3.3The First 30/60/90 Days

A structured onboarding plan prevents the common failure mode where a junior QA engineer sits at their desk for three days reading documentation before anyone checks on them.

Days 1-30: Learn and Observe

Week	Focus	Activities	Deliverable
1	Product knowledge	Product tour, user journey mapping, read existing test cases, shadow a senior QA	Written summary of top 5 user flows
2	Tooling and environment	Set up dev/test environments, learn the test framework, run existing test suites	Successfully execute the full regression suite
3	Process	Attend all sprint ceremonies, learn the bug reporting process, review past bug reports	File 3 well-written bug reports (reviewed by mentor)
4	First contribution	Write 5 test cases for a low-risk feature, execute them, report results	Test cases reviewed and approved by mentor

Days 31-60: Contribute with Support

Week	Focus	Activities	Deliverable
5-6	Independent testing	Own testing for a small feature, write test cases, execute, file bugs	Complete test coverage for one feature
7-8	Automation basics	Write first automated test (with mentor pairing), learn the CI pipeline	3-5 automated tests merged and passing in CI

Days 61-90: Contribute Independently

Week	Focus	Activities	Deliverable
9-10	Expanded scope	Own testing for a medium feature, participate in three amigos	Test plan for a feature (reviewed by mentor)
11-12	Growing autonomy	Identify test gaps independently, propose improvements, mentor newer team members	Self-assessment of skills and goals for next quarter