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ISTQB certification includes the certification of tester skills at various levels of skill (i.e., Foundation, Advanced, and Expert) in various streams of interest (e.g., Core, Agile, etc.). ISTQB certification is distinct in that it does not require training but includes supported training, books, and other resources, is 100% vendor-neutral, and is based on psychometrically-tested exam structures and exams.
Resources for “ISTQB Certification”
Articles
The International Software Testing Qualification Board (ISTQB) has already effected profound change in the software testing field, with almost 100,000 people having attained Foundation certification. But a Foundation certification is just that: only a Foundation. With the release of the new Advanced syllabus in October 2007, the ISTQB has expanded and improved the next rung on the ladder of test professionalism. In the slides from this tutorial, Rex Black, President of the ISTQB, shows how the ISTQB Advanced syllabus can guide you, your testing colleagues, and your organization toward better testing, reduced risk, and higher quality.
An ISTQB certification is a nice thing to have. It decorates your office. It tells your co-workers that you have pursued education and have achieved a level of knowledge in testing. At the Advanced level, it shows that you have selected an area of specialization and have demonstrated your knowledge. At the Expert level, it provides evidence that you have set yourself apart from others-that you have acquired and demonstrated expertise in a particular area. But, are you really using your knowledge and expertise? Let’s look at how the benefits of the certification can be used in your regular job and your career.
If you’re a professional tester, test manager, quality assurance staff member, or programmer responsible for testing your own code, you have already discovered that, far from being trivial and straightforward, testing is hard. There’s a lot to know. Unfortunately, most practitioners tend to carry out testing as if it were 1978, not 2008. Common practices lag best practices by around 30 years. ISTQB certification is about raising common practices to the level of best practices.
Functional testing focuses on what the system does, rather than how it does it. Non-functional testing is focused on how the system does what it does. Both functional and non-functional testing are black-box tests, being focused on behavior. White-box tests are focused on how the system works internally—i.e., on its structure.
Functional tests can have, as their test basis, the functional requirements. These include both the requirements that are written down in a specification document and those that are implicit. The domain expertise of the tester can also be part of the test basis.
Functional tests will vary by test level or phase. A functional integration test will focus on the functionality of a collection of interfacing modules, usually in terms of the partial or complete user workflows, use cases, operations, or features these modules provide. A functional system test will focus on the functionality of the application as a whole, complete user workflows, use cases, operations, and features. A functional system integration test will focus on end-to-end functionality that spans the entire set of integrated systems.
The test analyst can employ various test techniques during functional testing at any level. All of the techniques discussed in Advanced Software Testing: Volume 1 will be useful.
We should keep in mind that test analyst is a role, not a title, job description, or position. In other words, some people play the role of test analyst exclusively, but others play that role as part of another job. So, when dedicated, professional testers do functional testing, they are test analysts both in position and in role. However, when domain experts do the analysis, design, implementation, or execution of functional tests, they are working as test analysts. When developers do the analysis, design, implementation, or execution of functional tests, they are working as test analysts.
For test analysts in the ISTQB Advanced syllabus, we consider functional and usability testing as concerned with the following quality attributes:
- Accuracy
- Suitability
- Interoperability
- Usability
- Accessibility
In this excerpt, we’ll look at testing the first three of these attributes, starting with accuracy.
As the demand for new technological products grows apace, many companies have adopted Agile methodologies for their software development activity.
The demands on a tester working on projects using Agile methodologies are different to those faced on a traditional software project. Testers on Agile projects, in addition to excellent testing skills, must be able to communicate effectively, interact and collaborate constantly with colleagues, liaise closely with business representatives and work as part of a whole-team responding to early and frequent customer feedback.
To work as part of an Agile software team, testers must first understand the principles and values underpinning the Agile development approach. This section looks at the essential components of Agile software development, explains the advantages of the whole-team approach used in Agile projects and demonstrates the benefits of receiving early and frequent customer feedback.
An excerpt from Agile Testing edited by Rex Black due to be published by BCS Learning & Development in Spring 2017 (subject to change). Section 1.1 by Gerry Coleman. All material is provisional and may be subject to change.
