Tag Archives: certification

Notes from Rob Lambert’s “The Problems with Software Testing”

Rob Lambert is certain that the current world of software testing is in chaos, convinced that the software testing community is in a state of turmoil in recent years, and he’s actually turned his ideas about some of these software problems into a free e-book, wrote and talked about them so that those of us who continue to test software for a living are guided about the reality of the industry and about what we can do.

Some notes from the book:

  • Automating software testing is no different from automating tasks outside of work. We are ultimately trying to save labor time, do tasks we would not normally be able to do and automate those tasks that are tedious. And on paper that sounds awesome. Problem is, in reality it’s not quite as sweet as that.
  • Best practices are moments in time when something went well, for someone, on some project and in some context. There’s no guarantee that it will work again in the future as your context is forever changing.
  • Certifications are certainly a way to make money. Which is fine, it’s got a good business model. No one can begrudge people for making money. But is the certification helping the testing community or is it ruining it? Is it making testers “better” at what they do or simply giving them some generic terminology and a piece of paper? Is that a bad thing? Is it spoiling testers with false education?

On Certification

I’ve given software testing certification very minimal thought in all my years of testing practice in the industry. I have browsed the IQTSTB site once before, I think about three years ago, and have wondered what type of exam do they give to applicants and how they grade them. If the test covers multiple-choice questions, I thought I was pretty sure I could ace them. I thought about how getting certified would be a good thing to add on my resume, listed on the accomplishments category. But years passed by fast, and as I focused on actual software testing work, on leading a team of testers and helping programmers finish their tasks and using automation, I feel that I didn’t miss out on anything valuable by forgetting to get any certification. After all, my bosses did not ask me for any before I was allowed to do what I do, they simply judged me by the stuff that I was able to create and provide. It did not matter which school I was from, it did not matter that I had bad grades in some classes on my transcript, and it certainly did not matter that I didn’t have any software testing certificate to show. What mattered was I had experience in the job. What mattered was that I know was able to carry out my tasks really well. What mattered was that I was good enough to get the position that I applied myself into. It mattered what my skill set is, it mattered that the people I work with trusted me with the job they wanted me to lead, it mattered that I continue to strive to be better so I can deliver better things to people I support.