5 reasons you have to pass ISTQB exam

 Hi there

This is my new article on this blog and here I will share with you my experience and thoughts about certification for software testers.

During my first years as a software tester, I have heard a lot about the ISTQB exam because it was, for some jobs, a requirement and for some just a "nice to have" thing, but still, there were a lot of mentions about the exam. And while working for one company I heard that company will pay for the exam if it will be successfully passed. I decided - why not? So I began my ISTQB preparation and during that time and times when I discussed usefulness with my colleagues, I noticed a few key aspects of ISTQB, in particular, the reasoning for passing the exam. In this article, I will share 5 key reasons why you need to pass the exam.

1. As a junior software tester you will expand your testing fundamentals knowledge

So, let's imagine that you are just entering the software testing field, you read some articles, watched some videos about testing, and got some related theoretical knowledge. You are looking at job postings and see a lot of familiar, and not so much, words in the position description. You applied and got the interview invitation and during the interview, you are getting questions with some words meaning of which you are not familiar with because some of them are not related to the high-level testing concepts, information about which you got while watching related high-level testing videos or tutorials. Not knowing such concepts could minus your score for the interview. But if you will show knowledge not only about general and high-level testing concepts but also about more definite things like levels of testing or SDLC phases, you will definitely earn some extra scores as you will show that for a junior software tester you understand that your knowledge and skills are your weapons and that you are proactively learning about the testing.

2. You will use "the same language" as your team

At some professional level, the ISTQB will not give you any new practical skills at all, but it doesn't mean that it isn't worth passing.  At this level, you still can get benefits like common language as ISTQB will provide you a lot of industry-accepted definitions for terms, topics, approaches, etc related to your job. After you, at least, read the exam's materials - you would know that if you're going to say something about "Smoke testing" you'd know that every teammate would understand what you mean by that. When you'll talk about testing processes, again, you'd know that you and the team are sharing the same definitions and talking in the same language. 

3. You will structure your knowledge

Of course, at different stages of your professional growth, you'd have different volumes and depth of knowledge, but it could be obtained in different ways and knowledge itself could be not well structured. ISTQB will provide you good foundations and ways of structuring all testing-related areas you already know, so you'll be very comfortable with STLC, and SDLC aspects.

4. You will get valuable and structured knowledge even if you will fail the exam

Same as the previous one, right? Yes and no, because getting almost all benefits from taking the exam is not required to successfully pass it. Yes, you heard that right. And this is because when you're preparing for the exam, you're reading it, learning it, and no matter what the exam result will be - all that information will be in your head.

5. You will be allowed to take ISTQB Certified Tester Advanced Level

Yes, this one is a top certification for the ISTQB and if it's not required for some typical QC/QA positions, it often is required for top QA-related positions like QA manager, director, etc. And the first ISTQB Fundamentals exam is a requirement to take the Advanced level exam. 

These are my top 5 thoughts about why you need to pass ISTQB certification. What's yours?