This is an excerpt from my book, Expert Test Manager, written with James Rommens and Leo van der Aalst. I hope it helps you think more clearly about the test strategies you use.
A test policy contains the mission and objectives of testing along with metrics and goals associated with the effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction with which we achieve those objectives. In short, the policy defines why we test. While it might also include some high-level description of the fundamental test process, in general the test policy does not talk about how we test.
The document that describes how we test is the test strategy. In the test strategy, the test group explains how the test policy will be implemented. This document should be a general description that spans multiple projects. While the test strategy can describe how testing is done for all projects, organizations might choose to have separate documents for various types of projects. For example, an organization might have a sequential lifecycle test strategy, an Agile test strategy, and a maintenance test strategy.
[Note: This is an excerpt from Agile Testing Foundations: An ISTQB Foundation Level Agile Tester Guide, by Rex Black, Marie Walsh, Gerry Coleman, Bertrand Cornanguer, Istvan Forgacs, Kari Kakkonen, and Jan Sabak, published July 2017. Kari Kakkonen wrote this selection. The authors are all members of the ISTQB Working Group that wrote the ISTQB Agile Tester Foundation syllabus.]
The traditional way of developing code is to write the code first, and then test it. Some of the major challenges of this approach are that testing is generally conducted late in the process and it is difficult to achieve adequate test coverage. Test-first practices can help solve these challenges. In this environment, tests are designed first, in a collaboration between business stakeholders, testers, and developers. Their knowledge of what will be tested helps developers write code that fulfils the tests. A test-first approach allows the team to focus on and clarify the expressed needs through a discussion of how to test the resulting code. Developers can use these tests to guide their development. Developers, testers, and business stakeholders can use these tests to verify the code once it is developed.
A number of test-first practices have been created for Agile projects, as mentioned in section 2.1 of this book. They tend to be called X Driven Development, where X stands for the driving force for the development. In Test Driven Development (TDD), the driving force is testing. In Acceptance Test-Driven Development (ATDD), it is the acceptance tests that will verify the implemented user story. In Behaviour-Driven Development (BDD), it is the behaviour of the software that the user will experience. Common to all these approaches is that the tests are written before the code is developed, i.e., they are test-first approaches. The approaches are usually better known by their acronyms. This subsection describes these test-first approaches and information on how to apply them is contained in section 3.3.
Test-Driven Development was the first of these approaches to appear. It was introduced as one of the practices within Extreme Programming (XP) back in 1990. It has been practiced for two decades and has been adopted by many software developers, in Agile and traditional projects. However, it is also a good example of an Agile practice that is not used in all projects. One limitation with TDD is that if the developer misunderstands what the software is to do, the unit tests will also include the same misunderstandings, giving passing results even though the software is not working properly. There is some controversy over whether TDD delivers the benefits it promises. Some, such as Jim Coplien, even suggest that unit testing is mostly waste.
TDD is mostly for unit testing by developers. Agile teams soon came up with the question: What if we could have a way to get the benefits of test-first development for acceptance tests and higher level testing in general? And thus Acceptance Test-Driven Development was born. (There are also other names for similar higher-level test-first methods; for example, Specification by Example (SBE) from Gojko Adzic.) Later, Dan North wanted to emphasize the behaviours from a business perspective, leading him to give his technique the name Behaviour-Driven Development. ATDD and BDD are in practice very similar concepts.
Let’s look at these three test-first techniques, TDD, ATDD, and BDD, more closely in the following subsections.
The following is a transcript of an interview with Rex Black. Rex is President of RBCS, a worldwide test consulting, training, and expert services company. He is also former President of ISTQB, and most recently served the ISTQB as Project Manager and Technical Editor for the ISTQB® Foundation 2018 syllabus release. The interview was conducted by Agustina Gay. She is a Key Account Manager at iSQI.
Agustina: Rex, thank you for being here. Would you please introduce yourself?
