Or as Yoda would have said “To have fallen so far and learned nothing – that is your failing.”.
I have now been in the testing business since 1998. It is my profession and I do sometimes think that I am a little proficient in what I do.
I remember back in 2002/3 I was working with a colleague tester trying to come up with a glossary for testing. The company (SQS Germany) had expanded into several markets and with that different languages. In order to facilitate clear communication between projects, subsidiaries and companies we wanted an online dictionary that had definitions and the translations into various languages. Without going into too much detail the whole exercise failed miserably at the time. We didn’t even get approval as far as two tester offices further down the corridor. If there was one thing we proved it was that everybody had their own tounge. It reminded me of what had happened to the Babylonians. It seems as if we testers are doomed to an existence without standardisation.
Well…. then there’s the guys from ISTQB. They say the testing world is just so and not one bit different. I’ve been through the syllabus and it is nothing more than a learning of vocab excercise and they are trying to sell you that there’s something like standardisation in the testing world. I’ve also found a number of errors in the material. Not very convincing. I must admit though that the course I went to was way better than the ISTQB itself so I did end up learning something. To this day I refuse to sit the exam. I’d rather….well…any thing else but that!
ISTQB is corrupting the testing industry. As a so called qualification it proves nothing. I get especially cautious when I have ISTQB certified testers apply for a job with us. I question the motives and what the qualification means to them. Since they are now qualified testers I don’t have to pull punches. I can ask them anything aren’t they test professionals? Try it some day it’s fun. Most of the time it turns out they’re just poor souls trying to get some kind of recognition for their profession. Sorry dudes but ISTQB is exactely the opposite.
In 3 years time India and China will overrun us all with 60.000-gazillion ISTQB testers and they are all going to solve IT’s problems!! Sounds like a Tui ad.
OK, so by now you probably know that the ISTQB is the equivalent of a testing paper tiger. But amazingly enough I’m not the only one who thinks that. It seems that the good lady executive director of the American ISTQB is not far off the mark. Have a read here. I can’t even begin to grasp the cheek of this lady. It’s a sad day for all those that have been gobbled up by the “Big Dog” ISTQB.
Tags: Testing