Many open source projects have bug databases that anyone can submit to; you might try starting with that to get some actual experience testing, finding, and rep

Many open source projects have bug databases that anyone can submit to; you might try starting with that to get some actual experience testing, finding, and reporting problems. Write about it on a blog or some-such, to demonstrate what you've learned and what you can do. Try to distill general testing advice into longer articles. You also might try offering your services here on HN as a QA contractor. I can imagine someone being interested in paying for a few hours of another person's view on their product. Just some ideas! I've done a lot of testing work, though I've kind of fallen into it accidentally. It's fun for a while, but I don't think I'd want to make it my full-time job.