I was on my
way home the other day when I happened to talk to a woman who works in HR in some
consultancy company. We were talking about how to get oneself hired to a
company and how to be one step ahead of the other applicants. With recent
discussions with James Bach in my pocket I became challenging her claims about
employing oneself and best practices thereof.
What she
suggested was that by certifying one can have an advantage in the job market.
If one is not certified there is no knowing what the person can or can’t do,
right? Certification is the first gateway to rule out incompetent testers,
right? I had some thoughts about this prior to talking to James but some of the
arguments that I had been using were lacking momentum. James gave me some
golden thoughts in how to be one step ahead of the cattle of unskilled
certified testers (I believe that if skilled they will see that the
certification will not get them employed).
Certified terminology
Certification
by name certifies a certain characteristic of a person, object or organization.
It is not comprehensive but directed to a specific area. It can be achieved by
passing an audit, an examination, a course of some kind, to name a few.
Certification is not to certify the skill of doing something but the knowledge
of some fashion. It can be of terminology, syntax, operating system details,
etc. None of these, however, point toward the skill of doing something.
The
certification where you get certified by defining a set of terms is quite usual.
You get the information from books and then you take the test, usually
multiple-choice examination to ease the assessment process. You can basically
get a certification by guessing the right row of answers, having a list of
those answers achieved by cheating, or by memorizing a set of terms. Because
the test doesn’t aim to assess the understanding of those terms the value of
it is quite minimal.
As
terminology changes from company to company, from context to context, we do not
need to memorize a set of terms and apply them by force. We need to understand
the meaning behind the terms we use and to explain them. Then, if conflicting
with the other terms within that context, the use of terms must be adjusted. If
you say “testing” and mean “systematic evaluation of the quality of the system
using various techniques applicable to the context”, and the organization uses “uggabugga”
for that same meaning and “testing” for coffee tasting, it might be good to
adjust the use of terminology for that context. If you just keep using the term
taught to you by some book somewhere, you will drive yourself unto a cul-de-sac
of misunderstanding.
Proving skills and standing out
The testing
certification provided by ISTQB is a good example on how certify a tester
without any skills to actually test. It is a book examination, essentially.
More so, there is a course aiming to pass the test. I’m not going to talk about
the syllabus at all, but about the skills taught at the course, or the lack
thereof. The certification doesn’t aim in proving skills of the tester. A
tester with no experience in testing can go to the certification examination
and pass before doing any testing at all.
A recruiter
going through applications for a job look for something that might look for
certifications as a proof of skill. When confronted by a certification that by
nature does not measure skills but the knowledge of terminology (which
obviously is the wrong way to go) the recruiter might confuse the person having
skills. This is not to say that the applicant doesn’t have skills, they might
very well have a huge set of skills, but they are not the characteristics that
get you to the interview.
“If you don’t
get to the interview then you cannot show your skills. That is why I use the
certification to get to interviews!” I hear you. Read more.
Rising over the masses
The
recruiters have a hard decision in determining who to call to interviews and
who not. They look for something that stands out! You might think that a
certification gets you the interview. Stop there for a moment. How many other
applicants you think do the same thing? How many of the 500 applicants to a
Test Engineer job have the exact thought of having a certification as a ticket
to interview? 50? 100? 450? This obviously depends, but think this: The
certification makes you part of a mass of people. By using a generic way to
stand out, you’re “massifying” yourself – you become part of a gray mass that
doesn’t stand out in any way.
Like I asked
in the beginning, “Certification is the first gateway to rule out incompetent
testers, right?” it actually is so. But it not a gateway only to rule out
incompetent testers, it is there to rule out incompetent recruiters. A person
without proper testing knowledge, skills and passion does not know how to recruit
a good tester. He may know a little and thus relies on the magic of
certification, at least a little. Even the most unqualified recruiter is
looking for SOMETHING to make the call who to call to the interview. By having
90% of the applications look the same, they have a hard time deciding. The
gateway works so that it rules out the certified testers and leaves those that
have the spark, the passion and the skill. Do you want to be the one getting
the interview or be ruled out because “you don’t have the spark”?
First thing
recruiters see is the application. We are force-fed the template from
recruitment agencies and we use that. We are afraid to be different and
difference is what you should be aiming for! Instead of creating a dull list of
what you can do and schools you’ve been to, do something else! Write a bug
report where you describe your behavior and characteristics. Do an interview of
yourself and post it like a newspaper column. Send them a video of you testing
a product while explaining what you’re doing. I could go on and on! Be
outrageous, but professional. The point is to make a statement. Send a filled
template and you’re doomed.
Conclusions
When I had
explained myself to the HR person on my way home, she said: “Well you’re
obviously a guru, so you don’t need a certification.” That is not correct,
although I briefly basked in admiration. I’m not a guru any more than the next
guy. I have passion and I’m not afraid to show it! I have goals and I’m not
afraid to tell them! I have a hard built reputation as a tester and I'm not afraid to promote it! (Maaret might
say “He’s cute when he rambles.”)
Every
single tester can be a professional, and they should. Every single tester can apply
to a place where they want to work and get employed, and they should. Be
ambitious, be excited, be passionate. And show it. Don’t fall into marketing
trap and be part of the mass – be you!
And get
refining that CV right now!
