Reddit mentions of Verification, Validation, and Testing of Engineered Systems

I want to transition from Engineering Technician to Test Engineer. I would like comments or advice on how to go about this based on the situation I describe below. Thanks!


I'm an engineering technician at a power electronics startup. I did not graduate, but I completed about 5/8ths of a computer engineering degree before dropping out for financial reasons. I spend most of my time developing and running automated tests for verification and validation of electronics hardware we are developing. I, with some input and direction from my boss, have been building up a plan for a year or multi-year project to significantly improve our V&V workflow. This project would include:

1. Developing new rules, guidelines, and procedures for setting up and executing test runs.
   
2. Defining the test cases that make up the test runs for all products we currently have and any new ones created during this process.
   
3. Taking the defined test runs for each product, design a hardware apparatus to automate as many of the test cases for a product as possible.
   
4. Write software to execute these test cases. This software will be able to pull test configurations directly from our test hosting solution, or be configured by the user.
   
5. Write the software interface to allow the tester to pull data from the test hosting and to post data back to it.
   
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   There is a lot more to it, but this is as much as I could simplify it.
   
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   I see the need at work for a full time Test Engineer. We do not have one. The responsibilities for setting up the test cases and ensuring testing is going smoothly falls on the lead engineer for that specific product. Their time could be better spent improving the product. I think I have the ability to do this job. I recently purchased Verification, Validation, and Testing of Engineered Systems as a way to understand how this system I want to design should look. I plan to spend work time and personal time studying and working on this project to further my career.
   
   
   Do you have any resources or advice on this topic you would like to share?
   
   Is this goal too ambitious (will I be shot down because this sort of promotion is unheard of)?
   
   Should I state my desire to be promoted to this position soon (once I have a value proposal/presentation prepared)?
   
   Or should I wait several months to ask for the promotion, until I have already done some of this work (demonstrating my capability and value)?