David Greenlees writes on the latest debate over software testing certification. Keith Klain, head of the Global Test Center at Barclays, and Rex Black, a recognized software testing consultant, got into a heated debate on Twitter about the validity of certification exam results.
David Greenlees has been testing software for over ten years. Many of these spent in one of Australia's largest government departments, while more recently undertaking a consultant role in multiple organizations. He is a vocal and valued member of the Context-Driven Testing Community and is extremely passionate about the betterment of the software testing craft. He has published several articles and blogs regularly at http://martialtester.wordpress.com/ and http://hellotestworld.com/. In 2012, David founded the Australian Workshop on Software Testing (http://ozwst.wordpress.com/), Australia's only Peer Conference. Currently authoring a book on the subject of software testing and martial arts, his passion outside of work, you can follow David on Twitter@DMGreenlees.
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All Stories by David Greenlees
Story telling in software testing is one of the more important aspects of the craft. As testers, test leads, and test managers, you do it all the time. The trick is to make the story a powerful one.
Metaphors are a wonderful way to describe something to your audience that they would not likely understand without them. Explaining testing to non-testers and testing concepts to experienced testers can be significantly easier when using good metaphors.
The debate is heating up again. Do testers need technical skills in order to be effective? Do they need to be technical testers? David Greenlees attempts to define a "technical tester" and whether or not testers really need to know how to code.
It's been reported that a man named Bob outsourced his development role to a firm in China for close to one-fifth of his wage. The good news from all of this is that the company's monitoring system caught Bob, which highlights the importance of security—and the monitoring of it.
Designers are always looking at ways to improve software by making it fun and engaging to visitors. However, to reach the next level, we need to slightly change our focus. We need to look not just at other pieces of software but also at everyday products—like doors and the signs that go on them.
This review of Jonathan Kohl's new book Tap Into Mobile Application Testing stresses the need for testers to start paying attention to the testing challenges unique to mobile applications. David Greenlees recommends this book as a great place to start.