As a test manager whoās been in the testing industry since 2001 I have some thoughts on this. Iāve only ever taken the ISEB Foundation course, that was back in approx 2003-2004. I donāt believe they are essential to the growth and development of a tester but I do agree with the sentiments above that they are a signal of an invested interest in development.
Would I mandate a tester attends the ISTQB? No. Would I support them if they expressed an interest in the qualification? Yes. There are many ways in which a tester can develop, I see this as one of those but wouldnāt prioritise it above other training such as technical training or mentoring.
I also havenāt found the face I donāt have the advanced certifications as a barrier to new Test Management or Test Leadership roles. When you have experience and examples you can talk through certifications become less important in an industry such as ours.
The bottom line, however, (and my opinion) is that these qualifications have zero bearing on how good a tester or test manager becomes.
In my own experience I can say that the ISTQB certification can open up a few doors. I recently got my own ISTQB Foundation Level certificate and today I came back from vacation and there was a message in my LinkedIn inbox about a job offer. In details there was a āDesirable skillā and it was about this certificate.
But personally I donāt think much of it because the syllabus and my everyday work is very different. So I think itās just something to be added into the LinkedIn profile to be more āprofessionalā tester.
Whilst there are very good arguments against ISTQB, something like
is just plain wrong. All of those skills or traits can be taught to a person, yes some people might naturally be stronger in these areas but they are also very straight forward to teach somebody who is naturally weaker if they want to. It also doesnāt serve the wider community to define good testers as these special creatures who are just born that way and if you donāt think you have those skills then tough there is nothing you can do about it.
So you see no value in those techniques at all? You would happily have an tester who had been testing for several years who had no idea what these things are?
I did up to the ISEB Practitioner, the real benefit was the depth of the conversation during the course which was based on the content of the course. Sites like MOT, Testing Meet-ups and Test Bashās can replace the tangible benefit I took from my exams.
My advice would still to do the ISEB, it takes 3 hours to do the Practitioner Exam and 30-ish hours to study. It might not improve you professionally in your day to day job, but rightly or wrongly at a career level it opens doors and provides opportunities that might not have been there without it.
I am ISTQB / CAT / IREB trainer, and I own a software testing company un Uruguay, South America.
The certifications donāt have a particular value itself. If you are a competent and honest professional, the certification is only a kind of āchecklistā of your knowledge.
Lot of people have a confusion between the content of the certifications and the evaluation method. They said āyou are evaluated in a multiple choice way, and it is not seriousā. The ISTQB does not evaluate any other points that the points described in the syllabus. It does not contain anything about āsoft skillsāā¦ it is true, absolutely true. May be this method is not the best (I think that is not, for sure).
At least here in South America, the certifications are the only way for a lot of people to demonstrate their proficiency, even they are not passed trough the academic education.
Just to complement, I put here a note by Cem Kaner about the certifications: http://kaner.com/?p=401
Iāve been involved in software testing since the mid-90ās in some form or other as part of my original qualification (non-IT), and got my ISEB certification in 2001 when I switched to software testing full-time. At the time, I was told āget the certification, or youāll get nowhereā. I did the course, passed the exam and entered the IT world. Since then, Iāve had a lot of different jobs in IT, and each one of them has been based on that first little addendum to my CV- ISEB. Has it made me a better tester? I donāt think so- Iāve managed to forget most of what happened then, and replaced it with real-world knowledge and skills.
What it has done, though, is establish that I have, at least, passed a formal exam and therefore know at least the basics of what I need to do.
Since then Iāve neen hiring and firing, and been hired and made redundant. The one common thread is still āhave you got your xxxxxxx certification?ā, which is simply HRās way of filtering out applicants who do not meet at least that basic level of fitness for purpose. Some of the best testers Iāve met and worked with took the certifications as an afterthought, when it became clear that their new position would not be possible without it. They would not have made it past that initial hurdle of filtering the CVs even though they have been testing for years, and are extremely good at what they do simply because of a clerical requirement. @sjwatsonuk 's comments below are extremely similar to what I ask new starters on my team when they arrive- I find these answers and their attitude and approach are more important than a piece of paper that satisfies HR.
