Well, I had an interesting week: tried to recover from jetlag on Monday and Tuesday, but Tuesday was really busy. I went to the foot quacks, and they pronounced my toe cured. Of course, it’s still swollen but not as badly as it was. I don’t suppose anyone will want to see me in sandals or flip-flops this summer, but TUFF. I’m very grateful, as it could have threatened not only my foot but also my life, according to the head quack. I missed being hospitalised again by the skin of my teeth.
My friend Bobby from HK was in town for two days with his former bf. Must be difficult: they booked a trip to Europe when they were still together, and then they broke up, but the trip was too expensive to cancel. So, they’re traveling together. Wednesday they went to Italy, then they’ll be back in London for a day before returning to Hong Kong. I really must get to Hong Kong this year or next: I’ve been away for 8 years and that’s far too long. I love Hong Kong: the sights, the islands, the hiking are all wonderful. I’ve missed it. HWMBO doesn’t like HK, though, so I suppose I might have to go alone…
Wednesday through Friday I taught a class in software testing. The last time I taught it, it was called the ISEB Foundation Course in Software Testing. Now it’s the ISTQB Certified Tester Course. There has been a change and update in the curriculum and it’s been standardised with the international curriculum. So it was new to me. Of course, lots of it is the same. However, there are still lots of typos (“affect” for “effect”, twice!) and some slides with which I disagree.
The delegates were all from a large consultancy which shall remain nameless. One was much older than I am; a few were about the same age and most were much younger. One Asian Muslim man who was quite cute. Always good to find eye candy in the course. There were twelve, and ten passed the mock exam.
I really need help in cabling our TV/VCR/Satellite box/DVD Player. I have all the power cords OK, but the other cabling defeats me. The DVD and the VCR have RCA plugs, the Satellite box has SCARTs, the switch has SCARTs and RCA, but the difficulty is getting the signal from the satbox to the VCR through the switch. I gave up and used the coaxial plug to go directly to the TV. What a pain! It looks worse behind the TV than it does behind the computer.
I get the impression there’s a lot of licensing and certification and other sorts of official approval in the UK. It all sounds so organized and official! Where does the creativity part come in?
Well, I think there may be a false dichotomy between creativity and certification. Creativity (at least as far as software quality is concerned) comes from experience. Many employers want to ensure that their employees have the background necessary to be able to work in the industry. So, the certification programs came about. Incidentally, ISTQB is international in scope and includes the United States as well as much of the EU.
So, creative people who want to be software testers (a small number of people, by the way) find it helps to start out by being certified.
The most important characteristic of a software tester, by the way, is curiosity. Creativity is way down on the list for most testers. Creative people in software development usually become developers.
Oh, and if you want to get a job in software testing, your chances of getting your CV read and considered are greatly increased by having the software testing certification. Otherwise, your CV is mostly sent to File 13 (ie, binned).
And, finally (for me!) I’m very pleased that there is a certification program, as every time I present the course I get
Thank you so much! I’d known just a tiny amount of that, enough for me to be wrong about just about everything. How good you are to educate me. And how glad am I that you are making a living from this. Yay. Merci.