Rex: Yes, I am Rex Black. I am the president of a company called RBCS and we are a training, consulting, and expert services company based in Texas with clients around the world. I’ve been in software engineering since 1983 and RBCS has been around about almost 25 years, since 1994. I’m also the past president of the ISTQB, from 2005 to 2009, and most recently I was involved on the Foundation project. So I have many years involvement with the ISTQB program.
Webinars
Webinar: Verification and Validation: What’s the Difference and Why Both Matter
Recorded September 7, 2016
Podcast Episodes
Some people use the terms “verification” and “validation” interchangeably, but there are significant differences between them. Some people disparage verification, or deny that it’s even involved in testing. However, you can’t adequately build confidence and reduce risk in the software you test without using the proper mix of both. In this webinar, Rex will clarify the meaning of these two terms, give examples, and explain why both are essential to proper software testing.
One Key Idea: ISTQB Agile Program
Length: 0h 22m 26s
Agile methods have become widespread over the last 20 years, but it’s taken a while for testing to catch up. However, Agile testing best practices have emerged, and the ISTQB Agile Working Group has taken on the task of capturing those for you. In this brief webinar, Rex Black, Chair of the ISTQB Agile Working Group, will explain where the program has been, where it is now, and how it is evolving to support Agile testers in their careers. In twenty minutes or less, you’ll learn how the ISTQB Agile syllabi can help you advance your career as an Agile tester.
One Key Idea: The ISTQB Foundation 2018 Syllabus
Length: 0h 21m 58s
As a bonus to our June complimentary webinar, this month we shared with you an interview with Rex about the newly released ISTQB Certified Tester Foundation Level 2018 Syllabus. Listen to the session and you will learn why the changes were made, what was the process for making the changes and, finally, what are the changes!
One Key Idea: Understanding the ISTQB Career Path
Length: 0h 31m 57s
The ISTQB provides extensive support for the test professional’s career path. There are so many options, in fact, that some people get confused and have questions. Well, in this One Key Idea session, Rex is here to make the career path clear and answer your questions. In twenty minutes or less, you’ll understand how the ISTQB career path can support your progress throughout your professional testing life.
One Key Idea: ISTQB Advanced Security Tester
Length: 0h 20m 0s
Defects and errors prevent applications and systems from delivering the value their designers and customers intended. Moreover, defects and errors present opportunities for malicious actors to undermine the integrity, availability and confidentiality of essential business data and computational assets. Many large cyber incidents (ex. Target, Yahoo! and Equifax) have reduced the tolerance of regulators, shareholders, customers and the public for poor cyber security practices. The greatest threat is directed towards the greatest value, albeit the path of attack may be roundabout. Security testing is an essential phase in the application and systems development and operations lifecycle. Join us to learn about this valuable professional development step that will bolster your career, and assist your employer’s efforts to take substantive steps to ensure their business goals are reached and risks managed.
One Key Idea: Performance Testing
Length: 0h 25m 8s
Performance testing is easy, right? Grab a tool, record a transaction with the server, ramp up a thousand virtual users... What do you often get? A hot mess! Performance testing is likely the kind of testing most likely to be done poorly. It does not have to be that way. Join us to learn what performance testing is not: not easy, not guaranteed, but not impossible to do well. Much of a good performance testing program is not about using the tool at all; instead it includes all of the ISTQB buzzwords: static testing, early testing, planning and preparation. Learn the basics of successful performance testing and improve your performance test project.
Training
ISTQB Foundation Level Agile Tester
This course provides testers and test managers with an understanding of the fundamentals of testing on agile projects. This hands-on course covers the major agile testing techniques via a virtual classroom and assigned exercises. This course was accredited by the ASTQB July 2014. The course follows the ISTQB Foundation Level Agile Tester Syllabus 2014.
ISTQB Foundation Level Training
This course provides testers, developers, test engineers, test analysts, SDETs/SETs, DevQAers, DevTesters, and test managers with the essential ideas, processes, tools, and skills they need to apply fundamental testing best practices. This hands-on course covers the major test techniques with lecture and exercises. This course follows the ISTQB Foundation Level Syllabus 2018.
