A Tour of Quality & Testing Certifications
Background Most of the certifications have an associated Body of Knowledge or "BOK". Typically it's split up into functional or focus areas and has some specific terminology associated with it. You should not think of these certifications in the same way you view Microsoft or Networking certifications. They are more focused on the discipline and profession of QA & Testing and don't fall out of date with technology changes. Typically you study a specific set of materials ("BOK") associated with a certification and take a certification test. Once you achieve certification, you need to renew it on some interval - usually 2 years. There is usually an application process associated with certification. You will fill out a form with some history (academic background, personal reference, detailed resume which indicates direct experience "mapping" to "BOK" areas) that meets minimal requirements. Associated with the renewal is your earning continuing education credits along the way for meetings, training and conferences you attend. (PDUs)
Interesting Blog on the topic by James Bach - not a compelling endorsement! o http://blackbox.cs.fit.edu/blog/james/archives/2005_11.html
ASQ - The American Society for Quality www.asq.org ASQ is probably the oldest, largest and most prestigious QA organization that certifies quality and testing engineers. The certification list can be viewed at http://www.asq.org/certification/ If you chose to take on ASQ certifications, I would recommend joining ASQ. What you'll find though is they are very QA generalized and lack connections to software testing and QA. They have some focus groups, but you can't get away from the SPC, Six Sigma, manufacturing, process certification focus. ASQ Certifications that I think might be of value include Quality Manager Certification Designed for those who understand quality principles and standards in relation to organization and human resource management. Software Quality Engineer Certification (CSQE) Designed for those who have a comprehensive understanding of software quality development and implementation; have a thorough understanding of software inspection and testing, verification, and validation; and can implement software development and maintenance processes and methods.
Quality Improvement Associate Certification (CQIA) Designed to assess basic knowledge of quality tools and their uses by individuals who are involved in quality improvement projects, but do not necessarily come from traditional quality areas.
Re-certification - 18 (RU - re-certification units or re-test) every 3 years Local chapter contacts: Charlotte, Section 1110 Eastern/Greenville, Section 1126 RTP, Section 1113 Region 11 Software Division information
QAI - Quality Assurance Institute www.qaiusa.com QAI is probably the largest IT & software centered QA organization. They have a global presence - particularly popular in India. Some additional links include: QAI Mid-Atlantic QAI India QAI Middle East & Africa
What I like about the certifications is the software centricity. There is also a strong emphasis on self-study, with little formal guidance on test preparation and readiness. The reference lists are quite expansive and daunting as well. You might want to join a local QAI chapter just for networking and certification test preparation. Typically, most chapters will run a readiness course once or twice a year. QAI certifications that I think might be of value include CSQA - Certified Software Quality Analyst CSTE - Certified Software Test Engineer
Poke about the certification site to gain more information. QAI has also recently introduced a Project Manager (CSPM) certification (competing with PMI) and is planning on adding additional advanced levels to their core CSQA and CSTE certifications. They announced this at their Spring 2005 conference - alluding to definitions by mid summer 2005. Re-certification - 120 (CPEs) every 3 years Local chapter contacts: CITQAA - Charlotte Information Technology Quality Assurance Association TISQA - Triangle Information Systems Quality Association
Software Dimensions - International Institute for Software Testing www.softdim.com http://www.testinginstitute.com/certification.php
Not a very well know or widely acknowledged certification authority. They are software centered. However, they differ in their certifications in that you need to take a series of courses from them, along the boundaries of their Body of Knowledge, in order to achieve the certification. Each course has an exam associated with it - pass all of the areas & exams and you're certified. They have a series of "Test Weeks" four times a year that focus on the training along with a series of conferences. IIST certifications that I think might be of value include the CSTP - Certified Software Test Professional Poke about the site to gain more information. Re-certification - 10 (educational units) every 3 years
Software Quality Engineering - ISTQB Certification www.sqe.com www.istqb.org
This is a recent entry in the US market from SQE - within the past year. The certification has a "foundation level" component that SQE runs a course for. They also allude to more advanced combination levels of certification. Even though the certification says that it has a strong worldwide base, if you look at the websites (as of November 2004) it and the certification criteria / process appears to be in construction. I attended STAR East in May of 2005 and the certification is maturing a bit. However, the BOK materials have recently been translated from German - so it is still a WIP. Certification rules are still a WIP.
Tool Vendor Certifications Many of the test management and automation tool vendors provide for specific tool certifications. Mercury and Segue come to mind as two vendors with programs. While the programs themselves are professional and useful, keep in mind that they are usually costly and tied to the specific tools. Unless you're career path is really aligning you with a specific vendor toolbox, I wouldn't recommend the effort.
Another consideration is market coverage of the tool vendor. One final point, I don't believe there is a re-certification component supported by any of the vendors. That implies that your certification can get "dated" as the tool evolves.
Certification Opinions Too Many? First, there are obviously too many QA certification programs available. It creates a lot of confusion for prospective students / certification candidates. With the entry of the SQE / ISTQB certification, I feel that the arena has gotten a bit out of hand and firms are clearly using certification as a means to drive training revenue. The fact that there are so many certifications also reduces the value. I can't imagine how prospective employers determine the value proposition and differentiation between the wide variety of QA certifications. I think it mostly depends on the existing certification(s) in the organization and their personal preferences. You also don't see much collaboration between the individual certification organizations. There is little to no sharing of BOK materials and even the terminology can be quite different between them. Ranking - from an "esteem" and "value" point-of-view For pure "name recognition", clearly ASQ is the leader. It only competes with QAI from an organizational perspective and clearly it has more membership and name recognition. However, the down-side to ASQ has always been that Software Testing is clearly an afterthought. Yes there is a Software Division, but membership is quite low. It's my experience that, at the local chapter or sections spend little to no time around software testing. The second problem is course content and where the programs are focused. ASQ typically has a broad focus across quality and doesn't align strongly enough towards software testing. Given that, they are a bit of an "outlier" when it comes to useful certification. They do provide a Software Division to help compensate for this, but that hasn't crept into the certification process as strongly. I don't recommend ASQ for individual contributor level certifications. I do however think that their QA Manager certification is useful for leaders within software testing. It's the only one offered of it's kind - so its uniqueness and value is maintained. The remainder of the certifications, QAI, Software Dimensions and ISTQB, are more software centered. Of the three, and I probably listed them in my personal order of value, I would recommend QAI if you're focused on testing software. It's the widest known certification of the three and it has the most experience in this niche. It also has a strong set of federated chapters who help to prepare you for certifications
ISTQB is simply too new to effectively evaluate. SQE is extremely well respected as a trainer and Rex Black has been named to lead their board, so I view them as up and coming. They deserve to be watched. However, I do suspect there is also a strong "me too" / revenue driver aspect to this. Software Dimensions certification is strongly linked to their coursework offering and I suspect driven to mostly generate training revenue.
Other links... http://www.qaforums.com/cgi-bin/forums/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=forum;f=24 www.brainbench.com www.softwaredioxide.com/Certifications/index.htm http://certification.about.com/od/qacertification/