SQL, before moving into Selenium and Playwright automation using Page Object Model design, API testing with Postman and RestAssured, BDD testing with Cucumber, and CI/CD setup with Jenkins and GitHub Actions, closing with a live enterprise-level automation project.
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The course also teaches TestNG, Maven, and Git as part of the automation curriculum, framework tools used to organise and run test suites across a real engineering team rather than a single tester's local machine.
The clearest shift for anyone learning software testing this year is how central coding has become to the field. Manual testers once needed no coding at all. Automation testers now need working Python or Java skill, which GROWAI EdTech builds directly into its second module rather than assuming it beforehand.
The full three-month course, with a free internship and five certificates, costs ₹999, cut from ₹21,000, with live weekend classes taught by working QA staff and input from IIT-trained mentors.
Do I need to know how to code to move from manual to automation testing? Yes, at a basic level. Most automation courses, including this one, teach Python or Java as an early step for exactly this reason, so no prior coding is assumed going in.
Why It Matters
No prior automation background is required to enrol, and the course is marked beginner-friendly on GROWAI EdTech's own page, alongside badges for a free internship and five certificates awarded across the program's seven modules.
Learning software testing with a clear manual-to-automation path can shift a career fast. GROWAI EdTech shares cases of this. Abhishek Kumar, a manual tester in Bengaluru, moved to Selenium automation in six weeks and got a 60% pay rise. Rohan Desai, an IT graduate in Pune, went from no automation skill to writing full test scripts with CI/CD setup in the same six weeks. Tarun Bhatt, a manual tester in Delhi, says he finally cracked automation testing after two years of trying to self-learn, crediting the structured approach and mentor support for the difference.
The pay gap between manual and automation roles is large and growing, as more firms move to fast, repeat software releases. GROWAI EdTech reports 12,000 trained students platform-wide, an 85% placement rate, and graduates at TCS, Infosys, Wipro, and Accenture. The course itself carries a 4.6-star rating from more than 1,200 reviews.
What's Next
As AI test tools such as GitHub Copilot and Testim AI become standard parts of the QA toolkit through 2026, the manual-to-automation path is likely to move faster, pushing testers to build core skills sooner to keep pace with how quickly the field is changing around them.
GROWAI EdTech's certificate carries a unique ID checkable on its website, tied to Startup India, ISO, MSME, and AICET recognition. The firm reports a 95% completion rate across its programs, and over 100 students have been placed directly from this course according to its own figures.
Two more cases show how this path plays out for different backgrounds. Preethi Rao, a software developer in Chennai, automated her entire regression suite using RestAssured API testing, cutting testing time by 80% once she understood how to test past the user interface. Neha Singh, a test lead in Mumbai, implemented the TestNG and Maven framework taught in the course at her own company, halving debugging time and improving how her team reports results.
GROWAI EdTech's own comparison table sets its course against a typical rival platform. It lists real-world app test automation against no internship elsewhere, live classes with year-round recording access against pre-recorded-only content, and live support against none, all under a single ₹999 fee against roughly ₹8,999 a month at other firms.
Students can share the finished certificate directly to LinkedIn once the final project is graded, and GROWAI EdTech says a digital copy is sent by email soon after, without the long administrative delay reported at some other training providers.
Conclusion
If you are learning software testing in 2026 and plan to move from manual to automation, follow a path that builds coding skill before jumping into tools. GROWAI EdTech's QA Automation course is built around exactly this order, with a free internship and live classes, for ₹999. It is a practical way to move into higher-paying automation work this year.
