New to Testing

[sivassm]

HI,
I am working as a SSE in SAS technologies over 5+yrs exp,I have knowledge on HPQC and I have ample knowledge on UNIT testing and peer reviews and done peer development testing in my team.

I am planning to switch over to testing tools as my profession.

Please guide me whether i am going right direction or not. If yes,please let me know

1.what are the basics I need to have?
2.what are the testing tools I need to learn?

Please share me with your thoughts and some documents,if possible.

Thanks in advance.