Now that you have decided to make your career as a Software tester in IT, you begin with the learning process by enrolling in a software testing course, followed by revision, resume preparation, interview preparation etc. The software testing resume constitutes of  objective, profile summary, project experience, skills and certification. Certification is very important now days, if you wish a holistic growth in your professional career. Software testing Certification not only adds weightage to your resume but also boosts your knowledge. Software testing certification provides a clear estimation of the software testing skills of an individual. When implemented correctly helps to organise better, helps to think in a better and helps to think strategically and also has long term vision.

How to choose a Software testing certification?

The software testing certification is offered by plenty of organisations. How to choose the software testing certification? Below are the factors considered:

1. The certification should be recognised by IT employers for software testing position.
2. Should be acceptable world wide.
3. Life time validity and no frequent renewal should be required.
4. Meet the IT industry standards
5. Higher difficulty level
6. Objective assessment conducted in strict exam environment.
7. Higher cut off to bring about competencies of an individual.

Four important software testing certifications:

1. CTFL ISTQB:

Certified Tester Foundation Level offered by International Software testing Board. It has 3 levels of examinations with different specialisations. You can start with first level i.e Foundation level. You can get more information from www.istqb.org and astqb.org.

2. CSTE:

This stands for “Certified Software Test Engineer” which is important and considered as a benchmark for all software testers and managers to increase the professional competency and best practices in quality control in any IT industry. The requirement eligibility is 4 years of institution experience and 2 years of experience at work. This certification exam can be applied through customer portal at software testing certifications.

3. CSTP:

It stands for “Certified Software Test professional”. This was started by International Institute for software testing. This certification course can be taken by any new comer in the testing field as well as managers and leaders in the testing field. This includes topics like principles of software testing, test design, managing the testing process, test executives and defect tracking, test automation and static testing along with that the candidate must be experienced in the testing related field for at least a year to apply this exam.

4. CTM:

This stands for “Certified test manager” certification supports test managers and senior testers to handle the test projects efficiently by enhancing their management capacity. This exam includes the topics like test process management, test project management, test process measurement and improvement etc. For this, applications are available in the IIST office. To appear this exam minimum three years of experience is required.

5. HP UFT Certification:

HP is always meant for Unified Functional testing tool. This is for those who wish to gain mastery in the testing tools by HP which is called UFT. AIS beginner level exam and ASE is an advanced level of exam. The forms can be downloaded along with the preparation guide by HP in ” HP certification preparation” which covers the subject of exam entirely.

Questions:

1. What are the pre requisites to appear for CTFL ISTQB?
2. List down the exam features of CTFL ISTQB.
3. List down the skills or topics to be prepared for CTFL ISTQB.