What Comes First in QA: Manual or Automation?

If you’re considering joining a QA testing course, you might be thinking about whether to prioritize manual testing or automation first.

The short answer: If you’re new to QA, start with manual testing to build core skills, then learn automation to scale your impact and work more efficiently once you’re comfortable. That’s the path most QA professionals follow — and it’s what most QA training programs in Toronto recommend as well.

Why start with manual testing?

Manual testing helps establish the foundation needed to understand software behavior, identify bugs, and write effective test cases. In manual testing, QA engineers execute each test step by step — a hands-on approach that fosters detailed thinking and a solid understanding of the testing process. In other words, these are skills that automated tools can’t teach you.

Automation testing comes later, once you understand how and what to test. It uses scripts and specialized tools like Selenium or Cypress to run tests automatically, often across multiple devices or browsers. Automation speeds things up and improves consistency, but remember: You still need strong manual testing fundamentals to create reliable, meaningful test scripts.

But which is better — manual or automated testing?

You need both.

Automation testing can save time and reduce errors in repetitive tasks, but it can’t replace manual testing entirely. Some issues, like layout bugs or unexpected behaviours, still need a human eye.

This is why a strong QA process combines both manual and automated approaches. You start with manual testing to understand how the system works and then use automation to speed things up once you know what to test.

That’s why most QA training in Toronto teaches manual testing first—because it builds the foundation for everything that follows.

Hitek Computer School’s QA testing course

Sign up for our QA testing course today to master the fundamentals of manual and automation testing. Learn from expert instructors as they walk you through practical scenarios and help you build the skills needed to thrive as a QA engineer.