Getting back to work (Development to Software Testing)

brianon

Hi Guys,

Been out of work since Nov 2009. Was a Software Developer for 11 years. Haven't been looking to return to work as have been a stay at home dad.

I've recently been putting some thought into returning and decided Software Dev is NOT where I want to go. Instead I am seriously considering a Software Testing career. From '98 until '09 I did plenty of testing and always found it enjoyable.

Anyway, with having some experience (albeit 4.5 years old now), what sort of course should I be looking to do to get back to work ?

I've heard that the ISTQB is something that is looked for by employers. Would this course be suitable (I'd be attending online) ? http://www.testtriangle.ie/software-testing-courses-istqb/istqb-testing-training

Is there a better route to ISTQB certification ? Are there levels of certification ? The course mentions "ISTQB foundation exam".

All help much appreciated.

Regards,
Brian.

brianon

Anyone any thoughts on this ? It's starting Saturday and I'm still a little undecided.

beauf

I expect many have not gone that route. Most would be doing the reverse.

ChRoMe

Going from dev to QA? Honestly, I think you would be completely nuts to do that.

Javan

I did a move from development to QA about a year ago. I was getting bored in development after nearly 20 years and a QA manager role opened in my company, so I took it.

From my (admittedly limited) experience the qualifications are like all other qualifications. Maybe useful for opening a door but of very little value on the job.
In QA you'll be looking at the same problems as developers, but from a different angle and with a much lower tolerance for faults.

Of course, different companies do things different ways. For me the most important skill is being able to communicate effectively with the development team, so if you are the sort of developer who likes to get requirements then go into a cocoon until you are done, or if you like to spend all your time in meetings discussing technical specifications then QA will not suit you. If you are the sort of developer who likes to improvise, hack stuff, talk to everyone and find the edges where stuff breaks then you might do OK.
In other companies QA means following the checklists and making sure all the right ticks are in all the right boxes. Death by a thousand papercuts.

If you are not sure about the transition then you could consider looking for a role specialising in test automation. Basically writing programs to test other programs.

Good luck with it.

beauf

I think it would be more useful to discuss what you don't like about development. Hard to advise otherwise.w.

brianon

Thanks for the replies. Dev is something I did for quite some time (college through to 11 years working). Not sure I can say exactly what I don't enjoy about it (it's been 4.5 years since I last did any dev).

I did plenty of testing as a dev and think I'd be good at it and could see myself working in that area.

From what I've read, the ISTQB would be useful on a CV. That with my dev, documentation and testing experience I think might be a decent CV for a testing job. Just wondering if anyone thinks there is a better route ?

@Javan

Maybe useful for opening a door but of very little value on the job.

I guess that it would be useful then. Also, maybe after doing it I can then have a clearer picture about testing and if it's really the job for me.

Javan

brianon wrote: »

@Javan
I guess that it would be useful then. Also, maybe after doing it I can then have a clearer picture about testing and if it's really the job for me.

We hired a guy into QA recently who had done something similar to yourself.
This is his second career, more or less. He made the effort to get the ISTQB qualification. That helped me to hire him because he has demonstrated a commitment to the new direction, a willingness and ability to learn, and the initiative to take the course and qualify. Those are all very good traits any employer will like to see in a new hire.
The actual course content may or may not be useful, but the fact of taking the course helped him to get the job.

So to your question: is there a better route than that qualification?
I honestly think it does not matter what qualification you get, as long as you can sell yourself as having similar positive character traits.

brianon

Javan wrote: »

We hired a guy into QA recently who had done something similar to yourself.
This is his second career, more or less. He made the effort to get the ISTQB qualification. That helped me to hire him because he has demonstrated a commitment to the new direction, a willingness and ability to learn, and the initiative to take the course and qualify. Those are all very good traits any employer will like to see in a new hire.
The actual course content may or may not be useful, but the fact of taking the course helped him to get the job.

So to your question: is there a better route than that qualification?
I honestly think it does not matter what qualification you get, as long as you can sell yourself as having similar positive character traits.

Thanks for the input. Very much appreciated.

GerPower

I did a course with Test Triangle back about two years ago now and although it was useful but it doesn't prepare you for the actual ISTQB exam its more practical based with the use of testing tools like Jira. Another thing to be prepared for is the ISTQB exam its very different from the example tests you will find online and with lots of ambiguity in the questions.

Like yourself i have been trying to break into Software Testing with little success, I've had two interviews in two years and a few calls from recruiters but if you fail once you are generally out of any other campaigns that come up in the future, Recruitment Agencies are like vampires. But good luck though i would recommend that you do a MTA in Databases as most testing will require decent SQL skills.

brianon

GerPower wrote: »

I did a course with Test Triangle back about two years ago now and although it was useful but it doesn't prepare you for the actual ISTQB exam its more practical based with the use of testing tools like Jira. Another thing to be prepared for is the ISTQB exam its very different from the example tests you will find online and with lots of ambiguity in the questions.

Like yourself i have been trying to break into Software Testing with little success, I've had two interviews in two years and a few calls from recruiters but if you fail once you are generally out of any other campaigns that come up in the future, Recruitment Agencies are like vampires. But good luck though i would recommend that you do a MTA in Databases as most testing will require decent SQL skills.

Thanks. Well I've paid up so will be starting Saturday. As for the SQL. I've allot of day to day SQL experience from my days in dev.

I'm gonna give this course a go and hopefully get the foundation cert and sure see from there.