1. Domain expertise

This is one area where you cannot do much without work experience. Its a kind of a vicious circle. You need some domain knowledge to get a job whereas you need a job to get the required domain knowledge. Whether it is the banking sector, Insurance, healthcare or sports you need a good exposure. I'm sure beginners to any field face this problem. Of course you may read a lot and almost make up for it. In fact reading, joining discussion groups on the internet, attending seminars etc. go a long way in helping you get started.

Hence, I suggest you focus strongly on the following two skills. 
 

2. Technical Knowledge

If you are in school, find out if you have a course in Software Testing. A formal education in software testing introduces you to several techniques that are not always taught at the workplace. Just like they expect you to know programming when you apply for a software developers job, you are expected to know certain testing techniques as a tester. Check out the course "CIS 6930: Seminar on Software Testing" taught by Professor Dr. Alan Hevner at the University of South Florida (USF) at http://www.usf.edu. for testing courses in other Universities besides USF:  http://www.testingeducation.org/general/othertestingcourses.php

Get trained and exposed to test automation tools. They are not as easy as they seem. Test automation isnt all about 'record and playback'. There is much more to it. Most tools nowadays are very complex. That is why it warrants a dedicated person or even a team to write manage and maintain test scripts. With the size of software projects increasing by the day, test case automation has become a necessity in most organizations. Being skilled in one could make you a valuable asset to the company that hires you. 

3. Testing Skills

Furthermore, I am also making available for download, the CSQA/CSQE/CSTE study material that I have been able to collect over time. It comprises of sample question papers and study material. It will greatly aid those planning for certification in the near future.

 My Thoughts

        Beginners guide to software testing and quality assurance (part 2)

        My thoughts on testing a salt shaker :)

Test Tools Reference

        Unit test tools:    http://www.testingfaqs.org/t-unit.html

        Rational Robot:    http://www.wilsonmar.com/1robot.htm

        Free Cascading Style sheet validator:    http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/

        Free HTML validator:    http://validator.w3.org/

        QA Downloads.com:    http://www.qadownloads.com/

        ApTest.com (A good test tools resource) :    http://aptest.com/resources.html

Quality and Testing Sites

        Stickyminds.com:     http://www.stickyminds.com

        STQE magazine:    http://www.stqemagazine.com

        Brian Marick's testing website:    http://www.testing.com/

        QACity.com:    http://www.qacity.com/

        Software testing hotlist:    http://www.io.com/~wazmo/qa/

        Extreme testing:  http://www.geocities.com/xtremetesting

        Model based testing:    http://www.model-based-testing.org

        Software Test & Performance magazine:    http://www.stpmag.com (PDF version of magazine available for free!)

        Effective software testing:    http://www.effectivesoftwaretesting.com

Software Testing User Groups and Communities

Here is a list of professional user groups that you can join to further your interests in QA and testing.

1. Cem Kaner et al's, "Testing Computer Software"
2. Dorothy Graham, "Software Test Automation"
3. Edward Kit, "Software Testing in the Real World"
4. Elfriede Dustin, "Automated Software Testing"
5. Hung Quoc Nguyen, "Testing Applications on the Web"
6. Steve Splaine & Stefan Jaskiel, "The Web Testing Handbook"
7. Rex Black, "Managing the Testing Process" (My rating * * * * * )
8. Gerald M. Weinberg, "Secrets of Consulting: A Guide to Giving and Getting Advice Successfully" (Not about testing, but a must read by every tester! Helps communicating effectively with developers. managers and the rest of your team.)
   
    

Useful Articles, Presentations and Tutorials

Read one of my favorite articles by Rex Black (Being a good tester): http://www.rexblackconsulting.com/publications/Being%20a%20Good%20Tester.pdf

Looking for a job? More than 200 software testing interview questions here!:    http://www.geocities.com/xtremetesting/InterviewQuestions.html

 Quality classics ('Hawthorne Effect', 'Pareto Optimum, etc.):    http://www.artwork.net/asq711/quality.htm   

Cem Kaner's articles:    http://www.kaner.com/articles.html

Cem kaner's "Recruiting Software Testers" http://www.sdmagazine.com/documents/s=748/sdm0001e/0001e.htm (Very good article. Need to register. Registration is free)

Rex Black's publications: http://www.rexblackconsulting.com/Pages/publications.htm

Cartoon illustration of Deming's 14 points: http://www.managementwisdom.com/freilofdem14.html (A picture is worth a 1000 words!)

Drivers and Stubs:    http://galileo.cs.uwindsor.ca:8000/60-322/extra/drivers_stubs.htm

Visual studio coding tips & tricks:    http://www.agiledeveloper.com/articles/VSDOTNETCodeEditingTipsAndTricks.pdf

graph theory tutorial:    http://www.cs.wpi.edu/~gpollice/cs525t-f02/Slides/CS525T-Class9.ppt

          Agile developer presentations:    http://www.agiledeveloper.com/download.aspx

          Software tester salaries: http://www.softwaretestinginstitute.com/salaries.html (Slightly outdated, but still gives a good idea!)

          Fundamentals of Function Pont Analysis: http://www.ifpug.com/fpafund.htm

          Paper on model based testing:    http://www.geocities.com/model_based_testing/intelligent.pdf

ISO 9001: 2000 in plain english (QMS):    http://praxiom.com/iso-9001.htm

Testing blogs and Other lnteresting Reads :)