Career path for software QA / Test engineer [closed]

Question

I have been working as a software QA analyst for 6 years. I will be finishing a Masters degree in computer science this year. I’m just not sure how to advance my career after my graduation.

I like programming, solving puzzles, but in the meantime, I don’t dislike software testing that much. Actually, sometimes it’s fun to find a bug and to be able to track it down to its root cause. I’m quite good at what I’m doing. Usually, I find 2 or 3 times as many defects as other tests can find in our team.

However, sometimes, it’s a bit boring to test the same application over and over again, repetitive and monotonous. Although I did some automation tests in the past which are more interesting, still, the majority of the bugs are found manually.

I think I have 2 options here, either continue doing software testing, but doing more automation tests which involve coding and scripting. To do this, I think I have to find a place where most tests are carried out using automated tools, like in Google (from their tester job description). Option 2 is to opt to the dev side to do full time programming which I always like. The downside of option 2 is I have to start from scratch as most of my past experience is in testing side.

Anyone have any similar experience or advice?