The next big thing:Testing

Testing is constantly in the software news and people are talking about it from every perspective. Testing ‘“ a new business line, a career option, a necessity. Lot of discussion is going on.Testing has been evolved to a great extent over a period of years.

It’s not just the second level job where if time permits some people will be validating the application before delivering it to the client. When the word ‘œTesting’ is mentioned mainly following things are considered ‘“

• A new line of business which can generate million dollar business
• Skilled professionals and not just people who can break the system
• Last but not least not just skilled but masters in some field who are preferably certified in testing area.

IT companies are seriously considering testing as another important source of revenue. And this has been proved as there are many organizations which just specialize into testing and quality services. Testing is having tremendous growth potential particularly when it comes to outsourcing. Because when we say software next obvious word comes is ‘œoutsourcing’. So companies are setting up altogether different divisions/departments which specialize into software testing. But for all this we need skilled professionals.

And skilled professional required in this field are also not scarce. But before taking up software testing as a career one should consider following points-

• Its not just one phase in software development life cycle which we all read in software engineering books.
• Testing is not ‘˜just’ another option because typical notion is that whoever doesn’t gets chance to work in development goes for testing.
• Some sort of certification/training or at least elementary course is required.

If we have a look at above three points then it can be seen that third point will help in clearing the confusion about testing. That’s why I say that not just skilled professionals or engineering graduates are enough.

So this leads to which training programs and certifications in testing are available. There are quite a few elementary as well as advanced certification programs are available. The Quality Assurance Institute (QAI) is a body which provides certifications as Certified Software Tester (CSTE) and Certified Software Quality Analyst (CSQA) in area of software testing and quality. Let’s have a look at these certifications in brief.

• CSTE ‘“ This certification focuses on testing concepts and all the aspects related with software testing. Like various types testing, methodologies, review techniques and all
• CSQA ‘“ Knowledge of quality models, processes, principles and practices of quality assurance in the IT profession are measured in this certification.

Then there are some other certifications programs. Like ‘œFoundation Certificate in Software Testing’ from Information Systems Examinations Board (ISEB) and companies like Thinksoft Global Services (TGS) are coming up with certification program in Testing. Vanaja Arvind (Executive Director), TGS says ‘œSoftware testing is now perceived as an area which has tremendous growth potential and is considered higher in the value chain.’ And for this she believes that a strong foundation of domain expertise is required which necessarily leads to a certification program.

So lots of things are happening in the testing world. Rather I will say that finally, testing has arrived.

Reference:
>> Software Certifications
>> We are launching a certification programme in software testing
>> Testing career: points to ponder
>> Software testing scales new high

Related:
>> Testing is a buzzword