ISTQBit or not ISTQBit? Preparing for the Test Manager Advanced Level Certification
ISTQB (International Software Testing Qualifications Board) is an internationally recognized certification program for testing professionals. To obtain an ISTQB certificate, you must successfully pass an exam organized by an authorized provider.
At present, there are three levels of certification: basic (Foundation), advanced (Advanced) and expert (Expert), and the presence of a corresponding certificate of the previous level is one of the conditions for passing certification of the next level. The advanced level is divided into several modules, one of which will be discussed in this article - Test Manager.
In order not to go far in offtopic, more information about the scheme of available qualifications can be found on the official website www.istqb.org .
Although there are quite a few accredited and third-party training centers for preparing for ISTQB, it is quite realistic to pass the exam on its own, and the purpose of this article is to share its experience in this enterprise. And also a couple of words about the relevance of this certification in the Russian realities on the example of our company at the end.
The exam procedure differs little from the basic level - this is a test, with the possibility of choosing one or several answers.
Working on an international project, I didn’t have a question of choosing a language, since the professional vocabulary in the English version is the most familiar and familiar to me, but you can also take it in Russian.
')
The exam lasts 225 minutes, of which 45 are additional for those who do not take the exam in their native language. Bonus time comes in handy, because, unlike Foundation Level Exam, you’ll have about 50 pages of text waiting for questions, which will take most of the allotted time to read.
For a successful delivery it is enough to score 65% of points (not to be confused with the number of correct answers). Different categories of questions have their weight, for example, situational questions, as a rule, give more points than direct questions on terminology and definitions.
I received exhaustive material for preparation from the book ISTQB ex-President Rex Black - Advanced Software Testing - volume II . In the same place, at the end of each chapter, examples of questions are given, in addition to those given on the official website www.istqb.org (Exam Documents section).
The exam covers the following topics:
Consider further what I would recommend to pay attention within each block.
These two closely related points account for about half of all points, so it makes sense to focus on them.
Test questions basically follow the risk-based approach to testing. The concept of this approach is to allocate QA resources based on the likelihood of defects and the criticality of a particular functionality. Risk in this context means quality risk, which, if implemented, reduces software quality, and the testing process is defined as a direct way to reduce risks.
In addition to completely rational aspects and attendant benefits, full adherence to this approach implies a relatively high level of formality of the processes. For example, identification and risk assessment involves special sessions with representatives of the technical and business parties. In terms of flexible development (frequent changes in priorities and requirements) and / or limited resources, the effectiveness of this activity may be mediocre. However, an understanding of this approach will allow you to direct your thoughts in the right direction when solving test questions.
In the terminology of QA, under the review is customary to understand the form of static testing, but in this section we are talking about the management of reviews and audits, in which, in some cases, the test manager is involved.
The subject of such reviews can be the status and progress of preparation for the release, the risks of the product and their rating, the requirements for the product, if confirmation is expected from the management for their implementation.
Questions on this topic are related to the organization of different types of reviews: their goals, participants, metrics for evaluating results.
To answer the questions that came across to me, there was enough experience with the bug tracker and common sense.
The questions relate to the life cycle of a defect, its attributes, and the use of statistics to evaluate and improve the testing and development process. For example, information such as phases of introduction and detection, root causes, affected components or functionality (for identifying defect clusters) may be useful.
Within this section, it is proposed to study and memorize such concepts as TMMi (Testing Maturity Model integration), TPI Next (Test Process Improvement Next), CTP (Critical Testing Processes), STEP (Systematic Test and Evaluation Process), and IDEAL model ( Initiate - Diagnose - Establish - Act - Learn) and some other abbreviations, their decoding and principles. These are all industry standards or frameworks for improving the testing process.
The main interest is the basic principles of the selection and implementation of tools for automated testing and other types of auxiliary utilities on abstract examples (without reference to specific products). For example, factors such as the cost of the tool itself, the cost of its use (including employee training), possible risks (among the most common are high expectations and underestimation of the necessary resources for the development and support of automated tests) are considered.
Although the human factor is one of the main aspects of a successful and productive team, the topic of building and motivating such a team in the materials of the ISTQB Test Manager module is covered very superficially.
