Recognising Excellence: Unveiling the World of Software Testing Awards & the award process
Have you ever wondered about the unsung heroes behind flawless software applications?
The ones who ensure that every line of code meets the highest standards of quality?
In the dynamic realm of software development, the importance of robust testing practices cannot be overstated. This leads us to the intriguing question: do these diligent professionals receive the recognition they deserve?
The world of Software Testing Awards stands as a testament to the acknowledgment of outstanding contributions in the field. These awards celebrate the individuals and teams who go above and beyond to ensure the reliability, security, and efficiency of software applications. But what exactly makes these awards noteworthy, and how can the community contribute to this recognition?
How can the community contribute to this discussion?
Share your thoughts on the importance of recognizing excellence in software testing. Have you witnessed exceptional testing practices that deserve recognition?
I have recently won a TESTA award and was hoping my insights can help shed light on the value of these awards and inspire others to strive for excellence in their testing.
Always curious to learn about awards in the community and would value stories from people who have received awards and how its helped them and their careers.
Personally, I view these kinds of awards as more of a scam than any legitimate form of recognition. For one, this specific organization sends spammy unsolicited emails from dubious-looking domain names (I personally got probably at least a dozen of them before finally figuring out how to block them). For another, “winning” doesn’t really mean much when the pool of candidates are those who entered (and likely paid money to do so), so plenty of excellent test leaders aren’t even in the running. While I haven’t looked in detail, I’ve also heard that such awards often charge a fee to be a judge, so the whole thing strikes me as more of a rent-seeking moneymaking opportunity than representative of true excellence across the entire testing community.
There’s also a particular person/company that exhibits a lot of toxic behavior on LinkedIn and is very quick to hold up all these types of trophies and awards they’ve won as an “appeal to authority” argument to shut down those who disagree with their opinions, so I realize that’s turned me off and I have a bit of an emotional bias.
All that said, I think awards that involve nominations from the testing community at large, and don’t come with strings or pay-to-play attached, could carry a little more weight. I can’t remember specific awards but I know I’ve seen such awards at conferences (though that’s still a bit of a cost of admission–you had to already be at the conference to nominate someone).
Thats an interesting take I have gone through the selection process and yes your submission does cost your company a fee. The judges are independently selected and by a wide range of companies and backgrounds.
Selection and voting is done on number of criteria. With judges doing blind votes for example.
The while process is on their website and done by the software testing profession body.
I understand you may have bias on this as you eluded to but having attended them and seeing over 500 testers from 70+ organisations i disagree with you on “winning doesn’t mean much”.
Having won best newcomer and me being new to the profession your own point’s seem very much elitism.
I am trying to get into the industry and help make it better. I hope we can meet each other in the middle on this and find some common ground?
Are the awards the be all and end all?
No
Are they completely biased and of no value?
No
Having won best newcomer and me being new to the profession your own point’s seem very much elitism.
I’m not sure I understand? I certainly had no intention of being elitist, but I don’t follow how saying “these awards don’t mean much” equates to that. Quite the opposite–I’m saying I have seen elitist behavior on the part of a particular person/company trying to claim testing expertise can be measured by the number of these kinds of awards/trophies won, which I strongly disagree with.
Honestly, I found your original post a bit confusing–the title mentioned “submission advice?”, the first several paragraphs look a lot like marketing copy or even ChatGPT output (especially the “In the dynamic realm of software development” part), and there were a lot of questions asked, so I didn’t fully process the whole thing to see the sentence at the end mentioning you had actually won such an award, versus mainly asking about them.
I can see how winning an award feels good as a new tester. Congratulations :). And also congratulations on working for a company that’s willing to invest in your growth and development by paying for your submission/sending you to such an event.
My point is that doesn’t describe everyone. There are many, many good testers out there, I’m sure, who can’t afford to attend such events on their own dime, and work for companies that won’t pay for it. So no one in that category is represented.
There are also plenty of good testers out there who are more introverted and aren’t going to be attracted to that kind of thing, or the work involved in entering. So no one in that category is represented.
To use the numbers you mentioned (over 500 testers from 70+ organizations), I think that number could easily represent less than 1% of the eligible pool of people who could qualify. So, sure, winning might mean your submission was pretty good compared to other contestants. I’m just saying please don’t assume that means you’re “better” than people who have never gotten an award.
In terms of getting into the industry, I recently did a LinkedIn post with a whole bunch of resources for new (or not so new!) testers to improve their skills, and you’ll find a ton of other advice in other posts right here on MoT Club. I hope it’s helpful. Cheers!