ISTQB Advanced Test Manager Training
This course provides test managers with advanced skills in test estimation, test planning, test monitoring, and test control. Attendees will learn how to define the overall testing goals and strategy for the systems being tested. They will gain hands-on experience in planning, scheduling, and tracking these tasks. Accredited by ASTQB December 2012.
ISTQB Advanced Test Analyst Training
This course provides test engineers with advanced skills in test analysis, design, and execution. This hands-on course provides test engineers with the ability to define and carry out the tasks required to put the test strategy into action. Accredited by ASTQB December 2012.
ISTQB Advanced Technical Test Analyst Training
The third of the ISTQB Advanced level courses to be created RBCS, Inc., this hands-on course provides technical test analysts with the ability to define and carry out the tasks required to fulfill the test strategy in terms of technical requirements. Updated for the latest ISTQB syllabus and accredited by ASTQB October 2021..
ISTQB Virtual Foundation Level Agile Tester
This course provides testers and test managers with an understanding of the fundamentals of testing on agile projects. This hands-on course covers the major agile testing techniques via a virtual classroom and assigned exercises. This course was accredited by the ASTQB July 2014. The course follows the ISTQB Foundation Level Agile Tester Syllabus 2014.
ISTQB Virtual Test Engineering Foundation Level Boot Camp
Need to prepare for the ISTQB Foundation exam quickly, but don't have time or money for a live course? This Boot Camp combines a two day virtual classroom immersion in the Foundation syllabus with two weeks of our world-recognized, self-paced, ASTQB-accredited e-learning. In order to support our Green Initiative, this course is completely electronic unless the consumer opts to purchase hard copies. This boot camp follows the ISTQB Foundation Level Syllabus 2018.
ISTQB Virtual Advanced Test Manager Boot Camp
Need to prepare for the ISTQB Advanced Level Test Manager exam quickly, but don't have time or money for a live course? This Boot Camp combines a two day virtual classroom immersion in the Advanced syllabus with two weeks of our world-recognized, self-paced, ASTQB-accredited e-learning. The course includes option to purchase your choice of hard copy or e-book (ePub format or Amazon Kindle format) versions of the supplemental textbook, "Advanced Software Testing-Vol.2: Guide to the ISTQB Advanced Certification as an Advanced Test Manager".
ISTQB Virtual Advanced Test Analyst Boot Camp
Need to prepare for the ISTQB Advanced Level Test Analyst exam quickly, but don't have time or money for a live course? This Boot Camp combines a two day virtual classroom immersion in the Advanced syllabus with two weeks of our world-recognized, self-paced, ASTQB-accredited e-learning.
ISTQB Certified Tester Advanced Level E-learning – FULL
Achieve the ultimate ISTQB Advanced Level Certification, the ISTQB Advanced Level Certified Tester – Full. After successful completion of the Advanced Level Test Analyst, the Advanced Level Test Manager and the Advanced Level Technical Test Analyst exam, individuals receive the ISTQB Advanced Level Certified Tester – Full certification. An Advanced Level exam voucher for each Advanced Level exam is included (3 vouchers). All 3 courses are accredited with the ASTQB for ISTQB Advanced Level Syllabi 2012.
ISTQB Certified Tester Advanced Test Analyst E-Learning
This course provides test engineers with advanced skills in test analysis, design, and execution. This hands-on course provides test engineers with the ability to define and carry out the tasks required to put the test strategy into action. Accredited by ASTQB June 2021.
ISTQB Certified Tester Advanced Test Manager E-Learning
This course provides test managers with advanced skills in test estimation, test planning, test monitoring, and test control. Accredited by ASTQB January 2014.
ISTQB Test Engineering Foundation Level E-Learning
New and improved with more information than ever before but more affordable! In order to support our Green Initiative, this course is completely electronic unless the consumer opts to purchase hard copies. This course was accredited by the ASTQB August 2018. This course follows the ISTQB Foundation Level Syllabus 2018.