This fact simplifies the preparation for the exam, but for personal development it makes sense to turn to other sources (an example from your own preferences is leadership and motivational team management from Brian Tracy).
The test questions on this topic imply an assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the testing team at a fairly simple level in terms of the required skills, drawing up a plan to fill the identified gaps with the help of employee training or team expansion.
If you are thinking about passing an advanced level exam, then most likely you already have a CTFL certificate, as well as the established opinion about its benefits (or lack thereof). Therefore, without going into details, a couple of summarizing thoughts on the topic.
The practical benefits of this certification can be compared with reading a good book on test management. In the exam materials, the topics of planning, test monitoring, reporting, optimization of quality control processes at different stages of the SDLC in the author's concept of a risk-based approach are discussed in detail, which, as a rule, is comparable to the duties of QA senior / Lead specialists. In addition, the author of the book recommended above, in the process of narration, often refers to his experience as a consultant in the field of software testing and quality assurance, providing an opportunity to get acquainted with alternative solutions to controversial issues using examples from foreign colleagues, which is also of particular interest. Although it is not necessary to take the exam itself, of course.
According to my observations, requests for the availability of relevant certificates are more often found in vacancies of European companies than in Russia. However, in our market there is a very specific application of this artifact. For example, Luxoft develops custom software, and qualification requirements often come from a company's customers. In this case, the exam is paid by the employer, and doubts about whether to pass or not pass are decided on their own. Employee certificates are used to form a business proposal to the customer, as well as to participate in RFP and tenders. In addition, if the employee has been set certain goals for professional growth, obtaining a certificate may affect salary.
In the context of the company's interest, it would be appropriate to have an internal training course for employees or a community for joint preparation for certification, but this is not yet our case.
As for a lot of common skepticism regarding ISTQB certification - I partially share it. In particular, when it comes to certification for the certificate. In my opinion, a relatively low passing score makes the exam feasible with minimal preparation. And whether the presence of a certificate will affect professional skills depends solely on personal priorities.
At present, there are three levels of certification: basic (Foundation), advanced (Advanced) and expert (Expert), and the presence of a corresponding certificate of the previous level is one of the conditions for passing certification of the next level. The advanced level is divided into several modules, one of which will be discussed in this article - Test Manager.
In order not to go far in offtopic, more information about the scheme of available qualifications can be found on the official website www.istqb.org .
Although there are quite a few accredited and third-party training centers for preparing for ISTQB, it is quite realistic to pass the exam on its own, and the purpose of this article is to share its experience in this enterprise. And also a couple of words about the relevance of this certification in the Russian realities on the example of our company at the end.
How is the exam
The exam procedure differs little from the basic level - this is a test, with the possibility of choosing one or several answers.
Working on an international project, I didn’t have a question of choosing a language, since the professional vocabulary in the English version is the most familiar and familiar to me, but you can also take it in Russian.
')
The exam lasts 225 minutes, of which 45 are additional for those who do not take the exam in their native language. Bonus time comes in handy, because, unlike Foundation Level Exam, you’ll have about 50 pages of text waiting for questions, which will take most of the allotted time to read.
For a successful delivery it is enough to score 65% of points (not to be confused with the number of correct answers). Different categories of questions have their weight, for example, situational questions, as a rule, give more points than direct questions on terminology and definitions.
Actually, the preparation
I received exhaustive material for preparation from the book ISTQB ex-President Rex Black - Advanced Software Testing - volume II . In the same place, at the end of each chapter, examples of questions are given, in addition to those given on the official website www.istqb.org (Exam Documents section).
The exam covers the following topics:
Consider further what I would recommend to pay attention within each block.
Testing Process & Test Management
These two closely related points account for about half of all points, so it makes sense to focus on them.
Test questions basically follow the risk-based approach to testing. The concept of this approach is to allocate QA resources based on the likelihood of defects and the criticality of a particular functionality. Risk in this context means quality risk, which, if implemented, reduces software quality, and the testing process is defined as a direct way to reduce risks.
In addition to completely rational aspects and attendant benefits, full adherence to this approach implies a relatively high level of formality of the processes. For example, identification and risk assessment involves special sessions with representatives of the technical and business parties. In terms of flexible development (frequent changes in priorities and requirements) and / or limited resources, the effectiveness of this activity may be mediocre. However, an understanding of this approach will allow you to direct your thoughts in the right direction when solving test questions.
