training

I had always wanted to work at a company that had a library of intereresting/educational books I could borrow; so when I started at JDS Australia in late 2005, I brought in a few of my technical books in case anyone else wanted to borrow them. Gradually other people brought in books too, until there was quite a nice collection. I like to think that consultants who have read Death March and The Mythical Man Month will be a little wiser than their brethren who have just flicked through Learn x in 24 Hours. The lives of technical people will [...]

The Mercury Certified Instructor qualification is not about having mastery over the Mercury toolset (although if you are sitting for the CI exam, you probably have this anyway); it is about ensuring that you have the ability to effectively deliver training material to a classroom of students. Officially, Mercury training must be delivered by someone who has a CI qualification and the appropriate CPC qualification for the tool that they are delivering the training for. In practice, there aren't enough Certified Instructors yet, so this is not enforced. After wanting to do it for a while, I completed the Mercury [...]

I have mixed feelings on learning that there is now a university-level subject in Performance Testing. CS 4803 EPR: Performance Engineering - Enterprise Computing Performance Engineering, presented by Brian Wilson at the Georgia Institute of Technology looks like a great subject, and it would be a lot of fun to do what Brian has done and run the same course at a local university. But, at the same time, I realise that doing this would be a clear case of fouling your own nest. Flooding a profitable niche industry with recent university grads who are prepared to work for practically [...]

Next on my professional qualification "to do" list is the Mercury Certified Instructor qualification. From the Mercury Australia website: The CI is an instructional certification intended for individuals who wish to teach official Mercury Interactive courses. This is a workshop-based class that focuses on understanding and using principles of learner-centred education to promote learning. The test at the end of the class will address your ability to: Create a safe learning environment that fosters teacher-student and student-student interactions Motivate participants Use effective learner-centred instructional techniques Demonstrate professionalism through effective presentation skills The course content looks good, and it means that [...]

I'm looking at some general QA certification programs that are not tool-based certifications. Offerings in Australia are divided into two steams - the ISEB (delivered by several different companies and recognised internationally), and the CSTP (developed and delivered by K. J. Ross & Associates, and recognised in Australia only). ISEB Foundation Certificate in Software Testing Introductory level 3 day course (~$2000 - $3000) Internationally recognised Endorsed by the Australian Computer Society and the Institute of Engineers Australia ISEB Practitioner Certificate in Software Testing Builds on ISEB Foundation Certificate (which is a pre-requisite) 9 day course (~$9000) Not offered by most [...]