As the old adage goes ‘practice makes perfect’ – it is as true for software testing and IT skills as it is for playing an instrument or a sport. Professional musicians put a huge amount of their time into practice so that they perform well, if they didn’t they wouldn’t improve their skill and nobody would pay to hear them.

Practice To Avoid Frustration

The same goes for software testers – without practice you won’t improve and could even become rusty and start to lose work.

Of course, while practice makes perfect, software testing foundation skills are necessary to get started and there is no better way to improve than through hands on training. With Foundation knowledge in place you can then go on to an ISEB Intermediate Software Testing course or chose an advanced route in Test Management, Test Analysis or Technical Test Analysis.

Why Practice Software Testing?

Well, as already said ‘practice makes perfect’. Software Testers don’t always get the chance to practice hands on testing so it is important to find ways to keep your skills up to scratch. The more you practice an action, the quicker you can perform it so practice is key for improving productivity.

At the same time, practising skills away from your daily tasks stops you from falling into patters. Expanding your skills helps you discover new ways of doing things and prevents your testing knowledge from becoming stale.

Regular practice means you’ll be better equipped to handle new problems and should be able to conquer any challenge. Read the rest of "Software Testing Practice Makes Perfect"

SQS (Software Quality Systems) have published a study conducted by PAC (Pierre Audoin Consultants) looking at market trends in software testing. The survey was conducted on 309 managers and IT decision makers from Europe and North America and shows that outsourcing software testing is a popular solution for businesses.

Software Testing is not the only IT service that is commonly outsourced. Read 5 reasons to Outsource IT Services for more information on external IT services.

Of the 309 managers asked, 91% consider software testing and quality assurance are the most important IT disciplines at their companies. The importance of software testing within a company is backed up by the figures produced by the study that show why managers seek external IT solutions and how they are benefited by them. Further to the proof that software testing is critical to companies is the fact that companies now invest 50 billion euros per year in application testing and quality assurance.

Of the managers asked, 47% already use external test centres while three quarters are considering outsourcing in the future.

When deciding whether to outsource software testing, interviewees set out the following goals for successful application of external sources: Read the rest of "Software Testing Study Shows Benefits of External Services"

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.