Software testing might not be everyone's favourite job, but a group
of volunteers is finding success at promoting it not only as a
vital part of running systems but as a career in its own right,
writes John Kavanagh.
Indeed, it has become so successful that the Specialist Interest
Group in Software Testing (Sigist) is now the biggest of the
50-plus BCS groups, with almost 1,800 members from inside and
outside the BCS.
Members have given up their time to help develop qualifications
in this field, and have drawn up a standard for testing software
components, now taken over by the British Standards
Institution.
Standards in areas such as reliability, performance, security
and usability are now being worked on. All this is helping to move
testing from being the poor relation of development to sitting at
the heart of every project. "We promote testing from the start of a
project," says Barbara Eastman, a freelance test manager, who
chairs the group.
"During requirements specification, testers should be able to
identify the eventual acceptance criteria. Testing isn't just about
running tests: it can be about reviewing documentation. If a tester
can't extract from a spec the things that will need testing,
there's probably something wrong with the document. So testers can
provide a useful check from the start."
Eastman says the need to involve testers throughout a project is
still not universally recognised, although she says a growing
appreciation of the impact of system failure is helping to get the
message home. The year 2000 issue and the interest in e-commerce
have also helped, she says.
"E-commerce is great for awareness, because of the huge numbers
of external visitors to a Web site. The testing issues are much the
same but the emphasis is different. For example, security,
performance and usability are especially big issues."
Testing might not be for everyone. Eastman says, "Testers need a
different mindset to that of developers. They're generally seen as
picky and pedantic, and able to pay close attention to detail. But
they also have personal skills - needed so that they don't hurt a
developer's ego. In addition they might deal with end-users in
acceptance testing. The users do the testing, because they have the
knowledge of the business and the processes, but it helps to have
someone technical to guide this testing."
The idea of taking up testing as a career has been boosted by
the development of independent qualifications. The group helped
develop the foundation certificate; a practitioner certificate is
being worked on and a diploma is planned. The qualifications are
managed by the BCS Information Systems Examinations Board. Courses
are available through eight accredited organisations.
The foundation certificate was introduced at the end of 1998 and
the number of candidates has already topped the 1,700 mark.
- Membership of Sigist is free. It holds five one-day conferences
a year in central London, with attendances often exceeding 200
people. It also produces a newsletter and has an informative
Web site. The administrator is Claire Mason on
01422-377050 and at sigistregs@aol.com