Software testing is a natural – and essential – part of product development. Effective software testing will be independent, objective, and follow a standardised framework and reporting structure.

It’s highly important that testers have formal qualifications in software testing to show they understand the importance of thorough and objective testing, as well as the tools and techniques for the task.

The ISTQB (International Software Testing Qualifications Board) is a non-profit European company, offering a framework that meets businesses’ requirements for effective software testing.

ISTQB testers need to have taken the official exams from the Chartered Institute for IT (formally ISEB) after undertaking a formal ISTQB Software Testing training course. Our ISTQB training courses include the relevant exams on the final day.

Advantages of having the ISTQB software testing certification

• ISTQB is the fastest growing software tester certification in the world
• ISTQB is recognised worldwide Read the rest of "Why Companies Like ISTQB Software Testing"

It may pain any managers, designers and developers to hear it but software testing is crucial at every part of a product’s development.

From the initial conception, to the design and development and even the finished product testing should occur to keep the product on task for completion.

ISEB/ ISTQB Foundation Software Testing Training teaches delegates about testing throughout the entire software life cycle.

Testing at the last stage is inadvisable as any necessary changes will mean running the product back through the entire process.

Testing should be done at four stages:

• Planning
• Design
• Development
• End product

The below diagram shows how a problem at each stage of the software cycle can affect the final product:

Testing During the Planning Stage

The Design and Development stages may be spot on, but if the wrong requirements are introduced during the planning stage then the wrong product will be produced. Ensuring that all the correct requirements are in place is vital to design and development of the correct product. Read the rest of "Software Testing Throughout the Process"

Even the best Software Testers don’t pick up every problem and sometimes a bug that is deemed unimportant is picked up by users as a critical issue. Releasing a product that seems unfinished into the public domain may seem counter-productive but it is known to work. Often businesses do this with beta testing – only releasing to a small number of users with warnings that the product is unfinished and an expectation of feedback. Google released almost all of their products early and then makes changes as they go. This means that the finished product is always better at the time of full release than one with no user testing. However, testing is still a critical element of releasing new software and so software testers are still in high demand. Without professional testing, product launches are likely to be hampered by issues unnoticed during development. The best testers are trained testers so please enquire about our accredited ISEB/ISTQB Software Testing Training courses by browsing the websites or calling us on 01273 622272 for more information.

If you have taken the time to research some business terminology then you will probably be familiar with the term ‘iteration cycle’. The idea behind this is that you release your product out into the wild, see how it does, and then improve on it based on the feedback you get.

So in other words, you might release a website, notice that no one is staying on it very long or visiting your other pages, and so improve your navigation and layout. That’s one cycle – release, feedback, edit. Read the rest of "Iteration Cycles and Feedback"

The ISEB/ISTQB Foundation Certificate in Software Testing is the industry standard certification for software testers. The qualification allows testers to demonstrate their skills to employers and for businesses to show the proficiency of their software testing team.

The qualification is recognised internationally and so opens up testers and businesses to a wealth of new opportunities world wide. It also allows for multi-national projects as everybody is working with a common understanding of software testing.

You will find more information on the course and how to book at our ISEB/ISTQB Foundation in Software Testing Training course page.

What you need to know before starting the ISEB/ISTQB Foundation course

Who is the course for? Read the rest of "ISEB/ISTQB Foundation in Software Testing – What You Need to Know"

What is the role of a Software Tester?  Well, generally it is to test and find bugs and defects in a software program. But why do these bugs and defects occur?

If there were no bugs in software there would be no need for software testing (and I’m sure all you software testers out there wouldn’t want that!), so why, in nearly every software development process are there these defects?

Here is our top ten list with thoughts on this matter.

To find out more about how to avoid these 10 reasons – check out our series of Software Testing Tips

1: Human Error

Unfortunately we’ve not yet developed powerful enough AI, robots (or software!) that can develop software better than us.  Human beings are stuck with the task of developing software, and humans make mistakes (have you ever said to someone ‘I’m only human!’ after making a mistake?).  So until we discover a system that eliminates humans from the software development process (software developing software sounds exciting – I know, I think I’ve read too much sci-fi!) there will always be the possibility that errors will occur.

2: Communication Breakdown

There are so many roles and stakeholders (customer, developers, project managers etc) in the software development lifecycle who all need to communicate to achieve their part of the process and produce the final product.  Defects can arise if there is a lack of communication, or flaws in communications between parties at any stage in the process.  For example, the customer may provide vague, ambiguous or non-specific requirements, or the sales consultant may not communicate the customer’s requirements correctly, leaving the development team to make their best guess at a solution, leading to errors.  This picture, whilst not specifically about software testing illustrates how poor communication can negatively affect a project. Read the rest of "Top 10 Reasons for Bugs in Software"

Cloud testing allows you to use simulated web traffic to ‘load test’ a website or web application with a flexible, scalable and affordable testing environment.

In this video, software testing blogger (and guru!) Fred Beringer discusses one of the hottest topics in software testing at the moment, ‘Cloud Testing’ and it’s implications for the Software Testing Industry in terms of cost, maintenance and accessibility.

If you are interested in a career in Software Testing get certified with our ISEB / ISTQB Software Testing training courses.