Rate Yourself in Software Testing | Skills of a Professional Tester | Lets become Test Professional from Test Dummies.

Today employers want test professionals – not test dummies. There are unique skills of testers that are highly desired by employers to make the testing process more efficient and effective. See the checklist for a cross-section of the desirable skills of a test professional
✚ Know the best places to find bugs and defects and most effective methods for uncovering them
✚ Know how to prioritise testing based on risk exposure
✚ Develop test strategies that balance testing needs against management budget and commitment
✚ Apply testing methodologies, processes and analysis techniques
✚ Possess basic technical skills to aid testing (e.g.scripting in VB/Perl/batch files), fundamentals of SQL, MS Office tools for data collation, and report
generation
✚ Understand test automation tools and frameworks, including the advantages, disadvantages and adoption process
✚ Know inspection and review techniques
✚ Understand non-functional test issues, such as load and performance, availability, failover/recovery, compatibility, usability and security
✚ Manage and coordinate testing projects
✚ Build a test team and foster an effective test team culture
✚ Collect metrics and measurements to assess effectiveness of testing and quality of the product, and reporting mechanisms to inform management
of outcomes
✚ Know approaches to improving test processes.

Not everyone in the team needs to have all these skills – in fact, it would be quite uncommon to be experienced in all areas. However, there should be a strategy to ensure that a team can be assembled with a diverse cross-section of these skills. If you are an employer, consider including these skills in the tester’s position description. If your staff are lacking in some of these areas, ask yourself what it is costing your projects, and plan a strategy for increasing the skills of your existing team and/or seeking additional staff. If you are a tester, do a quick check to see whether you have these skills, as well as experience in these areas. If you are missing some, develop a strategy to increase your skills base – you will reap the rewards.


Other Comments: It is possible that Certified Software Testing Professionals with unique skills in test management, test automation, and load/performance testing, may increase their prospects of employment and income. Certification is required, reason is – “Clients demands that they need only certified people in their project” or “‘Companies convince their clients by saying that we have certified software test professionals, we deliver a high quality product.”

For further information on CSTP certification Contact “Dr Kelvin Ross” who is the coordinator for the CSTP program. E-mail: kelvinr@kjross.com.au
Source – K. J. Ross & Associates provides specialist services in software verification and validation, including test management, risk assessment and test strategy, test process
improvement, test outsourcing, automated testing, load and performance testing, independent test laboratory, and training and mentoring.
Visit: www.kjross.com.au