[jiggy2011]

Various things, a common aspiration was to try and fast track to a management position at a consultancy or blue chip where things were are more about spreadsheets than code. Others do technical work, but not strictly development like Q&A or technical support.

Some went into academia and some did other things altogether, I know at least one person who became a tree surgeon and another who is a session musician.

[msh]

Tech support and CS degree?!? It might just be me but I cant really see a person with a bachelor or masters in CS work in tech support.

[jiggy2011]

There are more jobs available, especially in places without software companies. Or people take those jobs temporarily while they look for other jobs, get promoted and end up following a different career track.

[cema]

If Q&A is QA then it should be considered development, in a specialized domain.

[Datsundere]

except you just click things on a GUI there.

[redblacktree]

I'm fond of developer-QA folks that automate most of their pointing and clicking. There is, absolutely, a skill in finding bugs by exploratory testing, but someone who can combine that with automating previous tests (thus building up a regression suite) in a way that's maintainable is a real keeper.

[cema]

I think you mean "except when..." As others said, QA automation is a serious endeavor, and an important one.

[bcbrown]

Unless you're writing test automation.