So you want to become a Test Automation Engineer?

I see many people and personally have several friends and acquaintances that are interested in becoming a Test Automation Engineer (TAE), a.k.a. Software Development in Test (SDET)*, but they all have many questions:

• How do I become one and what skills do I gain?
• Do I have to program as well as traditional software developers?
• What does the job involve?

This is a very short list. I even left out questions about salaries and career prospects (hint: they’re pretty great…