Reviews
In the terminology of QA, under the review is customary to understand the form of static testing, but in this section we are talking about the management of reviews and audits, in which, in some cases, the test manager is involved.
The subject of such reviews can be the status and progress of preparation for the release, the risks of the product and their rating, the requirements for the product, if confirmation is expected from the management for their implementation.
Questions on this topic are related to the organization of different types of reviews: their goals, participants, metrics for evaluating results.
Perfect management
To answer the questions that came across to me, there was enough experience with the bug tracker and common sense.
The questions relate to the life cycle of a defect, its attributes, and the use of statistics to evaluate and improve the testing and development process. For example, information such as phases of introduction and detection, root causes, affected components or functionality (for identifying defect clusters) may be useful.
Improving the Testing Process
Within this section, it is proposed to study and memorize such concepts as TMMi (Testing Maturity Model integration), TPI Next (Test Process Improvement Next), CTP (Critical Testing Processes), STEP (Systematic Test and Evaluation Process), and IDEAL model ( Initiate - Diagnose - Establish - Act - Learn) and some other abbreviations, their decoding and principles. These are all industry standards or frameworks for improving the testing process.
Test Tools and Automation
The main interest is the basic principles of the selection and implementation of tools for automated testing and other types of auxiliary utilities on abstract examples (without reference to specific products). For example, factors such as the cost of the tool itself, the cost of its use (including employee training), possible risks (among the most common are high expectations and underestimation of the necessary resources for the development and support of automated tests) are considered.
People skills
Although the human factor is one of the main aspects of a successful and productive team, the topic of building and motivating such a team in the materials of the ISTQB Test Manager module is covered very superficially.
This fact simplifies the preparation for the exam, but for personal development it makes sense to turn to other sources (an example from your own preferences is leadership and motivational team management from Brian Tracy).
The test questions on this topic imply an assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the testing team at a fairly simple level in terms of the required skills, drawing up a plan to fill the identified gaps with the help of employee training or team expansion.
Why all this?
If you are thinking about passing an advanced level exam, then most likely you already have a CTFL certificate, as well as the established opinion about its benefits (or lack thereof). Therefore, without going into details, a couple of summarizing thoughts on the topic.
The practical benefits of this certification can be compared with reading a good book on test management. In the exam materials, the topics of planning, test monitoring, reporting, optimization of quality control processes at different stages of the SDLC in the author's concept of a risk-based approach are discussed in detail, which, as a rule, is comparable to the duties of QA senior / Lead specialists. In addition, the author of the book recommended above, in the process of narration, often refers to his experience as a consultant in the field of software testing and quality assurance, providing an opportunity to get acquainted with alternative solutions to controversial issues using examples from foreign colleagues, which is also of particular interest. Although it is not necessary to take the exam itself, of course.
According to my observations, requests for the availability of relevant certificates are more often found in vacancies of European companies than in Russia. However, in our market there is a very specific application of this artifact. For example, Luxoft develops custom software, and qualification requirements often come from a company's customers. In this case, the exam is paid by the employer, and doubts about whether to pass or not pass are decided on their own. Employee certificates are used to form a business proposal to the customer, as well as to participate in RFP and tenders. In addition, if the employee has been set certain goals for professional growth, obtaining a certificate may affect salary.
In the context of the company's interest, it would be appropriate to have an internal training course for employees or a community for joint preparation for certification, but this is not yet our case.
As for a lot of common skepticism regarding ISTQB certification - I partially share it. In particular, when it comes to certification for the certificate. In my opinion, a relatively low passing score makes the exam feasible with minimal preparation. And whether the presence of a certificate will affect professional skills depends solely on personal priorities.
Useful resources
- www.istqb.org - general information, syllabus, examples of questions;
- www.rstqb.org - ISTQB representative office in Russia;
- Rex Black Advanced Software Testing - volume II, 2014 - a detailed guide to preparing for certification;
- www.gasq.org/en/certification/sample-exam.html - online test exam;
- Rex Black Critical Testing Processes, 2003 - on the organization of a risk-based testing process, is in translation;
- Brian Tracy Full Engagement, 2011 - about employee motivation, is in translation.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/344452/
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