Challengers are you ready?

So far the Gladiators have stolen the show. ISTQB and the other warriors of testing certification have dominated the testing world. It’s not the only profession where this is happening. Network Engineers working now need Cisco certification in order to get jobs, regardless of their depth of knowledge. In Ireland, solicitors now don’t need a degree, but  pass an exam in order to practise. It seems every where people are needing to be labelled in order to find work.
So its refreshing that a group of men and women are fighting back. The challengers are now on the stage. Are we ready to back them?

I’m talking about the Association of Software Testing (http://training.associationforsoftwaretesting.org) which is providing free online software testing training if you become a member of their organisation. Membership cost only $85 (there is a range of memberships). Try and get a ISTQB course for that price!

I’ve just completed the BBST (Black Box System Testing) Foundation Course. I would highly recommend this course to anyone, experienced or inexperienced. This course is like no other. It really challenges you to think deeply about what, why and how you test.

The course is very interactive, you need to be prepared to give an opinion and provide feedback.

What I got out of the course was that it’s given me confidence on critiquing other tester’s work. It has also challenged me to be more technical in my testing investigations. It was a great course, and though very demanding, I was sad that it came to an end.

One word of warning though, to get the most out of the course, I would give allocate plenty of time for it, preferably more than the 8 hours suggested.

One of the main reasons why I decided to take this course, was because I wanted to see if I could recommend or offer to testers I know an alternative to ISTQB. I’d also challenge any tester out there who has an opinion on Certification to take the course and then write a post about it.

Challengers are you ready?