ISTQB Test Engineering Foundation Level E-learning in Chinese
ISTQB测试工程师初级培训电子课程 Free voucher for electronic exam with purchase! New and improved with more information than ever before but more affordable! In order to support our Green Initiative, this course is completely electronic unless the consumer opts to purchase hard copies. 买即送电子考试代金券！更新、更好、内容更多，价格更实惠！支持绿色环保倡议，本课程全部内容为电子版，除非消费者自选纸质教材。 Accredited by CSTQB. 已获CSTQB认可。
ISTQB Virtual Advanced Technical Test Analyst Training
The third of the ISTQB Advanced level courses to be created RBCS, Inc., this hands-on course provides technical test analysts with the ability to define and carry out the tasks required to fulfill the test strategy in terms of technical requirements.Updated for the latest ISTQB syllabus and accredited by ASTQB October 2021.
ISTQB Virtual Test Engineering Foundation Level Training
This course provides testers, developers, test engineers, test analysts, SDETs/SETs, DevQAers, DevTesters, and test managers with the essential ideas, processes, tools, and skills they need to apply fundamental testing best practices. This hands-on course covers the major test techniques with lecture and exercises. This course follows the ISTQB Foundation Level Syllabus 2018.
ISTQB Virtual Advanced Security Tester Boot Camp
The Advanced Security Tester Boot Camp course, created by Rex Black, past President of the International Software Testing Qualifications Board (ISTQB), past President of the American Software Testing Qualifications Board (ASTQB) and co-author of a number of International Software Testing Qualifications Board syllabi, is ideal for testers and test teams preparing for certification in a short timeframe with time and money constraints.
ISTQB Virtual Advanced Test Automation Engineer Boot Camp
The Advanced Test Automation Engineer Boot Camp, created by Rex Black, past President of the International Software Testing Qualifications Board (ISTQB), past President of the American Software Testing Qualifications Board (ASTQB) and co-author of a number of International Software Testing Qualifications Board syllabi, is ideal for testers and test teams preparing for certification in a short timeframe with time and money constraints.
ISTQB Virtual Advanced Security Tester Training
This hands-on course provides test engineers with the ability to define and carry out the tasks required to put the strategy into action and is ideal for testers and test teams preparing for certification. In preparation for the exam, participants will key concepts related to security threats, risks, policies and procedures, and how to address those through testing processes integrated into the software lifecycle.
ISTQB Advanced Security Tester Training
The Advanced Security Tester course, created by Rex Black, past President of the International Software Testing Qualifications Board (ISTQB), past President of the American Software Testing Qualifications Board (ASTQB) and co-author of the International Software Testing Qualifications Board Advanced Syllabus, provides test engineers with advanced skills in security test analysis, design, and execution through direct instruction and group exercises.
This hands-on course provides test engineers with the ability to define and carry out the tasks required to put the strategy into action and is ideal for testers and test teams preparing for certification. In preparation for the exam, participants will key concepts related to security threats, risks, policies and procedures, and how to address those through testing processes integrated into the software lifecycle.
ISTQB Advanced Test Automation Engineer Training
The Advanced Test Automation Engineer course provides TAEs (test automation engineers) with advanced skills in defining, initiating, developing, maintaining, and extending test automation solutions. The course was co-created by Rex Black, past President of the International Software Testing Qualifications Board (ISTQB), past President of the American Software Testing Qualifications Board (ASTQB) and Jamie Mitchell, who brings over 38 years of testing experience, both hardware and software. Jamie is a pioneer in the test automation field, having been creating automated testing since 1991. Both Rex and Jamie are co-authors of the International Software Testing Qualifications Board Advanced Syllabus.
This hands-on course provides automated test engineers with the ability to define and carry out the tasks required to put the strategy into action and is ideal for testers and test teams preparing for certification. In preparation for the exam, participants will learn key concepts related to test automation, factors, tool evaluation and selection, architecture, risks, metrics and procedures, and how to address those through testing processes integrated into the software lifecycle.