In terms of value of the certifications? They all espouse ācommon thisā and ācommon thatā, but there is certainly very little ācommonā whatever, even within departments of a company. What is useful is the basic knowledge of what should be tested from a purely technical perspective, and the doors that these certifications open. Proper testing, though, is as much attitude and approach as technical testing, and that cannot always be taught, or revealed in an exam.
I think that the concept of certifications doesnāt work. I donāt know about the content of the courses except the ones Iāve done, and I can say that the following courses were helpful to me:
Rapid Software Testing - James Bach (best course Iāve done by far)
Mobile Testing - Stephen Janaway
Security Testing - Bill Matthews & Dan Billing
I donāt have certifications in any of these things. I have a certificate of attendance for RST that says I was there, but so would anyone who paid and turned up. It doesnāt say I passed anything or achieved anything beyond proof that I showed up. As it turns out I got a lot from it and use things from it every day, but the paper doesnāt say that, my achievements do.
A vaguely intelligent person hiring anyone knows the difference between a record that says someone can do something and them actually being able to do it. If you can find someone who doesnāt know the difference then you can use your certificates to get hired! But then youāre working for someone who doesnāt know what theyāre doing and youāre going to feel that pain sooner or later. Unless the person being hired doesnāt care about doing good work and the person hiring wouldnāt know what good work might be, in which case yeah, do whatever, the whole thingās a circus that makes money and keeps widget crankers employed and churns out something of no known quality with no regard for its users no matter what the clowns inside are doing.
I think the question we should be asking is not so much āare the certifications worth it?ā, as ādo the qualifications relate to the real-life knowledge that they are trying to validate?ā. We seem to have established that the certifications merely establish that someone has attended a class and has answered a series of questions on the subject, not that they actually know what theyāre doing!
Regarding the ISTQB foundation, I didnāt think much of it. Out of date, far too easy and largely irrelevant for modern testing practice. A bit of a scam tbh. I did do the ISTQB Advanced Technical Test Analyst exam however and found that an order of magnitude harder, with much better and more fulfilling content. I think thatās how the ISTQB roll. An easy foundation cash cow and much harder, more informative and respected advanced and expert qualifications.
So, would the majority of people then agree that certifications are probably a good thing for really junior testers who are still breaking into the profession, but less and less useful the longer youāve been working (and have a lot of successes on your CV), except where it relates to a new subject (e.g. your past work has been all in Waterfall and you now want to break into Agile)?
If someone like me, starting out, does want to do the ISTQB Foundation course, what price should I reasonably expect to pay? Iāve seen prices from Ā£15 - Ā£800, a huge range!
I donāt know, but I wouldnāt. Then again I havenāt been junior for a very long time, maybe the industry has changed to the point where not having an expensive and valueless sheet of paper means not getting any job. Iāve never had one and Iāve never needed one and Iāve turned down work where itās a requirement, but thatās because of my situation and my own needs - Iād rather work for a good company for less money, and Iāve always been stable enough to turn down work. Iād say that they are a bad thing for new testers, but perhaps, unfortunately, currently necessary.
Depends on whether you want to do a full course or go for self-study and just pay for the exam. I went down the latter route a few years back, the test was about Ā£200 IIRC . This was mainly because I was trying to get out of the job I was in and a lot of the jobs that were around mentioned it as a desirable. As an aside, I found it odd that quite a few jobs advertised as tester roles I looked at had Comp Sci degree or equivalent as a must-have, but specific testing qualifications desirable. I did once respond to an agency whoād contacted me by saying that the job spec theyād sent through seemed to be written for recruiting a junior developer, not a testerā¦
Iād like to do self study to keep costs down as itās me paying for it. I donāt have a Comp Sci degree or an IT background as such. Iām hoping if I do this Qual and if I perhaps volunteer my services somewhere, Iāll be able to get a junior/entry level job eventually.
I did my test electronically using Pearsonās version; the BCS website lists test providers but I canāt remember off the top of my head whether you can search for a local test centre there or whether you need to go to the providerās website. I also bought the standard textbook from the BCS, but there are other alternatives out there. If you do decide to pay for your own ISTQB then make sure you stress that youāve done this when applying for jobs, it shows willingness to learn and take the initiative to further your own career. Good luck!
I may be in an audience of one with this opinion but I think that as we move even more towards automation and CI/devops and rely on greater tech skills employers will move towards recruiting those with tech-specific certs and/or CS/SE degrees. The ISTQB, especially the foundation cert, will become irrelevant.