ISTQB Advanced Test Automation Engineer Training - Private
The Advanced Test Automation Engineer course provides TAEs (test automation engineers) with advanced skills in defining, initiating, developing, maintaining, and extending test automation solutions. The course was co-created by Rex Black, past President of the International Software Testing Qualifications Board (ISTQB), past President of the American Software Testing Qualifications Board (ASTQB) and Jamie Mitchell, who brings over 38 years of testing experience, both hardware and software. Jamie is a pioneer in the test automation field, having been creating automated testing since 1991. Both Rex and Jamie are co-authors of the International Software Testing Qualifications Board Advanced Syllabus.
This hands-on course provides automated test engineers with the ability to define and carry out the tasks required to put the strategy into action and is ideal for testers and test teams preparing for certification. In preparation for the exam, participants will learn key concepts related to test automation, factors, tool evaluation and selection, architecture, risks, metrics and procedures, and how to address those through testing processes integrated into the software lifecycle.
ISTQB Foundation Level Performance Tester
The ISTQB Foundation Level Performance Tester hands-on course provides anyone involved in software testing a chance to broaden their knowledge of performance testing. If someone has a desire to start a specialist career in performance testing, this course will help them understand the fundamentals and theories behind performance testing, and to prepare for the certification exam. The course was co-created by Rex Black, past President of the International Software Testing Qualifications Board (ISTQB), past President of the American Software Testing Qualifications Board (ASTQB) and Jamie Mitchell, who brings over 38 years of testing experience, both hardware and software. Jamie is a pioneer in the test automation field, having been creating automated testing since 1991. Both Rex and Jamie are co-authors of the International Software Testing Qualifications Board Advanced Syllabus.
ISTQB Virtual Foundation Level Performance Tester Boot Camp
Need to prepare for the ISTQB Foundation Level Performance Tester exam exam quickly, but don't have time or money for a live course? This Boot Camp provides a two day virtual classroom immersion in the Performance Tester syllabus.
ISTQB Virtual Advanced Test Manager Training
This course provides test managers with advanced skills in test estimation, test planning, test monitoring, and test control. Attendees will learn how to define the overall testing goals and strategy for the systems being tested. They will gain hands-on experience in planning, scheduling, and tracking these tasks. Accredited by ASTQB December 2012.
ISTQB Virtual Advanced Test Automation Engineer Training
The Advanced Test Automation Engineer course provides TAEs (test automation engineers) with advanced skills in defining, initiating, developing, maintaining, and extending test automation solutions. The course was co-created by Rex Black, past President of the International Software Testing Qualifications Board (ISTQB), past President of the American Software Testing Qualifications Board (ASTQB) and Jamie Mitchell, who brings over 38 years of testing experience, both hardware and software. Jamie is a pioneer in the test automation field, having been creating automated testing since 1991. Both Rex and Jamie are co-authors of the International Software Testing Qualifications Board Advanced Syllabus.
This hands-on course provides automated test engineers with the ability to define and carry out the tasks required to put the strategy into action and is ideal for testers and test teams preparing for certification. In preparation for the exam, participants will learn key concepts related to test automation, factors, tool evaluation and selection, architecture, risks, metrics and procedures, and how to address those through testing processes integrated into the software lifecycle.
ISTQB Virtual Foundation Level Performance Tester Training
The ISTQB Foundation Level Performance Tester hands-on course provides anyone involved in software testing a chance to broaden their knowledge of performance testing. If someone has a desire to start a specialist career in performance testing, this course will help them understand the fundamentals and theories behind performance testing, and to prepare for the certification exam. The course was co-created by Rex Black, past President of the International Software Testing Qualifications Board (ISTQB), past President of the American Software Testing Qualifications Board (ASTQB) and Jamie Mitchell, who brings over 38 years of testing experience, both hardware and software. Jamie is a pioneer in the test automation field, having been creating automated testing since 1991. Both Rex and Jamie are co-authors of the International Software Testing Qualifications Board Advanced Syllabus.
ISTQB Foundation Level Automotive Software Tester
The ISTQB Foundation Level Automotive Software Tester hands-on course provides anyone involved in software testing a chance to broaden their knowledge of automotive software testing. If someone has a desire to start a specialist career in automotive software testing, this course will help them understand the fundamentals and theories behind performance testing, and to prepare for the certification exam.
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